The penny: Is it time to retire the one-cent coin?
- December 14, 2010 12:49 PM |
- By POV
By CBC News
The Senate finance committee is recommending the federal government remove the penny from circulation and that guidelines be established for rounding off purchase prices for cash-only transactions.
The committee also recommends that production of the penny for circulation cease "as soon as practicable" with 12 months' notice, until the copper is no longer considered legal tender.
The Bank of Canada says the copper-plated coin has lost 95 per cent of its purchasing power
since being introduced 1908, and it now costs more to produce the penny -- about 1.5 cents each -- than the coin's actual face value.
The Royal Canadian Mint has been forced to sharply increase penny production in recent years as more and more Canadians hoard, rather than spend, the copper.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has mused in the past about doing away with the penny and his department has reportedly been studying the penny-free economies in Australia and New Zealand.
With files from The Canadian Press
Read more.
Is it time to retire the one-cent coin? Let us know in the comments below.
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