The Good Old Penny: RIP Come This Fall
As anticipated in a post we did about a year ago, the federal government announced the demise of the penny in its March 2012 budget. In about six months from now, the Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing the coin and they will be removed from circulation over time. There is no end date to the process so we can continue to use them and they will retain their value as long as they are around.
We are not alone in this exercise. There are quite a number of countries that have already stopped using their low-value coins.
Sure enough, however, immediately following this announcement we began to receive inquiries about selling pennies for their scrap value. We, therefore, felt it appropriate to re-blog the answer. scrap yard in Mississauga
Sorry But Pennies Don’t Qualify As Scrap Metal Penny.
Even if pennies were made of copper, ( which they mostly were until 1997 when they were re-compositioned to 94% steel), we can’t buy them for their scrap value. It is illegal to melt or deface Canadian coins. Both the Currency Act and the Canadian Criminal Code state that no person can melt down, break up, or use otherwise as currency any coin that is legal tender in Canada.
In case you are wondering, about the rationale for the impending demise of the penny, here are a couple of interesting factoids. 1. The government says it costs about 1.6 cents to produce a penny. 2. Adjusted for inflation, an 1870 penny would be worth about 31 cents today. So those jars of pennies that are stored in kitchens, cupboards, drawers, mason jars, piggy banks, and old cookie tins across the country need to be cashed in or spent. Turn Your “Spring Cleaning” Into “Spring Greening”.
With winter over and the smells and sounds of spring finally in the air, it is time to stop fighting with all that stuff that is stored, for no apparent or logical reason, in basements, attics, garages, warehouses, and other assorted storage areas. It is also a time of year when we more frequently receive calls from folks who have been left to dispose of houses, furnishings, and stuff left behind by parents or relatives who have either downsized their accommodations or passed on. scrap yard in Mississauga
It is fascinating to reflect on the fact that there was a generation of people who grew up in an era when everything had value and because things couldn’t easily be replaced they saved everything they could for another day when it could be put to good use. The consequence, of course, is that they would leave jars and bins and boxes of metal screws, nails, brass, copper pipe, electrical wiring, and so on.
All of this tends to occur very much to the bewilderment of those cleaning and emptying those houses and storage areas, who are themselves of a generation where it seems absolutely everything and anything is disposable, expendable, and/or obsolete on a planned or unplanned basis. Our Business Is All About Scrap Metal. The good Penny news is that there are now many new and accessible ways for folks to find buyers for some of this stuff.
For heritage and estate items such as jewelry, flatware, and silver-plated vessels we always remind people that we are only buying metal. Consequently, we recommend they look at other sources if they are seeking to recover value over and above the metal salvage value of these kinds of items. Two Convenient West End GTA Locations. For all the rest of their scrap metal Penny items, we encourage people to visit us at either of our locations in Mississauga or in Oakville.
We are conveniently located in these communities and open for business from 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday and from 7:30 AM to 12:00 noon on Saturday. Maps to these locations are on our website at peelscrapmetalrecycling.com. End of Life Electronics Recycling Peel Scrap Metal Recycling. In addition to a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, we will accept, recycle and pay you something for those old Commodore 64s, computers, printers, monitors, word processing machines, TVs, stereos, and another electronic scrap as well as appliances and scrap metal odds and ends.
If you are unsure about what to do with some items that you have discovered, please visit us online at peelscrapmetalrecycling.com, or give us a call at 905-612-1288 in Mississauga or 905-825-1288 in Oakville. Alternatively, you can e-mail us (with pictures) at info@peelscrapmetalrecycling.com or just bring these items to either of our locations where we can quickly tell you what they are made of and what their scrap value would be.