Budget 2012: Death of the Penny and increased X-border limits

[magnet]

New Travellers’ Exemption Limits effective June 1, 2012:

More than 24 hours increases from $50 to $200
More than 48 hours increases $400 to $800
More than 7 days increases $750 to $800

No more minting of pennies:
Perhaps the measure that will have the most visible and universal effect on Canadians is a plan to eliminate the penny. Starting this fall, the Royal Canadian Mint will no longer put pennies in circulation, saving the government $11-million a year and bringing Canada in line with countries such as New Zealand and Australia. (Consumers will be able to continue using pennies “indefinitely,” but prices will be rounded to the nearest five-cent increment if pennies aren’t available.)

[BGY11]

My $0.02 on this.....(while the penny still exists)

I've seen a lot of bickering about this on the news sites, but the reality is that this isn't going to affect people as much as they think. Yes, some of your purchases are going to be rounded up a cent or two, but that's only if you pay via cash. Debit & credit purchases are still going to be calculated to the nearest cent. Purchases rounded down will help offset this as well.

[magnet]

The other controversial item is the increase in the age at which Old Age security starts, from 65 to 67, but not beginning until 2023.

[timlocke]

I remember in the days of PST that the tax used to be in tables to the penny.

I sincerely hope that the total including HST will be computed to the 5 cent point. So that the concept of the individual penny disappears.
Maybe we can finally get rid of stuff advertised as $9.99 instead of $10.


We will see. Who'll bet me that there will be a save the penny movement within a week.

[cooper83]

New Travellers’ Exemption Limits effective June 1, 2012:

More than 24 hours increases from $50 to $200
More than 48 hours increases $400 to $800
More than 7 days increases $750 to $800

This is long overdue. And perfect timing for my vacation to the US in June

And good riddance to getting rid of the penny! That thing's been useless for a solid decade now, if not longer.

[PokerFace]

Even taking inflation into account, a penny for your thoughts is all that I'm willing to pay.

My ex-girlfriend was named Penny, but when she changed her name to Bucky and stopped shaving her legs, she became even more worthless.

On October 31, 2006 (Happy Halloween), New Zealand got rid of the nickel (its one and two cent coins were dumped in 2000).

Denmark and Norway have their smallest coin as the 50-cent piece, but Norway's Central Bank recently announced that the 50-øre (cent) coin will no longer be legal tender starting May 1, 2012. It will be withdrawn because it no longer circulates as an ordinary coin used for payment.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_o...anadian_dollar
[Coins of the Canadian dollar]

The Canadian Fifty-Cent Piece, though in circulation, is far less circulated than the other coins. Between the years 2000 and 2007 the Royal Canadian Mint struck 15,950,000 Fifty Cent Pieces; in comparison, during the same period 2,262,165,000 Twenty-Five Cent Pieces were released (approximately 142 times as many).

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http://www.capitalnews.ca/index.php/news/nickel
[Economists say ditch the nickel]

OTTAWA | January 28, 2011

Canada is behind other countries and should have eliminated the penny in the 1980s, according to a study by Aubry and the Desjardins Group in 2008. The study recommends getting rid of the penny as soon as possible, and then removing the nickel a few years after.

Aubry [an economist with Desjardins Group in Ottawa] says a lot of people still believe that if coins are eliminated, businesses will round up prices and cause inflation. But he says this hasn't happened in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, which have already eliminated smaller denominations.

If the nickel were removed, all cash purchases would be rounded to the nearest decimal. Both Palmer [the so-called godfather of the ban-the-penny movement] and Aubry say this would also give the [Canadian] government a chance to fix other problems with the coinage system. This includes replacing the quarter with a 20-cent coin and possibly adding a 50-cent coin, both of which could be smaller and lighter than current coins.

With those proposed changes, Canada would then be following in New Zealand's footprints. A Canadian version of Xena: Warrior Princess could also be launched in the near future, starring Mary Walsh as Marg Delahunty: Princess Warrior. Rob Ford would of course call 911 each time it aired.

