Monday, February 4, 2013

a penny for your thoughts...

I wonder .. 
will we still be saying 'a penny for your thoughts' in the future?

Today marks the official end of the copper coin in Canada.

February 4, 2013 is the day the banks quit issuing pennies.
The last Canadian penny was produced in May of last year.
The penny will soon be an artifact.

No worries here.
I won't be out of pennies any time soon.


These were the ones I pulled from my coin jar yesterday.
I think I'll keep them!

And then I have a folder of pennies...
one for every year since I was born.
Now that is a lot of pennies.
And I have a few' really old' ones.
Even older than me! 

I don't think the penny will disappear overnight...
but merchants will now be rounding off purchases to the nearest nickel.
Up or down.
Electronic transactions will not be affected.

Phasing out the penny is a cost-saving government plan.
 $11 million of the annual budget goes to supply us with pennies...
since each penny costs about double its face value to produce.

Will the penny be missed?
Apparently Australia and Switzerland don't miss theirs!
The USA is still debating...
but has chosen to keep their one cent coin for now.

So...how about 'a nickel for your thoughts' about our pretty penny?
 







21 comments:

  1. It is a strange feeling when they phase out something that we have been so used to. Here in the UK we do still have pennies but they are smaller than the huge pennies that we had when I was young.

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  2. I still have a collection of old pennies somewhere, what does one do with them?! The little ones we have now are a perfect nuisance and everyone tries to get rid of them as quickly as possible.

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  3. It's kind of sad and I would not be a fan of the "rounding up"...things cost enough as is! Twice, restaurant servers have done that(up to the next dollar!) to me when giving me my change back. It kept them from getting a good tip. It felt presumptuous to me! But I can see the savings for the gov't...and we could certainly use that in the US!

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  4. I didn't realize that so many countries had stopped minting pennies. They keep talking about it here, but it really goes nowhere. It would be odd to not have pennies but no doubt we'd adjust.

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  5. Great post Judy! I love your collection - my husband likes to collect them too. I have a few flattened ones too from when we put them on the railroad tracks many years ago. Did you ever do that?
    Mennonite Central Committee Ontario has started a new project called Pennies for Haiti where 33 cents buys a seedling for the ongoing reforestation project in Haiti - check it out at this link: http://mcco.ca/penniesforhaiti

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  6. Up or down? That translates to up, right? =D You let us know how it works. I'm inclined to think that it won't be long before we say goodbye to our pennies, too.

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  7. I have seen all kinds of craft ideas to use with the pennies. That is one way of remembering them, not that I will be doing that necessarily, but I like the idea of it =)

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  8. The end of an era. I wonder if all those old sayings will survive? I head on CBC about someone tiling a floor with pennies. Perhaps the guest bath, where someone might go to spend a penny?!

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  9. I have so many U.S pennies....I try not to spend them and once a year I count and put them in rolls. Cash them in for paper money and that is what I allow for slot machines as we pass through Nevada in route to Montana :-)
    I suppose I would be ok with rolling nickels :-)

    I love that you have a collection, that is pretty awesome..

    Hugs!

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  10. I love that you have a penny folder. I was going to post about the demise of the penny as well...and maybe still will but I surely don't have such a great selection of them to show and tell.
    I doubt I'll miss them since I always get rid of them out of my purse asap.

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  11. What a wonderful collection for your coin collection. You will want to treasure that for awhile. I often leave my change at the counter in the penny jar, so I think I will miss it that much. Most of my coins get wrapped and go to Good Will.

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  12. Judy . . . funny thing is your post, including the title, was in my head, with a photo already in my camerea... BUT I do not ahave a penny for every year since I was born. It must have been a fun thing to collect.I got a shiny 2012 penny on my last trip to the Dollar Store on Friday, and I'll keep that. I guess now we can honestly say that we don't owe anyone a penny.

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  13. There are a lot of sayings that hang on even when they are long out of date. They might die off when all us "oldies" are gone...maybe. How fun that you have a penny for every year since you were born!

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  14. I'll miss the pennies - but things change everywhere. My husband, on the other hand, hates having loose change so he's thrilled with this.

    I think it's great that you have a penny from every year of your life. Will you move to collecting nickles from now on?

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  15. I visited the Denver Mint a few years ago that makes the USA pennies and learned that those pennies actually are costing our government much more than one cent each to make-- nickels also cost more than five cents to make I would still hate to see them go. I imagine in the future all actual money may becoem obsolete, but I think that will happen after we are long gone.

    I like your penny collection for every year of your life, Judy!

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  16. Who could have imagined such a thing while we were children? It is silly to have pennies that cost more to make than they are worth though.

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  17. I didn't realize that today is the last day for the penny. We have about 20 dollars worth rolled up. Do you know if the bank will take them for cash? We had intended to do that before now and I hope it's not too late. Or we were going to donate them to a good cause but can they in turn, cash them in? I don't think I'll miss the penny. They take up too much room in the change purse. That's a great idea to have a penny for every year of your life! Great post Judy.

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  18. No we don't miss them. It's certainly lightened the load in my change purse and I don't even notice it anymore.

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  19. If that happens here, what will it sound like to repeat one of my dad's most used quotes..."a penny(nickel)saved is a penny earned." Whenever we would see a penny on the ground, he would stop and pick it up. Today, I find myself doing the same. My thoughts as I read your most interesting post today.

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  20. I guess inflation affects everything sooner or later ... the price of a thought has just gone up from a penny to a nickle !

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~ Ralph Waldo Emerson