The discontinuation of the Canadian penny means paying with cash will be more complicated than before.
The Royal Canadian Mint officially discontinued distribution of the penny today, causing businesses to round the cost when customers pay with cash. University students now say they expect to use debit more often.
Zach Beghetto, an employee at Subway, said students paying with cash should expect their change to be rounded.
Students paying with debit or credit will not be subject to rounding.
Emily MacDonald, first-year King’s student, says she will definitely be using debit rather than cash when paying for merchandise.
Canadian pennies ranged from 95.5 to 98 per cent copper until 1997 when the Mint switched to 98.4 per cent zinc then in 2000 to 94 per cent steel. The Mint issued 662,750,000 pennies in 2011.