Day 350 – Pennies “in” Heaven?

350/365 (December 16, 2010) – The poor little penny. It gets no respect. It fills your pockets and generates weight without value. It’s presence means that when you don’t have one, you end up with four that you don’t know what to do with. Then they get thrown in a jar and used for games like Rummoli.

On the up side, they bring luck when found on a street, grant wishes when thrown in a fountain, and can pay for another’s thoughts sometimes.

So why Pennies “in” Heaven? because the Canadian Senate finance committee is considering scrapping of the penny. It apparently costs 1.5 cents to produce a coin with a face value of 1 cent. And the estimation is that for every person in Canada, there are 600 pennies hoarded away in a jar somewhere.

Personally I think it would be great if we could just have prices that include taxes on everything, make everything a round number and include the tax in that number. then there is no nasty surprise when the extra 12% goes on at the till. The penny is more of a bother than it is worth. We have dispensed with the dollar bill, the two dollar bill, and created coins for them, but the penny is a nuisance. I wouldn’t miss it.

And yes, Wall-E is back for another appearance before the end of the year.