Not really, but my little Grandsons would - they save all their pennys and at the end of the year, they take them to the bank for paper money. It's a big deal to them.

So many people (including myself) have reported receiving "pennies from Heaven" . . . I'd hate to see that little miracle disappear, although I suppose there are enough pennies in circulation to keep it going indefinitely.

One and two cent coins in Australia were withdrawn from circulation in 1991. They are no longer legal tender. In the end the value of the metal was greater than the value of the coin.

Our paper money is gradually going to "plastic" now, just like yours Colleen. All that's left are the 5's and 10's. Our $1 and $2 are coins.

I will miss the pennies from heaven that my father sends down to me periodically. Occasionally he gets generous and sends me a nickel. My dear dad lived through the depression and learned to be very thrifty and careful with his money. Every time I find a penny I think od my wonderful dad.

While a penny used to be worth something (would buy a decent-sized chunk of candy, when I was a kid) in recent years it has been able to buy less and less.

And, as our wealth has expanded and our image of what we "deserve" (or, is that, "have a right to") has grown, increasing numbers of people have spurned it, to the point that they refuse to bend over to pick one up from the street/ground.

I'll stop the car and pick up an aluiminum pop can from the roadside, partly because I dislike the mess (but don't carry a garbage bag to pick up all of the stuff). Partly because, having seen refugees make something from ... nothing ... I dislike waste. I doubt that the 2.5 cents that I get for the pop can at the scrap metal dealer will pay for the (itself precious) gas that it takes to start my car rolling again.

But - a certain percentage of the cans are beer cans - that yield 10 cents each!

In 1947, my Dad bought a mid-grade Ford, called a Mercury Monarch, for $1,600.00 - new, that is.

Following a six-year stint in university and seminary, on my first year of employment, in 1953, mainly helping some refugees get back on their feet just after that war in Korea, which had inflated prices, meaning that our level of income was about the highest of all of our overseas service workers, I think, my rate of pay for the year was ...

... wait for it ...

... $1,900.00!

At that time, we had a retired doctor who was helping deal with the tuberculosis problem in that country, which was exacerbated by the matter of a substantial portion of the population being rather heavily underfed.

He said that inflation was government theft.

In those days, I gave him some argument ...

... but now - my argument on that matter would be somewhat muted.

With the middle class in the western world being hollowed out as it is - just wait.

Before long, in this part of the world ... a lot of currently fairly well off folks will be glad to pick up ...

... well, by then, in Canada, at least, it'll be, of necessity, a nickel.

ole joyful

I had a hard time when they brought it the loonie, then twoonie. I adjusted fine so I'm not concerned or bothered by this change.

For us in the lower 48, and don't get to Canada much, even though we live on 25 miles south, how long will they be good for? It is amazing there here some of the merchants won't accept pennies, nicklels or quarters from Canada even though they will give them out in change, not now about it but in Canada there is no problem accepting US --it use to be, not sure about now. Some merchants in the US are not the brightest!

How about dimes, Marie?

And I imagine that their hair would stand on end were they to be offered a loonie ... or a toonie/twonie!

ole joyful

It's bad enough that I spelled PENNY incorrectly -but did I have to do it in the heading? Geesh.

And speaking of discontinued currency - I have a small bag of foreign coins that I discovered in my son's desk after he moved out - it's all pre-Euro so there's no value in them - maybe there's some craft that might need them. Or perhaps my son would like them to use as weights on his fishing line - they just need a hole in them.

maire-cate--I sent you a message about possible value of the coins.
marie

I like the penny, reminds me of my Dad who was an avid coin and stamp collector. I used to love sitting on the living room carpet with him and he would dump out jars of pennies so we could choose the ones for his collection. One Christmas, I think I might have been 14 he said if I could roll all the pennies in the jars I could take them to the bank and have money to buy Christmas presents. I think I got $35. I practically had to drag that canvas bag of pennies on the sidewalk to the bank 10 blocks away.

I am a penny picker upper. I always feel lucky when I find a penny on the pavement.

I get dimes from Heaven. My Mom was a great one for finding dimes on the street. We would be out walking and she would say "I an going to find a dime" and she always did! She always told me when she died to look for dimes because that means she was thinking about me. I find dimes in the strangest places, I walk into a room and find a dime on the floor where one wasn't a few minutes earlier. One day my older brother who hadn't been to my house for a long time came in and said "look, I found this old dime on the grass" I told him it was Mom showing him she was glad he was here. He liked that.

Our plastic money is really strange, I don't like the feel of it but at least it will put the counterfeiters out of business for awhile. There are too many counterfeit $100, $50, and $20 bills out there still circulating. I have the new toonie is thinner or made from a different metal than the old one.

I guess I will be richer if people start treating the nickel like a penny and toss it on the street for me to find LOL

Anne

Thanks for the email Marie. I really should have thought of that.

Anne - your story brought back memories of my Dad too. I remember rolling my Father's coins too.

(Warning: second telling of this story!)

There's a coin-counting machine at a few (mainly discount) grocery stores ... and they charge about 10 - 11% for their service.

I've told a few about to use it that there's one like it in a few bank branches ... and there's no fee.

The other day at the grocery I'd asked a fellow who had quite a lot of change that he was about to run through whether he was aware what their fee was - about what a bank will pay one using a savings account for ... what - about 5 years?

Anway, he reported that he was aware of the size of the fee, and I walked away ...

... then returned, a few seconds later, to suggest that the man might choose to give the coins to the son who was with him, about 6 - 8 years old, and give him about 5%, keeping about 5% for himself ...

... thus keeping the fee in the family.

He didn't seem too impressed with that idea.

If I stayed around long enough to get an impression of the impact on the son ... I forget what it may have been: often useful to check what impact one's words have on the hearers.

ole joyfuelled