Who knew that buying Italian bread would be so educational. Today I made a purchase of bread at a local Italian store here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and they refused to take my money: specifically my pennies. After I made a fuss about refusing a Canadian legal tender, they relented. All this drama for $0.03CAD! If that is not value for money I don’t know what is.
Some things should stay the same, and this is particularly true for money. You work, you get paid, then you spend your money. This money should not be refused by stores, for if it is then you would not know where your money can be used. It gets confusing. Money, in this case the Canadian dollar, should be freely usable here in Canada.
Canada is slowly phasing out the penny. It costs too much for the value it brings, which is Ok by me. Still, with 3 billion pennies still in circulation, a smooth and long transition is required. Though the penny stopped being made in May 2012, it still remains a legal tender here in Canada. I believe this means that you can legally use it to buy goods and services with it.
My bill came to $16.13CAD. I handed her a $20, a dime ($0.10) and three pennies, totaling $20.13CAD. My reward for making a purchase at this store was that she would refuse my three pennies. After reminding the cashier that the penny is still a legal tender of Canada, she called her supervisor who relented, and carried on as if she was doing me a favour. Hmmm. Was the penny still a legal tender but can be easily refused?
The Royal Mint has put out this info on the transition of the penny to oblivion. It is short on details but big on graphics. This is not the best source of information. The Canadian Revenue Agency gets into much more detail.
Rounding guidelines
As pennies exit circulation, only cash payments will need to be rounded, either up or down, to the nearest five-cent increment.
The Government of Canada will be adopting a rounding guideline that has been used successfully by other countries for its cash transactions with the public.
Under this guideline, when pennies are not available, cash transactions will be rounded in a fair and transparent manner, as illustrated below:
- Amounts ending in 1 cent and 2 cents are rounded down to the nearest 10 cents;
- Amounts ending in 3 cents and 4 cents are rounded up to the nearest 5 cents;
- Amounts ending in 6 cents and 7 cents are rounded down to the nearest 5 cents;
- Amounts ending in 8 cents and 9 cents are rounded up to the nearest 10 cents;
- Amounts ending in 0 cent and 5 cents remain unchanged.
What I read is that if you have pennies, you will be charged the unrounded amount and can use your pennies to pay for your bill. If you have no pennies the rounding rules apply. Cheque, credit card and debit purchases have no rounding done to your bill.
The cashier at my local Italian store has no right to refuse my pennies and round my bill up. Pennies are still a legal tender in Canada and can still be used to pay my bill. The supervisor is not doing me any favours by accepting my pennies; She is acting according to the law, as she should.
All large transitions take time, but the devil is in the details. While $0.03CAD is a trifling amount, I would not wish that Canada, as a society, be tricked into paying a higher bill just because certain cashiers do not understand the law of the CRA. Ignorance is not an excuse to cheat people, knowingly or not.
