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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Rushmore, post: 1407293, member: 17011&quot;]From <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/business/canada-penny/?hpt=wo_bn5" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/30/business/canada-penny/?hpt=wo_bn5" rel="nofollow">CNN.com</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Canada is ditching production of the penny, saying it costs more to make the coin than it&#039;s worth. </p><p>As of this fall, the&nbsp; Royal Canadian Mint will cease distributing Canadian pennies, though&nbsp; consumers will still be able to use them for transactions. The change&nbsp; was included in the country&#039;s 2012 budget released Thursday.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The budget calls the lowly penny a &quot;burden to the economy.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;It costs the government&nbsp; 1.6 cents to produce each new penny,&quot; the budget says, adding the&nbsp; government will save about $11 million a year with its elimination.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Some Canadians, it says, consider the penny more of a nuisance than a useful coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Some retailers say they&#039;re worried about the change.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;Something that costs&nbsp; $7.99 looks cheaper than something that&#039;s $8,&quot; Wendy Butenschoen of&nbsp; Toronto&#039;s Essence of Life Organics told the CBC.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Rounding prices will become the norm as the penny is gradually removed from circulation, the budget says.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>If consumers find&nbsp; themselves without pennies, cash transactions should be rounded to the&nbsp; nearest five-cent increment &quot;in a fair and transparent manner,&quot; it says.&nbsp; Noncash payments such as checks and credit cards will continue to be&nbsp; settled by the cent, however.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It says fair rounding&nbsp; practices have been respected in other countries that have eliminated&nbsp; low-denomination coins. The removal of one-cent coins in other countries&nbsp; such as New Zealand and Australia, it says, did not result in&nbsp; inflation.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The budget urges Canadians to donate their pennies to charities -- or even throw more into the wishing fountain.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;I&#039;m going to believe&nbsp; that people want to just donate four cents more, and that a penny will&nbsp; turn into a nickel,&quot; said Lisa Resnic, marketing director for Sherway&nbsp; Gardens, where coins thrown into the fountain are donated to charity.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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