Retirethepenny.org

retirethepenny.org

Comment: Not the biggest, most important issue in the world ... but I'm on board!

"There's nothing a penny will buy any more, not a gum ball or small piece of candy"

Canada begins phasing out its penny; deems it a costly, cluttering nuisance
Excerpt:

Canada started phasing out its penny, the nuisance coins that clutter dressers and cost more than their one-cent value to produce.

The Royal Canadian Mint on Monday officially ended its distribution of pennies to financial institutions. Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced last year they were a nuisance and have outlived their purpose.

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 the penny exceeds its monetary value. Production is $11 million a year. The coins, which feature two maple leaves and Queen Elizabeth II in profile, will remain legal tender until they eventually disappeared from circulation.

Opposition New Democrat Member of Parliament Pat Martin gave a poetic goodbye to the penny in Parliament on Monday.

"There's nothing a penny will buy any more, not a gum ball or small piece of candy," Martin said. "Note the penny is a nuisance. It costs too much to make. They clutter our change purse and they don't circulate. They build up in piles in old cookie jars under our beds and in our desk drawers. You can't give them away. They cost more than what they're worth. It's time to put them all out to pasture, put them out to the curb. No, the penny is useless, but there is one thing I'd say, I hope they don't start treating old MPs this way."

Comment: Smart move! Guess who's opposed to abolishing the US 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 bills calling for the end of the U.S. penny, introduced in 2002 and 2006 by Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, failed to advance in the House of Representatives. The U.S. zinc lobby has been a major opponent to suggestions that the penny be eliminated

Another article on Canadian Penny: A penniless Canada: Mint begins years-long process of collecting and melting down 82-million kg in coins

Ditch the Penny!

Ditch the Penny!

Eliminate the Penny

Pennies cost 1.7¢ to make. They create economic losses of up to $1b/year. You can’t buy anything with them. And they’re nasty. I hate pennies. Nickels, too. Abolish both. Maybe a silver lining to Bernanke’s inevitable debt monetization will be the elimination of worthless coins?

Comment: HT Bearish News

The 9 ¢ Nickel, the 2 ¢ Penny

Will Nickel-Free Nickels Make a Dime's Worth of Difference?

Excerpt:

It costs the federal government up to nine cents to mint a nickel and almost two cents to make a penny. So, in addition to overhauling Big Finance, President Barack Obama wants to tinker with America's small change.

The president's plan to save money by making coins from cheaper stuff seems simple on its face. But history shows it would rekindle an emotional debate among Americans who fear changing the composition of their currency will hurt its value.

...

Like many things produced in Washington, U.S. coins aren't what they seem. A penny is a copper-coated token made mostly of zinc. The nickel contains more copper than it does actual nickel. And no coin contains silver anymore.

Market forces, not metal prices, determine the value of American currency. Yet Americans persist, on websites like coinflation.com, in tracking the value of the metal in their currency.

"People believe that we are still on some sort of precious-metal standard," says Rod Gillis, educator at the American Numismatic Association.

As the White House looks to cut costs across government, "making coins from more cost-effective materials could save more than $100 million a year, which isn't just pocket change," says Dan Tangherlini, the Treasury Department's chief financial officer.

The government isn't saying which new materials it might use in coins. Most coin experts say creating non-metal coins would go over like a wooden nickel. Still, industrial porcelain, embedded with an identification chip, is seen as an outside possibility. A more likely candidate: an aluminum alloy, used by other countries for coins. But any switch is likely to be controversial.

Comment: Dump the penny. Have a 3 ¢ and a dime, quarter. Dump the $ 1 bill and just have the $ 1 coin!