Is The Penny On Its Way Out?

Australia, Canada and New Zealand have phased out their smallest coins, should we follow suit?

18:11 09 May 2016

The Royal Mint said that there are about 11.3bn penny coins in circulation and that they are rarely used in just all about transactions. This is because the 1p coin is now worth less than the 1/2p compared to when it was abolished in 1984.

 

As it becomes difficult to spend 1cent and 2c coins, should we just go ahead and phase them out?

 

Some countries in Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland already practice “rounding” to the nearest 5c. The Irish Republic has followed suit, introducing cash rounding in October last year. The central bank has now encouraged retailers to take part in the scheme and shoppers are informed about the move through stickers near the tilts that say “Better all Round”.

 

A taxi driver, Phil Mitchell, does not see the need to use the penny. He said: "I think we should get rid of them. I used to throw them out of the window. They're useless, aren't they?"

 

Meanwhile, Debbie Davies, who owns a hairdressing salon, said: "The only down side is that £1.99 sounds cheaper than £2.00. Customers might not like it, so businesses might not like it."