In Canada, the phase out of the penny begins
TORONTO (AP) - Canada has begun phasing-out its penny, whose production costs have come to exceed its monetary value.
The Royal Canadian Mint on Monday officially ended its distribution of one-cent coins to financial institutions.
While people may still use pennies, the government has issued guidelines urging store owners to start rounding prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions. Electronic purchases will still be billed to the nearest cent.
The government has said the cost of penny production is $11 million a year, and that the coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, would remain legal tender until they eventually disappeared from circulation.
Google is marking the passing of the penny with a dedicated doodle on its Canadian home page.
New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and others have also dropped the penny.
The U.S. Treasury Department has said the Obama administration has looked at possibly using cheaper materials to make the penny, which is now made of zinc.
Two separate bills calling for the end of the penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican congressman Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated.
The Royal Canadian Mint on Monday officially ended its distribution of one-cent coins to financial institutions.
While people may still use pennies, the government has issued guidelines urging store owners to start rounding prices to the nearest nickel for cash transactions. Electronic purchases will still be billed to the nearest cent.
The government has said the cost of penny production is $11 million a year, and that the coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, would remain legal tender until they eventually disappeared from circulation.
Google is marking the passing of the penny with a dedicated doodle on its Canadian home page.
New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Sweden and others have also dropped the penny.
The U.S. Treasury Department has said the Obama administration has looked at possibly using cheaper materials to make the penny, which is now made of zinc.
Two separate bills calling for the end of the penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican congressman Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The American zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated.
I rarely use coins to purchase anything, even if the cost is less than a dollar. Coins have a tendency to fall out of my pocket and they are difficult to count and all sorts of things. (Yes, I am STILL opposed to getting rid of the one cent coin.) Everything I own I have gotten by working and saving. To this day as soon as I get home with any coins in my pocket I dump them in a jar. and often I dump them in the ashtray or cup holder in the car. When the jar gets full I either cash them in (days gone by) and buy something nice for myself or I donate them to a worthwhile charitable institution. The last time I did that (a few months ago) the group received in excess of $400 from me. Not too shabby for being mostly "worthless pennies".
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Eliminating the one cent coin is nothing more than devaluing the currency.
Wow! Start collecting them now, someday they will be worth......five for a nickle.
 @whitewings2003 Or maybe even five for a nickel.
Hmm, looks like I'll have to go buy something there with my leftover coins and say "Here are your worthless Canadian pennies." I think it is important to open with a good impression when traveling.
Too bad the USA isn't more logical like other countries seem to be.Â
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We should have dumped the penny 20 years ago and gone to a 5 cent multiple.Â
 @lakeview Lobbying trumps logic most every time.
I remember as a kid a penny being worth something, we could get candy 2 or 3 for a cent. . I hate to see it go away as it means everything will cost more soon we will be seeing pressure to get rid of all fractional coins and everything will be rounded to a dollar increment. I would rather we keep it but find a way to make it cheaper then a cent to make would be a good idea. Not to be picky but the coin in the US has never said Penny on it has always been one cent or 1/100 dollar for marking. Penny comes from the British Pence coin which was worth a lot more then a US cent at one time, it has become common to call a cent a penny for generations now. A pence was until 1971 one 240th of a pound Sterling which was worth about $5US 100 years ago now about $1.50 a pound. After 1971 it became 100 to the Pound Sterling. At one time (until the 1850s) the US 1 cent coin was solid copper and between a quarter and half dollar in size. It had real value at that time in that the copper was worth almost as much as face value. Just like other coins had silver or gold in them and real value.
 @DB Cooper Wow, you must be really old. I'm in my sixties and I remember well buying "penny candies" but never more than one piece for a cent.
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Maybe I'm just an old fart, (don't respond to that as I already know it is true) but I am NOT in favor of eliminating the one cent coin. Until such time (never) that prices are in multiples of five cents AND sales taxes are also in multiples of five cents (rather than a percentage of the cost) the consumer is the one that will lose. Merchants will never "round down" to the nearest five cents and neither will the taxing authorities. I would far prefer the elimination of the dollar bill and have it replaced with a coin. The coin might cost a bit more than the paper dollar but its lifespan will be measured in decades rather than months.Â
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And don't give me that old story that consumers don't want a dollar coin, when was the last time you were even offered a dollar coin? Most likely the answer is never.
 @DB Cooper The production of pennies and the use of them has not stopped one iota of inflation.
We can't even balance our budget or agree on a budget. There is no way the people in Washington could figure out the sense in doing away with the cent.
Thank God! No more Canadian pennies in with my precious American pennies!
I have no problem with having no penny in our currency system. But I do like to collect that last penny being minted. Just for my oddity, I suppose :)
Very sensible. Something our own country needs to do but our elected officials are too brain dead to do.