A Canadian legislator formally proposed on Wednesday to scrap the 1 cent piece. It costs more to make than it is worth. What do you think of this idea? Should the penny become nothing more than a collector's item? What about in the USA?
by 
Keysh
ANSWERS: 6
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Absolutely - pennies are a waste of time, money, and resources. In the US they cost more than one cent to make as well. Although they are mostly non-copper in this day and age, minting them still depletes our copper resources. And let's talk about all the time and money wasted by having to deal with pennies! I visited Sydney (Australia) a short time ago, where everything was rounded to the nearest five cents and everything was MUCH quicker! I vote for having one less type of coin weighing down my pockets. For me, here's the test - name three tangible items that can be bought for a penny each. It took me quite a while to come up with even two. Sorry, Abe, it's time to go! +4
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Yes, a penny costs more than a penny to make, so on the face of it Bad idea!! (That speaks to knowledge / fact) Experience + Knowledge = Wisdom. If the Penny is removed, then everything becomes a multiple of 5c .. Do you think an item at 5.99 will be repriced at 5.95.. No, it will be 6.00. Everything will go up in price. Look at the inflation that followed the change from the British Pounds Shillings and Pence. ( 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a Pound ) so in one penny increments it took 240 steps (of a penny a time ) to reach a pound. This became (after decimailization <100 pennies to a pound>, just 100 steps. Remove the cent and it is only a 20 step process 5 x 20 = 100 as opposed to a 100 step process. So Experience should caution us that the simple economy of the cost of the coin is only one of the considerations. Keep the cent, make it out of some cheaper material.
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I heard about this as well and I am Canadian. Well, I personally don't really have any strong feelings towards the penny anyway. They are fun to throw in wishing wells, though. ;)
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When Australia took the 1 ¢ and 2 ¢ coins out of circulation the plan was for retail prices to be averaged up and down in order to get to the nearest 5 ¢ . In fact no prices were averaged down and all retailers took the opportunity to bump prices up. Will politicians in Canada and USA be ready for the backlash from consumers unhappy with the inflationary increase in consumer prices?
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1. Lots of things cost more to produce than they are worth, children for example. Are we going to eliminate them as well? 2. Most people do not pay cash for retail items and that is the only instance of where this is even an issue. Most of us pay by credit card or debit at retailers and it's not an issue for things like rent, mortgage payments, loan payments, insurance, etc., which are paid by cheque or direct deduction. All prices will rise (don't kid yourself that half of them will fall) for the sake of the few cash transactions.
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It sounds good but it doesn't work out as everyone still will be paying more because all prices will be bumped up, never down.
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