a what for your thoughts?

We all know that the Canadian penny is gone for good. I didn't give it that much thought. If anything, I was relieved because my son Matthew collected pennies, not intentionally, rather by default. He had jars and jars of them and I couldn't keep ahead of them with my efforts at wrapping.   When pennies left the retail scene they solved people's arithmetic problems.  We just go down to the nearest decimal if that's closest or up, if that is.  I watched a guy in a little dollar store scam his customers on the up-down reckoning.  He made a few pennies a day I guess.  The store's gone now, replaced by a coffee shop. So much for the disappearing penny.

But I thought of pennies today because I wrapped some sharp objects as gifts: a couple of paper clippers and a couple of really neat, small, sharp shears. Does anyone remember the superstition about knives? You were supposed to give the receiver a penny for every blade so as not to cut the friendship. I was given two sets of steak knives (with stag handles) and 12 cents, one for each cutting edge. 

Today I have no pennies to give my recipients. Do you have any thoughts about this ?