Today, in Canada, marks the day to the official end of the penny. As of Feb. 4, 2013, the Royal Canadian Mint will no longer circulate the one cent penny and all retailers throughout the country will adopt this.
Starting on Monday, all cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest nickel: $1.02 will be rounded down to $1.00 and $1.04 will be rounded up to $1.05. For debit, cheque or credit card transactions, there will be no need to do any rounding. The penny will maintain its value in perpetuity and will always be allowed in transactions.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced last March that the federal government would end the penny because it would save taxpayers about $11 million each year. Officials are also urging Canadians to donate their pennies.
Be sure to check the year of your penny, though. Pre-1996 pennies are worth least twice its value since they were made mostly with copper. Here is a table of the approximate estimation values:
– 1942 to 1977 Cent Copper value: 1.87 cents
– 1978 to 1979 Cent Copper value: 1.86 cents
– 1980 to 1981 Cent Copper value: 1.61 cents
– 1982 to 1996 Cent Copper value: 1.43 cents
– 1997 to 1999 Cent Copper value: 0.04 cents
The same thing applies to pre-1984 American pennies.
Leave a Comment