It will now cost more money to ask someone what they’re thinking. Four cents more to be exact.
The Canadian penny, the lowest currency has been around since 1858, but as of this month, the penny is dead. The penny was chosen by the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, to be phased out as the cost of production is more than it is worth. However, the penny is still able to be used as legal tender but is no longer able to be given back as change.
How this works is that the nearest two cents is rounded to the nearest five cents. One and two cents will be rounded down, and three and four cents rounded up to five cents. Here and there a couple cents will be lost, but overall the penny will soon be completely gone.
With the same look for the majority of its lifetime, the penny’s head presented the profile of the reigning British monarch (Queen Elizabeth for most of us) and its tails showed a vine of our nation’s symbol: the maple leaf. The last penny was minted in Winnipeg in 2012, changing the amount of copper from 95 per cent to 94 per cent steel by the last time it was made.
In a poll conducted by the Canadian government, almost 30 per cent of adults were opposed to the death of the penny.
Pennies should be brought to banks if possible in order to take them out of circulation. Even though they are still allowed to be used, not all businesses will accept them and are expected to return these coins to the bank.
