Canada Stops Making Pennies

A penny saved is a penny earned is no longer something Canadians will be saying as the Royal Mint as done away with pressing new pennies. It costs more to make a penny than a penny is worth. It costs 1.6 cents to make a cent. Canada has stopped making the penny because it no longer makes cents. Okay, I’ll stop with the puns.

Financially, it probably would be a good idea to stop making pennies here in the U.S. as well but it would also be cheaper to make dollar coins and how many times have we attempted that over the years? We’ve had the Susan B. Anthony, the Sacagawea dollar and others too, but the paper one dollar bill remains the preferred form of currency or so it seems.

As for the penny, I guess without a penny, businesses would have to round up or down five cents to adjust. Even if the mint stopped making pennies today, they would continue to circulate for decades as they are tough little things.

I think we should keep our pennies but we could press them every other year to save but I think they serve a purpose. Now if you want to eliminate a coin, dump the 50 cent piece.