It’s time for the penny to drop

I was reminded of my ongoing frustration regarding the Canadian penny yesterday. The latest edition of Maclean’s showed up at the office, featuring “99 Really Stupid Things the Government Did with Your Money”. Number 55 on the list was the Canadian Penny. It continues to baffle me that we persist with the production and circulation of the penny. As Maclean’s reminded me, the penny actually costs around 1.5 cents to make and the Royal Canadian Mint spent $7.3 million to make 486 million pennies last year.

Seriously! Why don’t we put a stop to the production of the penny, we pulled the paper dollar out of production. We all know where these 486 million pennies go, and why the Mint has to keep making more. It’s not like millions of teenage boys are out there defacing the currency on railroad tracks. No, they go from our pockets and wallets into a jar, where they languish. As a small business owner – who deals with cash – I think we probably have 50 – 100 lbs of pennies just sitting in a drawer. I don’t want to roll them!

I know, I know; if we don’t keep the penny, then how will stores be able to offer their “special deals” of $19.99 to all of us savvy shoppers? I think it is time to drop the penny into the history books. Can’t we just charge $20 for that special sale item, or if it has to be below that magical psychological barrier, $19.95! I for one want to see the little copper coin relegated to some deep dark vault in Ottawa, or better yet, let’s melt them down and do something useful with all that metal.