What happened with the Canadian Cents after 2012?

Another poster started a thread about the "Death Watch" of the US Cent, asking:

"The Canadian cent ended in 2012. How long before the U.S. cent goes Bye-Bye?
I'm kind of rooting for the cent to end because I think it will give the hobby a boost."

Here's the thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/death-watch.385368/​

As I posted there, I don't think the US Cent is going anywhere because the US Mint is self-supporting with all the collectors items they sell and the cost of materials to produce the US Cent have not gone up.​

MY Question Is: What happened with the Canadian Cents after 2012? Was it hoarded? Are the Canadian Cents worth more now? Do they sell for a lot of $ on Canadian eBay? Or are they only worth half a Canadian Cent now?

 

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Having been working in the industry in Montreal in 2012, I can tell you that yes, many people started hoarding them. There was also a successful campaign in the subsequent years by the Banks / Govt to bring in / get people to turn in the extant population of Pennies.

Your question as to value is very broad, but broadly speaking, the scarce / valuable dates identified before 2012 continue to be the better dates, while common dates are made readily available by the ones already in collections / hoarded in the leadup to the elimination of the Penny. No, they will do not better on Canadian Ebay (many Canadian users are on .com, and the two sites have very little enforced boundary), and most Pennies will be worth very little.

 

That's interesting. I wonder if we can expect the same to happen if down the line the US Cent is ever retired.

You can get a roll of US Cents from any bank in the US now. But you can't get a roll of Canadian Cents from a bank, so, why wouldn't a roll of Canadian Cents be worth at least CAD $1 a roll? Or are they? Or is it because there are still so many out there, available?

In comparison, there are likely a Hundred Billion US Cents in circulation. (If not quite a hundred billion, then close to it.) And there will be tens of billions hoarded if/when they ever decide to pull the US Cent from circulation because, well, we're a nation of hoarders. So by my calculation, whatever a roll of Canadian Cents is worth now, a roll of US Cents will likely be worth less by half, due to there being at least twice as many available. Unless the US Mint offers 2-cents on the cent to remove them from circulation. But why should they? It doesn't hurt the Mint if people hoard them out of misguided speculation. The opposite is probably true - it will cost the US Mint more to dispose of them than they are worth!

 

Hoarding, or collecting coins IN CASE they become valuable has never worked out for me. I have tried with Bi-Centennial quarters and halfs, and with Maryland State quarters, now with Tuskegee Airmen and Washington Crossing quarters - all still worth face value. I will not live long enough for pennies to increase in value, and if they do, the market will be flooded by other hoarders in far greater numbers than I can possibly save.

 

Since the penny shortage of 73. Many have wanted to eliminate pennies but no store wants to round up or down here in the US. Stores should round up if they don't want to deal with pennies. But I've never heard of any store wanting to doing that. I guess those pennies will break their budget.

 

The easiest way if for manufactures to price their products in 25¢ increments...then compete in volume if need be...making their product slightly larger or slightly smaller to accommodate the change.

The only other issue is sales tax. I have no doubt you can find political support for rounding sales tax up to the next minimum increment.

 

A while back, I bought a number of Unc rolls of Canadian cents from the 1950s. I like the design and lustrous red examples are really quite attractive. I remember getting them once in a while as a kid. Back then, Canadian coins were pretty much thought of as slugs. A lotta stores wouldn't take them. Once you got one by mistake, you had to make a plan for how to get rid of it.

 

The problem is people expect exact change and as long as cents are available they will continue to be used and manufactured by the billions at a loss. If the cents were discontinued businesses WOULD very quickly start rounding to the nearest 5 cents after sales tax was applied (electronic registers already have the software to do this automatically), the registers would display that rounded figure and the customers would be happy because they would still be getting "exact" change.

So stores can't decide to go to rounding on their own while the cent is available because they aren't organized/coordinated. But if the cent were discontinued it would occur with all stores very quickly simply because very quickly they would not be able to get cents at the bank.

