Well the CBC isn’t as “free wheeling” with their videos as the NFB is but here is an interesting video (you have to click on it), called Pity the Penny, which talks about the impending extinction of the dollar bill (back in 1985) and the eventual demise of the penny.
I’d like to note that Mr. Watson was very incorrect, in that the Penny is still alive and kicking in the 21st century! Unfortunately Mr. Watson is not around to see this, may he rest in peace.
I was unaware of the law about it being the right of any shopkeeper to refuse any payment of 25 cents or more in pennies, and you then can’t go back and spend any more pennies at that store, very interesting.
I can’t see it being a big deal to get rid of the penny. My wife pointed out that Australia got rid of their penny some time ago, 1992 to be exact.
I got to thinking that right now prices are rounded to the nearest penny anyway. $104.137 results in a $104.14 bill. If we got rid of the penny, it would result in a $104.15 bill.
Or course, as we move more and more to debit and credit card purchases, the argument to get rid of the penny decreases a little. On the other hand, as inflation makes the penny even more irrelevant, the argument gets more compelling.