Will Public Bring US Pennies To Deal With Canada's Loss?

you're in the wrong hobby if you're going to get butthurt about losing one penny per transaction.

A couple of pennies here or there on my transactions has never been a concern for me.

This statement should perhaps be clarified a little bit. The prices in major supermarkets and department stores, where multiple purchases are normal, are still ticketed to the nearest cent; the price only gets rounded on the total at the checkout.

For small corner stores, fast food outlets and other places where people usually only buy one or two items, the ticket prices themselves are indeed rounded. Usually rounded down, because $1.95 still has the same "that's not $2" marketing appeal as $1.99. In Australian Macdonalds restaurants, for example, the prices for most menu items end in a "5". Plus the store gets the good PR from actually reducing their prices.

As for the OP's question, I assume the answer is an easy "No, they will not". American coins are not legal tender in Canada. American and Canadian cents may circulate side-by-side in the border regions, but that's only because both sides currently have 1 cent coins that have very similar appearance - people can pretend not to notice. But when the cent disappears from circulation in Canada, any attempt to use an American cent will stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. The cash register drawers currently assigned to 1 cent coins will no doubt quickly be allocated to some other purpose, so shopkeepers will be unwilling to accept or give out American cents in change.

in the last 50 years there have been over 33 BILLION pennies struck.

with more and more transactions being handled electronically, even after all the copper cents are pulled and recycled, I have a feeling very few people in this community will live long enough to see the day when there is a shortage that causes US pennies to fill a need north of the border.

yes, they will get a little more scarce as time goes by, but then again so will the generation that remembers them (or even cares). most of the "now generation" is happy paying 18%-28% interest on everything they buy, do you think they will care about 2-3 cents?

I don't think you will come out even. Stores such as Walmart force producers to move to third world countries to save pennies on cost of products. I believe that these stores will strategically set their prices so that the combined total always has to round up in their favour.






Actually it's two pennies per transaction. LOL. In this economy, when we are already tax stressed from the government in Canada, I don't want to lose any more of the money I'm left with out of principle. There are people on the forum talking about saving aluminum cans to get 40 cents per pound and buy silver... I think I'd save more per week toward buying what I want if I'm not losing pennies per transaction.


The report from the mint says gradually withdrawn. I don't believe it will take all that many years for this to take effect, look at the one and two dollar bills. It won't be the money stupid "now generation" that will be bringing the American pennies into Canada's circulation. It will be the rest of us cheapskates! LOL

I'm not trying to argue with anyone in any way. Just seeing what everyone's input is on the subject. Jbuck, in your Country you don't pay nearly the amount of income tax and sales tax as we do in many Canadian Provinces... For those of us who don't have as much purchasing power with our income, we don't want rounding that's not in our favour.

Because if you put it that way, talking about nickels and dimes. There is nowhere in this Country where you can go buy something for five or ten cents except a variety store to buy a gummy candy or two... So why not intead of doing away with the penny (which costs less to make than banknotes with anti-counterfeiting technology) doen't Canada and the United States (because you know they are going to drop their penny sooner rather than later too) just drop a zero off of our money? The way Mexico dropped three zeros off of their money back in 1993.

Libertad, yes I have been to Toronto many times. It's the same at the western end of the 401 with purchasing grocery bags, I carry my own reusable bags everywhere I shop. I agree that the tax should be prefigured into the price on the shelves. It's supposed to save the environment by you not wanting to spend the money on bags that won't biodegrade in the landfills, and bring your own cloth bags.

Sure Canada and US inflation isn't to the extent of what Mexico's was. That's why I said drop 1 zero intead of 3. Because although it isn't 1000 dollars for a chocolate bar here in Canada, it is 1 dollar. When 40 years ago it was 10 cents for a chocolate bar, I earned 3 dollars per hour at work and enjoyed a better standard of life than I do making 30 dollars per hour today. Inflation is rising faster today than it did in the 40 years until now, so at that rate we'll be paying 15 dollars for a chocolate bar in the year 2050!