A few weeks ago our Finance Minister declared the penny dead. It’ll be phased out this year and cash payments will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

The penny was not at all pleased, and took to Twitter to voice it’s displeasure: @CDN_Penny.

It’s a cute account.

I have some penny theories…

1 – They need the copper for our electronics. Copper is used to build integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. It conducts electricity really well.

2 – More copper is needed to build places like this:

Think that building is also electrified?

Ahahaha omg that is one very geeky joke.

3 – I always pick up pennies. Why?

Why Pick Up Pennies: it’s a life test… maybe you are all, “oh, I sure could use some extra bucks” and life is all, “alright then, here’s some money, this is a test”. And if you don’t pick them up, life shuts it down right then because life figures: if you don’t appreciate the little amount, what will you do with a larger one?

(from an old Canadian Explorer post)

Regardless of all of that, what to do with your pennies? Give them to charity.

Donate a roll of pennies to your favourite charity, tweet a photo of you and your pennies, the name of your chosen cause, and the hashtag #ShowYourRoll. Then, you’ll be featured in their honour roll.

Go over to ShowYourRoll.ca for more details, great idea guys!

This is another step in revamping all our currency.

Have you seen our new plastic money?

They’re made of a polymer that is washable, expected to last 2.5 times longer than our current cotton currency, and difficult to counterfeit.

The $100 bills are out, the $50 bill arrived in March, and the rest will be launched in 2013.