• Only cash transactions are to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents.
   
• Cheques and electronic payments do not need to be rounded, as they are amounts that are settled electronically.
   
• For cash payments, only the final total is to be rounded (so not the subtotal before taxes or duties or fees).
   
• Pennies still have value (and will indefinitely). As such, consumers can use pennies to pay for their transactions to businesses that still choose to accept them.
   
• Check out this page from the Royal Canadian Mint for some helpful visuals. Also click on this page to read full consumer Q&As about the phasing out of Canada’s penny.

For more penny news, check out this neat infographic from the National Post, telling you everything you ever wanted to know (but were too afraid to ask) about the history of this fine coin. For example, did you know that the first one was issued in 1858 or that it cost 1.6 cents to manufacture one penny?

Phasing out the penny is part of Economic Action Plan 2012. For more information, call 1-800-O-Canada (1-800-622-6232).