Canadian grocers make $3M per year from penny-rounding: UBC study
VANCOUVER — Grocery stores across the country are cashing in on the demise of the penny, according to a young researcher at the University of British Columbia.
Third-year economics and mathematics student Christina Cheung has written a paper that says Canadian grocers are making $3.27 million per year from penny-rounding.
Ottawa announced plans in 2012 to phase out the coin, and as a result, cash purchases are now rounded up or down to the nearest five-cent increment.
Cheung wanted to know whether the change was benefiting shoppers or stores.