Canada Ditches The Penny, Will The United States Follow?

What do you have in your pocket? Chances are you have a phone, and a wallet. Inside the wallet you probably have your driver’s license, a credit card, and maybe some cash, maybe some change.

A lot of people don’t carry around change especially the penny since you really can’t buy a whole lot with a penny anymore. Think about it, you’d have to have 100 pennies to purchase something that costs $1. Pennies are hard to count, and are also heavy. They are also at least in the United States more expensive to make than they are worth.

The United States hasn’t yet gotten rid of the penny but today Canada announced plans to halt the productions of pennies this year since they claim the penny is a “burden to the economy.” It costs 1.6 cents to make a penny which is worth 1 cent in Canada, once the penny is gone Canada will save $11 million each year.

Sweden, New Zealand, Mexico, Australia, Israel, Brazil, and others have already decided to get rid of the penny. This year Canada is joining the crowd. Those countries haven’t really had a whole lot of issues with the removal of the penny. The United States is still currently thinking about getting rid of the penny but they haven’t come to a conclusion.

Personally I think the United States should get rid of the penny making the base unit for our currency five cents. Over time more and more people have transitioned away from physical currency to things like credit cards and checks. Over the next few years we’ll be seeing smartphones that support NFC payments which is yet another way for people to pay for things.

Do you think the United States should drop the penny?