 

The RCM and banks etc have been actively removing all nickel coinage from circulation. Prior to the pandemic I was in Canada several times traveling back and forth betwixt here and Asia and also for hockey games. I didn't notice much but the recent rolled steel coinage in circulation. And cents were long gone.

 

There’s an expression that goes “bad money drives good money out of circulation”. What do you think happens when there’s no money?

In other words no pennies being produced for circulation most assuredly drive the existing cents out of circulation.

 

@norantyki How long did it take for cents to disappear from everyday circulation in Canada once they were discontinued?

 

A while back I asked my Credit union what do you do with the canadian cents? the person said they throw them away.???? wow really well I hold on to them make up a roll and GIVE them to a fellow collector. he collects Canadian. He is happy and so am I.

 

@Conder101 remarkably quickly from what I remember. Within less than a year, they were pretty much non-existent in commerce. I remember being astounded by how efficiently the Penny was wound up, considering that they had been with us for so long.

 

That's what I expected, and what I predict will happen once the US cent ends. Within a year they will effectively be gone form circulation. Doens matter that we make 6 + billion of them a year, within 6 months there will be cent shortages within 9 months everyone will be rounding and within a year they will be gone form circulation. During the shortage period merchants will be clamoring for cent s from their customers and banks, but once they all start rounding they will STOP asking for cents from customers or banks. Once that happens any cents that do get turned in at the banks will at first just sit there because the businesses are no longer asking for them (They don't need them, they are rounding) and eventually will be shipped back to the Federal Reserve so as to become productive assets on the banks books again and not just taking up space in the vault. Since no banks will be asking for them it will end up as a one way trip from change jars back to the Fed. What the Fed will do with them I have no idea. Send them to the Mint in payment for new coins? If so what does the Mint do with them?

 

What happened with the Canadian Cents after 2012?

easy, they are mostly, currently, in US cent rolls.

 

Hey Canada, we still have the penny, but no pipeline. Oh well!

 

We have a 7% sales tax now. If I buy something for a dollar, stores will have to add 7 cents to the price, which will now be $1.07. Will the public expect to pay up $1.10, there for losing 3 cents on every dollar purchased? Will the taxing agency, stores, or the public expected to lose the 3 cents? I know it's redundant, After the cent/penny is taken off the market, will the nickel, and then the dime be also taken off the market. I believe that those changes allow the store or government dig into our pockets. It will cause a 3% increase of goods. If stores raise the cost of commodities or service to the nickel, and then when they learn they can get it for the nickel, will the dime be next, or will Big Government come in and set prices so all prices are rounded up (or down, which it would never go down) so that all prices are set to the next nickel.

 

Personally, I think the Canadian Mint missed a golden opportunity that I'm sure the U.S. Mint will not. If and when the lincoln cent will stop being minted for circulation, I would have to think that the U.S. Mint will jump at the opportunity to specialty mint lincoln cents, whether enhanced uncirculated and/ or proof varieties, simply to make a profit as well as continue to keep the lincoln cent alive and well for another 100 years or so. Already the lincoln cent is the most produced coin in world history, why tamper with that? The U.S. Mint will not continue to lose money, rather make money with the specialty strikes. The same scenario may happen with the nickel and dime as well. Still minted for collectors and not for circulation.

 

@Good Cents …Canadian cents were hoarded, but they are made of survivable metals. There are low mintage types and magnetic types and mint mark types and plated types. You just have to do your own research to determine collectability, if any. I confess I have about 50 of the 2012s to pass on to my family.

Now for the bad news. The USMint actually stopped making cents in 1982. Instead, they went to Zincolns, which have no sustainability in circulation and must be preserved to keep them alive. They virtually disintegrate before your eyes. So your idea that billions will be still around into antiquity is out of whack.
They won’t survive…Spark

 

I like canadian cents every once in a while you find some from the 60'S and earlier i believe my oldest from CRH is 1945.