Death to the (Canadian) penny

Why no cents makes sense:

Go Canada.

This plus public education and the absence of insanely perverse politics (Canada only has moderately nutty politics) almost makes me want to move back home. Almost. Not all the pennies in the world can return me to six months of winter or rain.

h/t Scott Thomas and Kottke.

3 Responses

  1. If it cost 1.6 cents to produce a penny, why would you make it? If this will save the country money it only makes sense. There will be additional savings in the private sector as merchants no longer count and transport the one-cent coins. For many consumers there will be little effect since they primarily use debit or credit cards anyway. For cash transactions, I think it is interesting that the Canadian government is leaving it to the merchants to work out the rounding off of transactions, but it cannot be that difficult. The United States should take a close look at how this transpires in Canada. I bet that America will be next.

  2. Canada is doing a great thing by getting rid of that single cent piece of zinc. In today’s economy it really is an utterly useless coin. America should follow in Canada’s footsteps in this move. First of all, it costs the US ~1.8 cents to make one penny, when it’s market value in the US economy is only 1 cent. CGP Grey is 100% correct in saying that cash and coins are supposed to make transactions easier between vendor and customer. Pennies just further complicate the transaction. New Zealand, Australia, Finland, and the Netherlands all did away with their 1 cent coins. The US is being very pig-headed with their love of the penny, although some headway is being made alongside the US military with their abolishment of the penny on military bases. Both videos the CGP Grey posted regarding pennies, “Death to Pennies” and “Death to the (Canadian) Penny” were spot on. Very interesting take on an issue people rarely discuss.