It’s official –– it’s now going to be a nickel for your thoughts.
As of Monday, the Royal Canadian Mint ceased its distribution of the one cent piece, and businesses are being encouraged to have their pricing rounded to five cents.
Businesses, of course, have had plenty of time to prepare for the halt in production and distribution.
The government announced in last year’s budget it would be eliminating the penny as a cost-cutting measure.
“We had it implemented (Monday),” Giant Tiger grocery manager Dayna Berta told the Times-Herald. “Head office implemented the change and we implement it at the stores.”
Bert said there haven't been any problems, but did mention the odd person will ask for their pennies.
“We’ve already had it implemented with our registers,” Canadian Tire general manager Gord Kavanagh said. “It was the right move ... we’ll always take them, we just won’t be issuing them.”
There is no penalty if businesses did not adopt a penniless system on Monday, and independent business owners are able to decide when to implement the system on their own time.
“I’ll probably change over in the next week or two,” Brothers Confectionery owner Bill Luciak said. “I’ve had some customers ask me when I’ll start, but they don’t seem too concerned about it.”
For more on this article pick up the next issue of the Times-Herald.
