Canadians still penny pinching
It appears Canadians aren't ready to stop pinching their pennies quite yet.
In what could turn out to become a long goodbye, a new BMO Bank of Montreal report has found that many consumers are not ready to bid farewell to the beloved one-cent piece.
In fact, 73 per cent of those polled in the survey conducted by Pollara expect retailers to continue to accept pennies for their purchases at the check-out counter.
For example, when you walk into a coffee shop or other business and your cash transaction totals $1.01 or $1.02 you may be asked for $1. If it is $1.06 or $1.07 it works out to $1.05. But if your cash transaction comes to $1.03 or $1.04 you will be asked for $1.05 and if it is $1.08 or $1.09 you will be asked for $1.10.
Steve Murphy, Senior Vice President, Commercial Banking, BMO Bank of Montreal, says, "Successful Canadian business owners not only have the products and services Canadians want, but also a strong focus on meeting the needs and expectations of their customers. With this move to phase out the penny, there can be little doubt that Canadian business will continue to do what they need to, to maintain and strengthen the important relationships they have with their customers."
The survey also found that 59 per cent of Canadians expect small businesses to adjust prices in their favour when rounding off while 57 per cent believe it should be in the retailers favour.
"As the penny is phased out, small businesses overall should not experience a noticeable difference in the number of transactions because many retailers are also set up to accept debit and credit card transactions," says Murphy. "Some small businesses may adjust their cash registers, while others may encourage their employees to round the bill manually after taxes have been added to the sub-total."
The survey also revealed that 66 per cent of those polled pay for their purchases with a debit or credit card; and 67 per cent believe they will eventually receive faster service with fewer customers wasting time counting out their change for their transactions.
By Donna Donaldson, MSN Money
Now that we have had a couple of weeks of rounding off our cash transactions under our belts, how do you feel about it? Do you use your debit card more so you don't lose pennies? Or does it matter to you?
Posted by: Dave Brown | Feb 22, 2022 8:49:18 AM
Somehow the math of the survey does not work. If 59 per cent of Canadians expect small businesses to adjust prices in their favour, this should imply 41 per cent expect the opposite.
The margin of error that is inherent in the data that this article reports seems to really disqualify the validity of the research.
Posted by: Hank | Feb 22, 2022 3:02:17 PM
Oh come on! Who honestly cares about rounding up the price of an item from $1.08 to $1.10??? Really??? I always leave ALL CHANGE on the counter because I hate carrying any change. Usually it goes in the donation box, or the student cashier on minimum wage can pocket it. To pinch pennies is to think small. Think small and you always will be small.
Posted by: Mark | Feb 22, 2022 3:22:15 PM
Wow Hank...you leave all change so if you get $4.96 change you leave not only the pennies but the $2 coins as well...I highly doubt that you would leave five dollars on the counter too often. You are probably the guy who pays with debit or credit card for every purchase to get your "points or rewards" so there is no wonder you can leave all your change on the counter. And by the way some of the richest people are known to be quite frugal...just look up Warren Buffet.
Posted by: Matthew | Feb 22, 2022 3:59:45 PM
It is mixed in the middle. What is causing the confusion is the standard was not set 100%. So some places can refuse to accept pennies period while others gladly accept them. The penny will always be legal tender and in my opinion should always be accepted. Even the rounding up and down is different for each place, as long as it is done fair. It needed better standards set. Someone will always complain, especially if they get something different from every place they go. In the end, it balances out, so sometimes you pay a few cents less, others a few cents more.
Posted by: trevor | Feb 22, 2022 7:21:25 PM
if the price rounds down I pay cash if it rounds up then I use debit. A penny saved is a penny saved
Posted by: Bryan Jaskolka | Feb 22, 2022 7:56:59 PM
It will be interesting to see how long it takes to completely phase out the penny. I know Tim Horton's has said that they're rounding up or down but where I go, it's still calculated to the exact penny, and up to you whether you want to hand over your precious pennies or not. What I'd be really interested to see is a listing of the most valuable years of the penny - then I could know which ones I can hand into the bank, and which ones I should keep for the next trade show that rolls into town.
Posted by: joe pearson | Feb 22, 2022 8:22:57 PM
Its all about ripping off the consumer by the government. What they are really doing is making the Canadian dollar..95 cents. Its called "devaluation" in every country but ours. What a shame this Conservative Government wont call it by its real name.Soon it will be the dime. Then we lose by a full 10%, not just 5% like there doing now. Say NO to this flagrant attempt to devalue our dollar.
Posted by: kole | Feb 25, 2022 3:57:53 PM
Very interesting. Wonder how that might effect the future.
Posted by: NorthenLoans | Feb 26, 2022 3:47:21 AM
The Armored Car Assoc. needs to check with their counterparts in Canada to see how the weight situation actually improved. When the certain manufacture of more better coin mechs becomes more prevalent the weight savings from fewer quarters needed --- will also further improve the weight situation. More $5 bills to replace the $1 bills has & will cut down on the mass space requirements which is also a factor.
Posted by: Kathleen | Feb 27, 2022 10:31:18 AM
First it's the rip-off with the $.05 plastic shopping bag, now the round-off of the penny...what's next?
Posted by: Barry | Feb 28, 2022 1:52:58 AM
No idea who the experts who are making all the claims that the rounding will balance out are but they have no clue how the reality is actually happening. Since my family operate on a cash only basic without credit cards or debit cards to bettter focus on what money we actually have we have. We simply cannot afford to give keep high balances for free bank accounts and debit transactions or afford the high interest rates for credit cards. Since the day the penny was stopped circulating by the banks and stores started rounding, we have asked for receipts for every purchase where possible and paid attention to every transaction. What we have found is that we have made 145 cash transactions. (6 adult family members)We have noted the amounts and found that had we not all carried the change and pennies to make exact amounts that we would have been rounded up 114 times. Somehow that simply doesn't seem to us that it balances out. We have also noticed that many stores are rounding up the untaxed amount beore adding taxes which can add extra pennies to the price for not only the government but the stores as well. Considering the number of transactions in cash by Canadians this is not a tiny amount of money we are being ripped off for. It is going to be in the mega millions of dollars. Tell your government to make smaller cheaper pennies and stop getting ripped off for the major dollars its costing us to save a few millions to keep the pennies and 1 or 2 dollar bills in circulation. And for all of you who can afford to lose or give up the few % points on cash transactions or can't be bothered with the couple of pennies please do let me know. I will be happy to accept all of your pennies at any time.