Canada Gets Rid Of Their Penny

CNN just posted that the Royal Canadian Mint will officially stop releasing pennies in the Fall of 2012.  They will still be allowed to circulate, but people may need to start rounding transactions if they find themselves missing the small cents.

Based on this report, it's not clear to me if people will be able to get them from banks once this new policy is started.  

I think it's fair warning for any penny collectors, and those that sort for copper cents / rare varieties:

Start ordering more now, while you still can!!!

What does this mean for copper sorters in the U.S.?  Who knows at the moment.  Canada has already been recycling other coins out of circulation.  But that program did not include their penny.  Most people felt that the program would shift to include the penny eventually.  And I  for one am surprised to learn that they will simply stop releasing pennies versus slowly filter the copper cents from circulation.

Here is the link to the CNN story:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/30/business/canada-penny/index.html

Let me know what you think.