The real reason for your proposed dollar coin

[Gregg]

There is already a seigniorage fee associated with the printing of paper money, and considering that $1 paper bills have short lifespans and have to be replaced with new paper bills at fairly short intervals, that fee becomes very considerable even when the amount in circulation remains the same. Since the $1 coin is expected to outlast perhaps ten $1 paper bills, there will be a net saving on that expense.

According to the article your anticipated benefit from the longer life from coins isn't that significant. Our dollar bills lasted only about a year but yours have an average life of about five years and cost next to nothing to make. The coin will be, relatively, much more expensive. The GAO calculates that there will be no net savings on production costs between coins and paper and the entire advantage will be in the windfall gain from seigniorage.

That actually astounds me. I would never have thought so, and I would have guesses the working life of a paper note to be about a year, a coin I would have guessed 50 years, at least.

[Burnaby49]

There is already a seigniorage fee associated with the printing of paper money, and considering that $1 paper bills have short lifespans and have to be replaced with new paper bills at fairly short intervals, that fee becomes very considerable even when the amount in circulation remains the same. Since the $1 coin is expected to outlast perhaps ten $1 paper bills, there will be a net saving on that expense.

According to the article your anticipated benefit from the longer life from coins isn't that significant. Our dollar bills lasted only about a year but yours have an average life of about five years and cost next to nothing to make. The coin will be, relatively, much more expensive. The GAO calculates that there will be no net savings on production costs between coins and paper and the entire advantage will be in the windfall gain from seigniorage.

That actually astounds me. I would never have thought so, and I would have guesses the working life of a paper note to be about a year, a coin I would have guessed 50 years, at least.

Our "paper" currency is no longer paper. Paper is being phased out and being replaced with a synthetic polymer, in other words plastic. The $100, $50, and $20 bills done, $10 and $5 to follow. They were changed from paper to allow for more enhanced anti-counterfeiting technology such as clear windows and holograms. However an additional benefit is durability. They last about 2 to 3 times longer than paper bills.

An interesting story about the durability of coins. In 1968 decimal coins were introduced in Britain. Before that it was the old shillings, farthings, pence etc. When I was there in the early to mid 60's they still had the old penny design. They were HUGE, a 1 1/4 inch diameter copper disc for an essentially worthless coin. The size was standard from the early 1800's. Even in the 1960's it was not unusual to get pennies in change that were over 100 years old. I have one in front of me now. It is worn so smooth you can barely tell what is on it but the date is clear, 1863, the middle of your civil war. I got it in change in 1968.

[Burnaby49]

Tomorrow the Canadian penny will no longer be distributed by banks. They will take them but not give them out. With six billion in circulation (about 170 for each Canadian!) it will take a while to wring them out of the float. The disappearance of the penny will only affect cash transactions, which constitute a rapidly declining percentage of total transactions, so it may not be a big deal overall. Anyhow an article below on where we stand at the moment. Your turn is next.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Canada+ ... story.html

[Burnaby49]

We get a Doodle!

http://www.thestar.com/life/2013/02/04/ ... oodle.html

http://www.google.ca/

I hope Google got clearance from the Royal Canadian Mint. The penny is copyrighted and the government goes after violators like this major malefactor who had the audacity to show a picture of the penny on his indie record album cover. Puts noted litigator Disney to shame!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/20 ... penny.html

Anyhow the elimination of the penny is apparently the first step down the slippery slope to rid us of all small currency.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/pe ... story.html

[Pottapaug1938]

"We get a Doodle!"

http://www.thestar.com/life/2013/02/04/ ... oodle.html

http://www.google.ca/

Unfortunately, just on your side of the border....

[Burnaby49]

Tomorrow the Canadian penny will no longer be distributed by banks. They will take them but not give them out. With six billion in circulation (about 170 for each Canadian!) it will take a while to wring them out of the float. The disappearance of the penny will only affect cash transactions, which constitute a rapidly declining percentage of total transactions, so it may not be a big deal overall. Anyhow an article below on where we stand at the moment. Your turn is next.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Canada+ ... story.html

My mistake in my own post! According to the National Post there aren't six billion Canadian pennies in circulation; there are about thirty-five billion. If so there are about a thousand pennies in circulation for each Canadian. Damned if I know where they are, I don't have them.

This one number shows why we stopped making them. No matter how many were in the float, or how many the mint produced, there was never enough. They just disappeared. Maybe aliens?

[The Observer]

No, they just ended up here being circulated in the US economy. Always finding Canadian coins in my pockets. I'd send it back to you guys, but you would only end up giving it to another US tourist who would once again bring it back home with them since they couldn't find anything in Canada that sells for a penny.

