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Pennies are shown in Ottawa on Thursday, March 29, 2012. The humble one-cent piece is set to disappear from Canadian pockets, a victim of inflation. Thursday's federal budget said the Royal Canadian Mint will strike the last of the little coins this fall. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Canada is literally pinching pennies from its budget. The finance minister announced this week that the Royal Canadian Mint will cease distribution of the coin this fall. Producing a penny costs about 1.6 cents, so the change is expected to save 11 million Canadian dollars annually. As our northern neighbors eliminate a coin deemed a nuisance, our Congress is considering transitioning to a coin many consider inconvenient. Replacing the dollar bill with a dollar coin would supposedly help combat the deficit. The Americans for George coalition expresses concerns about the financial and practical implications of the change. A public opinion poll shows 97 percent believe the dollar bill is more convenient than carrying coins. The Government Accountability Office estimates over half a billion in net losses to the government during the first decade of the transition, and reports by the Federal Reserve Board and U.S. Treasury raise concerns that the long-term impact may also be negative. In the past 15 years, only one major country phased out a bill in favor of a coin: Russia. A penny for your thoughts?

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press)

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The following comments are archived from the original publication of this post

• bill Boggs on Apr 05, 2012 @ 9:37 pm
  We've tried to bring in the dollar coin a couple of times before and it didn't take. Business didn't like it; it didn't fit their cash drawers. Now if we brought in the dollar again and quit making pennies, and call in all those jars of pennies stored away in drawers and closets, that might work. Seriously, we could do without the pennies ourselves. Maybe then, all those clerks working in all those convenience stores, could then make change.
• Mark Brewer (@brewerma) on Apr 01, 2012 @ 6:41 am
  I think we should lose the dollar bill and go to the coin. I've lived overseas where the dollar coin is used instead and it works fine. And it probably lasts much longer than the ragged $1s we are carrying around and handing over and over. In this economic climate, we need to find ways like this to cut costs at the federal level.