Note: Both Canada and the United States dumped the 20-cent piece.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-...States_coin%29
[Twenty-cent piece]

[recneps77]

That excerpt on the 50c piece surprised me - I had no idea they were actually still making them (at least as of 2007), just existing ones in circulation.

P.s. good riddance, penny. You won't be missed

[classicsat]

Sales taxes have little bearig on things.

Yes, one could see prices change so the taxed price lands on an even 5 cent point, which is a likely scenario for small retailers who do a cash business.

If I ran a store, and were permitted such, I would round up on bills below $30, and down on bills over $30.

[PokerFace]

Related thread:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=124100
[Time to Ditch the Penny?]

Am I going too far off topic? Perhaps, but I'm still confident that it's close enough to the disappearing penny issue -- or at least still interesting enough to post here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_o...anadian_dollar
[Coins of the Canadian dollar]

The 50¢ piece is regularly minted, but not in large quantities; it is very rare to come across this coin in circulation, although an unsuccessful attempt was made by the Mint to promote the use of the coin when a special edition was released in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth II ascending the throne (which was circulated through the Laura Secord store chain in Canada).

Between 1997 and 2001, the One Dollar Loon coin was not issued for general circulation. Due to the high demand for the Two Dollar Polar Bear coin (mintages between 1997 and 2001 were as high as 29 million in 2000 alone), the dollar coin was only produced for the standard collector sets that were made available on an annual basis, such as the Uncirculated, O Canada, Specimen and Proof sets.

On February 21, 2007, the mint announced that they would be producing a 100 kilogram coin the size of a large pizza with a face value of $1 million. This new coin bears the highest face value in the world, using approximately $2 million of 99.999% pure bullion, and 5 were produced and sold to investors.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/0...28796820070503
[Canada's $1 Million coin]

http://www.dogonews.com/2010/6/27/wo...etches-4mm-usd
[It's a beauty: Canada's $1 Million coin sells for $4 Million USD]

http://www.dogonews.com/2011/11/1/au...on-dollar-coin
[Take a look at the world's biggest, heaviest and most valuable coin ever made -- It's Australia's version of the Million dollar coin, but back then it was worth over 55 Million Australian dollars (about $57 Million Canadian).]

http://www.australiangeographic.com....ds-biggest.htm
[Another view of Australia's Huge coin]

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The 2011 Royal Canadian Mint's mintage figures will apparently be released very soon, but the 2010 figures are still interesting enough:

http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/50-cents-5300012
[Mintage figures for our 50-cent piece]

http://www.mint.ca/store/mint/learn/...rrency-1100028
[Royal Canadian Mint: Mintage figures for our Canadian coins]

Over 1 billion circulation coins are minted each year at The Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg.

There were only 150,000 of the 50-cent pieces minted in 2010 (same as in 2009).

However, in 2002, 14,440,000 50-cent pieces were minted as part of the 50th anniversary of Elizabeth II ascending the throne.

Pennies minted in 2010 = 486,200,000 [2009 = 455,680,000] [2006 = 1,261,883,000]

Dimes minted in 2010 = 150,700,000 [2009 = 370,700,000]

Quarters minted in 2010 = 62,205,000 [2009 = 266,766,000]

Nickels minted in 2010 = 60,480,000 [2009 = 266,448,000]

Loonies minted in 2010 = 24,460,000 [2009 = 39,601,000]

Toonies minted in 2010 = 8,220,000 [2009 = 38,430,000]

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God Bless America:

http://www.coinnews.net/2012/01/13/u...p-8-2-billion/
[US Mint's 2011 Coin Production]

The United States Mint produced over 8.2 billion coins for circulation in 2011, which was an increase of more than 1.8 billion, or 28.7 percent, from the nearly 6.4 billion coins minted in 2010.

Number of Lincoln cents produced in 2011: 4,938,540,000