[Pottapaug1938]

I have quite a few Canadian cents which were brought back by tourists and then sold for chump change to a coin dealer. I buy them at a discount from exchange rate, and then separate out the boronze coins. The rest come across the border with me; and corner stores are (or at least, always were) happy to take them, since banks charge them a fee for rolled coin.

[Burnaby49]

No, they just ended up here being circulated in the US economy. Always finding Canadian coins in my pockets. I'd send it back to you guys, but you would only end up giving it to another US tourist who would once again bring it back home with them since they couldn't find anything in Canada that sells for a penny.

We have a reciprocal agreement on that one. If I have a dozen pennies in my wallet probably one or two are American. American tourists are probably a prime source, spending their pocket change without noticing. I suspect the main interchange, both ways, is Canadian shoppers doing cross-border trips (very popular here in Vancouver where the residential areas run right to the border) to buy groceries, gas etc. They promiscuously spend Canadian pennies in the states and their American change here.

[Pottapaug1938]

No, they just ended up here being circulated in the US economy. Always finding Canadian coins in my pockets. I'd send it back to you guys, but you would only end up giving it to another US tourist who would once again bring it back home with them since they couldn't find anything in Canada that sells for a penny.

We have a reciprocal agreement on that one. If I have a dozen pennies in my wallet probably one or two are American. American tourists are probably a prime source, spending their pocket change without noticing. I suspect the main interchange, both ways, is Canadian shoppers doing cross-border trips (very popular here in Vancouver where the residential areas run right to the border) to buy groceries, gas etc. They promiscuously spend Canadian pennies in the states and their American change here.

I often get US coins in change when I'm in Montreal or Ottawa. I occasionally get Canadian coins down here, but since most places now refuse to take them it happens much less than it did 50 years ago, when Canadian coins were common in circulation. Heck -- when my grandmother sold her house in 1995, and I went up before the sale and swept the lawn with a metal detector, I found two silver Canadian dimes and several Canadian pennies among the rest.

[Burnaby49]

Its been seven months since the Canadian penny was taken out of circulation and absolutely nobody cares. Not a complaint, not a newspaper article (at least that I've see), just gone like they never existed. Retailers and customers adjusted immediately. As far as I'm concerned the only change is a lot less clutter in my wallet.

[The Observer]

Its been seven months since the Canadian penny was taken out of circulation and absolutely nobody cares.

That is only because your Freemen haven't latched onto this as more evidence of a vast, evil conspiracy to take away their God-given rights as well as a sneaky way to eliminate .01 from the decimal system.

[Burnaby49]

Its been seven months since the Canadian penny was taken out of circulation and absolutely nobody cares.

That is only because your Freemen haven't latched onto this as more evidence of a vast, evil conspiracy to take away their God-given rights as well as a sneaky way to eliminate .01 from the decimal system.

Actually the decimal system survives just fine, thank you. The loss of the penny only affects the change in cash transactions. Credit and debit payments, along with cheques, are still down to the penny since you don't need steel/copper/nickel discs to pay them. All billing records are also still down to the last .01. The only place the penny no longer exists is in my wallet.

[Pottapaug1938]

Down here, from time to time, I read hysterical posts/articles wailing about how the ebil corporashuns are going to use the abolition of the penny to sneakily raise the price of what we buy (and/or the ebil gummint is going to use the abolition to raise our taxes and spend the money on [insert a cause or causes hated by the author].

Of course, they fail to realize that 1) the continued existence of the penny has never prevented a price or tax increase before; and 2) since any rounding will take place on the FINAL total, the net effect will only be a couple of cents -- down, as well as up, depending on that final digit.

But then, why let facts get in the way of a soul-satisfying paranoid rant?

[fortinbras]

I am pretty sure that the penny will not be taken out of circulation.
Without it, how could we possibly offer a fitting price for your thoughts?

[The Observer]

I am pretty sure that the penny will not be taken out of circulation.
Without it, how could we possibly offer a fitting price for your thoughts?

For some, it would still be an excessive reward.

[Pottapaug1938]

I am pretty sure that the penny will not be taken out of circulation.
Without it, how could we possibly offer a fitting price for your thoughts?

Considering how rarely an actual penny is offered, I'm sure that the metaphor will survive -- just as a conversion to the metric system will not abolish expressions like "walk a mile in my shoes...."

[Number Six]

I love cliches, I wish I could use 100 a day, and the penny has spawned as many cliches and metaphors as any other denomination. Here are a few good quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/penny.html

Coins last a lot longer than bills, though nowhere near as popular than paper. The more trendy and acceptable coins are vs. bills the better. We have a new $100 colorful bill coming out next month supposedly. I can't wait.

[webhick]

We have a new $100 colorful bill coming out next month supposedly. I can't wait.

[LaVidaRoja]

No sparkle-glitter unicorns? I'm devastated!!