I've read that pennies have virtually disappeared from Canada since the government quit minting them and started melting them down. I live in the southern half of the US, and I occasionally find Canadian pennies (and rarely nickels, dimes, and quarters). Sometimes I'll find 3 or 4 Canadian cents in a single shift. I would imagine that the closer to the border you get, the more Canadian pennies you will find. They're practically gone from Canada, but they still exist here. Are there now more Canadian pennies in circulation in the US than in Canada?
=> your hunch is probably correct => I'm sure that our Canadian pennies are slowly migrating into the states, where the penny is still alive and well ... ... sadly, collecting Canadian pennies was my first coin-love (back when my cool ol' Granny was still around to show me the coin collecting ropes)
There are millions and millions of them still in Canadian pockets, drawers, boxes, and bags. Since the stores really don't take them ... they round up or down to the nearest nickel, they just don't circulate like they did before becuase you don't get them in change. The people that say that they are finding it hard to find them are those that go to the banks trying to buy boxes of them. Many churches, schools, and non-profit orgs urged people to give them their old pennies so that they could weed out the copper ones .. but copper hadn't been used for them for decades, just plated crap. I would imagine that bordering states are getting a few more in circulation because the Canadian shoppers slip in a few 'useless' pennies from back home when they are across the border. I don't think that the Mint melting old copper will have any effect whatsoever on prices and scarcities ... there hasn't been from all the scrap silver melts.