I began arguing that Canada should stop producing pennies nearly two decades ago. Since then, others have taken up the cause.
But a crucial part of my argument then was that the evolutionary process, coupled with inflation, will eventually lead to the demise of the penny with or without formal gubmnt action. It looks as if this prediction is slowly starting to come true. From the CBC [h/t to Ms. Eclectic]:
A cafe in Halifax has taken a Canada-wide proposal into its own hands and declared itself a "Penny Free Zone."
Just Us! Coffee Roaster Co-op on Spring Garden Road began rounding off its prices two months ago to reduce the number of pennies in the till.
The cafe was amassing thousands of pennies this winter after the GST was reduced and prices required one-cent coins to make exact change, said manager Ned Zimmerman.
"If you look at the amount of money you pay someone per hour, the amount of time it takes to fuss around with all those, then it really doesn't add up," he said.
"It became clear to us that the amount of time we spent taking care of pennies wasn't valuable in the long run," he said.
The cafe's policy comes after a private-member's bill suggesting abolishing the penny was introduced in Parliament in April, sparking debate about the copper coin across the country.
For my earlier postings on pennies, see this list.