CBC: Canadian Mint's last penny produced tomorrow

[pampango]

Canada's last penny will be made Friday morning in Winnipeg.

The Royal Canadian Mint will make Canada's last penny tomorrow at its Winnipeg plant. Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will be on hand for Friday's ceremonial coin strike to mark the end of production of the one-cent coin for Canadian circulation.

Flaherty announced in his budget last month that the government is eliminating the penny from Canada's coinage system, citing low purchasing power and rising production costs. The government will phase the penny out starting this fall, when the Mint will stop distributing the coin to financial institutions.

Over time, that will lead to the penny effectively becoming extinct, although the government has noted that one-cent coins will always be accepted in cash transactions for as long as people are holding on to them.

As well, credit, debit and cheque transactions will be unaffected, so one cent will be the base unit of Canadian currency.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/05/03/mb-last-penny-mint.html

Can the demise of of our penny be far behind?

[Javaman]

1. I heard that Australia also got rid of the penny.

now they either round up or down, depending on the total.

I have always liked the penny. But alas, maybe it's time to do away with it. :/

[snagglepuss]

2. Nothing good for the consumer as prices will be increased and sales tax will be rounded

up as well. Per item a few cent increase seems negligible but over a year those pennies add up.