OK, so I may have prematurely jumped to conclusions...

... in this post, when I said that I hadn't seen any quarters from 2000 or earlier in a while and speculated that they might be getting called in. Since then, I've accumulated sixteen, as well as nine pre-1982 nickels (which are also pure nickel). So they're still in circulation, though Gresham's law will no doubt change that over time. Indeed, several coin shops are now paying more than face value for the old nickels.

Meanwhile, you've no doubt heard about the rising price of copper and how it's becoming more and more worthwhile to steal. Some people's efforts in this department are Darwin-worthy, like this chap:

Last Saturday in Pickering, east of Toronto, a man apparently trying to steal copper wiring at a power plant died after being electrocuted.

The victim was found atop a power transformer after being zapped by 44,000 volts of electricity.

Unfortunately, it isn't only the thieves who can potentially suffer, though fortunately no disaster resulted when thieves cut the power to the landing lights at an airport.