Cost to stamp the final penny? 5.6 million pennies

[Connie Fournier]

Why was this necessary?

Cost to stamp the final penny? 5.6 million pennies

By Jason Fekete

OTTAWA — A penny for your thoughts on the penny? More like 5.6 million of them.

The federal government and Royal Canadian Mint spent around 5.6 million pennies ($56,000) to have Finance Minister Jim Flaherty stamp the final Canadian penny produced for circulation during a news conference in May at the Mint in Winnipeg, new documents and data show....

Read the rest: http://o.canada.com/2012/07/11/cost-to- ... n-pennies/

[styky]

I'm looking at it from the other side.....It was a momentous occasion in Canadian history and thus needed to be recorded. If the Liberals or NDP had done it would probably have cost instead of thousands hundreds of thousands.

[RedDog]

Discuss this topic at a till with the public and it can't happen too soon. Goodbye penny.

[Connie Fournier]

My issue isn't that the penny is gone. That needed to happen because it was costing us too much money. But, I do find it irritating that our government keeps finding excuses to spend big money on photo-ops. Rob Anders made a good point about that when he was talking about the Bethune thing. When the government spends this money, they are BORROWING it in order to spend it because our budget is not balanced. That is hardly a fiscally conservative thing to do.

[RedDog]

I agree. Just do it. Put the last penny in the museum and be done with it. There's no need for fanfare. I'm aware that both Australia and New Zealand ditched the penny and nobody misses them.

[ccurrie]

How about the Bank of Canada does its friggin job and keep the currency stable? 1966 dollars are going for $25 at the coin shop, and a 1992 copper penny is worth $0.025.

This is no different from Zimbabwe shaving zeros off their printed money -- something I'm sure we'll get to here soon enough.

[Hodgson]

How about the Bank of Canada does its friggin job and keep the currency stable? 1966 dollars are going for $25 at the coin shop, and a 1992 copper penny is worth $0.025.

This is no different from Zimbabwe shaving zeros off their printed money -- something I'm sure we'll get to here soon enough.

It's pretty different.

[dpwozney]

How about the Bank of Canada ... keep the currency stable? 1966 dollars are going for $25 at the coin shop, and a 1992 copper penny is worth $0.025.

Without inflation, the “government” does not tax as much since inflation causes the real rate of capital gains taxes, and some other taxes, to increase.

This is no different from Zimbabwe shaving zeros off their printed money -- something I'm sure we'll get to here soon enough.

It's pretty different.

Of course, no one knows the future for sure.

[RedDog]

I chat to customers at the store daily about the penny move and we all wonder why six months? September is still a ways away. Just do it tomorrow. People are sick of them. It's a stupid currency number. Most people walk off not taking them. You wind up buried in them at tills. They lay around on the floor. Nobody wants to count them or deal with them.

[dpwozney]

I chat to customers at the store daily about the penny move and we all wonder why six months? September is still a ways away. Just do it tomorrow. People are sick of them. It's a stupid currency number. Most people walk off not taking them. You wind up buried in them at tills. They lay around on the floor. Nobody wants to count them or deal with them.

This situation would not have occurred had they not debased the metal in coins, including the penny, so much. Debasing the metal in coins is what allows inflation to occur.

While nobody may want to count or deal with the 94% steel pennies, there are people who want to count or deal with the 98% copper pennies.

[dpwozney]

Nixing penny saves $7M less annually than promised

$11M savings become $4M after penny redemption costs calculated

Canadian Press | Posted: Dec 19, 2012 4:35 PM ET | Last Updated: Dec 19, 2012 9:32 PM ET

Getting rid of the penny isn't going to save taxpayers as much as the federal government indicated in the March budget.

When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the impending withdrawal of the penny, he said the government would save $11 million a year in production costs.

That's because it costs about 1.6 cents to make each one-cent coin.

But a new analysis of costs, released today, shows that taxpayers will likely only see a savings of about $4 million each year over a six-year period.

That's because it will cost about $38.3 million to redeem some six billion pennies over that same six years.

Here's how the math works.

It's expected to cost $53 million to pay the banks for the face value of the coins, as well as another $27 million in handling and administration costs by the Royal Canadian Mint.

Recycling the zinc and copper from melted-down pennies will bring in about $42.5 million in revenue, leaving the government in the red at just over $38 million.

Adding the $11 million in annual savings from not minting any more pennies gives the government annual savings of almost $4 million per year.

The mint stopped making the coins in May and will stop distributing pennies to financial institutions as of Feb. 4, 2013.

© The Canadian Press, 2012

[dpwozney]

Getting rid of the penny isn't going to save taxpayers as much as the federal government indicated in the March budget.

When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced the impending withdrawal of the penny, he said the government would save $11 million a year in production costs.

That's because it costs about 1.6 cents to make each one-cent coin.

But a new analysis of costs, released today, shows that taxpayers will likely only see a savings of about $4 million each year over a six-year period.

Well, at least, once the 98% copper pennies and 98.4% zinc pennies are out of the way, the dollar can be substantially devalued.

[DA_Champion]

There are no pennies in Australia, and I still hate carrying change.

[RedDog]

There was no need to punt the end from September to February. JUST DO IT ALREADY!

A far greater concern are these new bills, as much as I otherwise like them. They stick together and are a cash office nightmare. The new fives and tens are coming so it'll be the whole till. Cashiers are terrified. One gave $100. in 20's to someone wanting $60. cash back off their debit card with purchase at the till. The customer fessed up and gave $40. back in honesty. The line from veterans at the tills is to stack them alternately in the till slot - a clear strip one way and the next bill the other way. Imagine the delays to customers as cashiers dick around playing with the direction of money. They're too slippery. Again, Australia had a version of this technology first.

[Muddy]

When I was a Lad there were these big pennies, about the size of a half dollar. Whoops , who here is old enough to remember them . My apologies. Anyway in those days no one stepped over a penny. A kid could go into a store with three pennies and come out with nine pieces of candy.
But the big reason I think we should get rid of the penny is weight. With the replacement of the paper one and two dollar bills I now have an abundance of coins in my starboard pocket. I think this is causing my hip problems. Loonies have also wiped a favourite pastime. Playing b..l s..t poker with serial numbers on the dollar bills.