It doesn't make 'cents' to keep the penny: study
A new study says it doesn't make 'cents' to keep the penny.
In fact, only 37 per cent of Canadians still use the coin for purchases, found a survey conducted by Desjardins Group.
According to economists with the group, there are about 20 billion pennies in circulation -- amounting to about 600 per Canadian.
But between 2001 and 2005, the government issued an average of 816,000,000 pennies annually -- indicating that consumers tend to stockpile pennies or simply throw them away.
To keep the pennies in circulation, Canadians are losing about $130 million per year in production, storage, transportation and various costs, say the economists that conducted the research.
They are proposing that Canada withdraw the penny, following in the steps of Australia and New Zealand.
Francois Dupuis, vice-president and chief economist at Desjardins' Economic Studies Department, said he doesn't think removing the penny will increase prices.
This has been a long time coming. However, what I am having trouble understanding is why has this taken so long to come to fruition? Most people I know don't use the penny anymore and having a penny tub just isn't worth it anymore. Have you ever tried to taking your pennies to a bank to "cash" them in? The banks take ten percent right off the top, who do they think they are? My publicity agent?
This is the first time I've heard of people licensed to print money and they can somehow still find a way to print it at a loss.
Although, I don't know what this will do to comedian Steven Wright's: "It's a penny for your thoughts, but your put your two cents in... someone's making a penny" bit
2 comments:
I don't know what bank you're going to, but I've taken rolls and rolls of pennies to the Royal bank and they've not charged me anything for the transaction.
In my opinion, before they get rid of the penny, the government needs to force businesses to include taxes in their prices (much like what they do elsewhere on the planet). Or else business is going to profit penny by penny on transactions that don't round off to the nearest nickel. It adds up and I don't like the idea. If they make it so the price you see is the price you pay, then businesses will be forced to set the prices to the nearest nickel and that way we know how much they're screwing us out of.
The Bank I was tried to cash in my change was at CIBC.
I hear what you're saying, there is the temptation to start pricing items to take advantage of the rounding up. And that is a good point. Personally, however, I loathe the penny so much, I'm willing to be taken advantage of. Can't stand walking around with all that shrapnel in my pocket as Darrell F. so succinctly puts it.
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