Will Canada Be A Little Less Lucky?

"Find a penny, pick it up, and all day you'll have good luck."

Well as of today that will start to be a harder thing to do. Today is the last day of the Canadian penny. The Canadian Mint  officially stops production on the penny today. The Government of Canada has been planning this for a while, saying the the cost of producing the coin now exceeds it's value (it costs 1.6 cents to make one). That being said, the savings for phasing out the penny to the taxpayer is only 11 million dollars. A large sum of money to be sure, but surely no more than a drop in the bucket on the national scale.

Their argument was that "no one uses the penny anymore". It gets tossed into change jars and "what not" in peoples homes and never seen again. That may be true for the upper and middle class families across the country, but not quite so with lower middle class to poor families. Many use rolls of pennies to tide them over till payday, buying the basics (milk, bread, etc.). The other demographic group that will be affected by this will be kids. I spent twelve years working as a youth worker and the centre I worked in had a canteen that was tax free (It was a non-profit group). I would see youth using rolls of pennies all the time to buy stuff or even pay for events and outings we used to plan.  on average I would deposit between four to six dollars in pennies every week. Most of then had no trouble getting them, because their parents didn't mind as long as they did the work rolling them. I just don't see that happening with the nickle.

I'm sure we will adapt. The Royal Canadian Mint says that it will take four to five years to get most pennies out of circulation. So while they are not making any more, they are still be legal tender and will be around for a few more years. We will get used to retailers rounding up or down (although I am sure it will be up more often than not).

While this is the first time a denomination is being removed, it is certainly not the first time we Canadians have had to adjust to new forms of currency We have lived through the change of both our one and two dollar bills to coins and got used to them. This won't be any different. By the time they are phased out, getting or finding a penny will be a curiosity at best. So get rid of the ones you have if you are not sentimental, or save  the ones you have as keepsakes if you are.
After all, as my late grandmother used to say..."A penny saved, is a penny earned."