They should do it. I never use pennies anymore, I dont even accept them in my change anymore. I would much rather loose 1 - 4 cents on something than carry them around.
The senate also recommended ending prohibition a few times, for far better reasons than saving a few bucks. Let's get going on that recommendation first.
Instead of ending the penny and making the 5-cent piece the defacto penny how about revaluing the currency to adjust the value of a penny upwards?
So you'd take the current Canadian dollar and replace it with a new Canadian dollar at an exchange rate of, say, 20:1. Then the new penny would be worth .20 in the old currency. It'd be good for a while against inflation.
Trivia: A penny used to be the measure of a daily wage for a workman. In old England of circa 1,000AD the penny was a silver coin about the size of a modern dime. Later on it was a large, one ounce copper coin about the same size as a 1 ounce silver coin is today. Up until the 1920's the Brits even had a half-penney denomination to represent a wage for low-skilled workers.
Get rid of it or make it out of cheaper material. If it costs six hundred pennies to make one, then it's not worth keeping. The only reason I would keep the penny is because somebody gets screwed for a few cents every time they make a cash purchase if the price has to be rounded to the nearest nickel.
So you'd take the current Canadian dollar and replace it with a new Canadian dollar at an exchange rate of, say, 20:1. Then the new penny would be worth .20 in the old currency. It'd be good for a while against inflation.
Trivia: A penny used to be the measure of a daily wage for a workman. In old England of circa 1,000AD the penny was a silver coin about the size of a modern dime. Later on it was a large, one ounce copper coin about the same size as a 1 ounce silver coin is today. Up until the 1920's the Brits even had a half-penney denomination to represent a wage for low-skilled workers.
Doing My Part
Box 938
Fort St. James, BC V0J 1P0
and you will get a genuine certified "I did my part to kill the penny" certificate.
You may also fill the envelopes with loonies and we'll send back an "I support bring back the paper dollar" certificate.