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Canada To Stop Producing Pennies In 2013
First time accepted submitter master_kaos writes "Canada is going to stop producing pennies in February 2013 to help save the tax payers $11 million per year. Cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest nickel. Cheque/Credit Card transactions are not affected."
I have wondered for years how long it would take us Canadians to finally get rid of that awful piece of currency. Especially given that it takes more money to produce it than it is actually worth. No one can buy anything with pennies anymore and they really are nothing more than just metal wasting space. Plus, vending machines have never taken them which has made them even more useless than before.
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Yes, you're right, it costs 1.6 cents per penny.
citation: metro news
No, that is not right. Your own source specifies that 1.6 cents is the MANUFACTURING cost, not the price of the metal in the penny.
If the metal in the penny was worth more than the penny people would be melting them down, as they did with gold coins. Clearly that is not happening.
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No, Advertised price at 9.96 would round down to 9.95. Then the price should increase to 10.05 or so, then jump to 10.95.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_pricing
The reason the penny costs so much to keep in circulation is not solely the cost of minting. If a penny costs $0.02 to mint but is used in 10,000 transaction in it's life time that would be ok.
The problem with the penny is that they don't get spent. The mint needs to keep producing new ones for retailers to give out and people go home and throw them in a coffee can.
Oddly, this is the exact argument in favour of $1, $2, and $5 coins. People don't spend coins as easily, they tend fall between couch cushions or collect in jars. Until those jars are emptied, and the couch cleaned those coins are basically a kind of interest free loan the government.
I still can't fathom how posting "prices" that are different from what you actually pay may be considered a good idea.
It adds to customer confusion, cashier's work, and the benefit is... what? That it stresses how much the government gouges you for? That's not useful for anything but a political statement, and if so, it should note the credit card robbery as well.
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