As I may have mentioned in previous threads, Martini, I spent a good amount of time in Australia back in the 1990s. It was there that I first experienced the benefits of rounding to the nearest 5c.
You may be interested to know that some in the US are now questioning whether the penny is still useful. I have no link, but my latest print copy of Time magazine discusses the continued use of the American penny, and makes an argument for getting rid of it. Apparently, the US will be studying the “Canadian experiment” (as they call it) closely, and making a decision from there.
Why they did not look at the “Australian experiment,” I do not know. But let’s just be grateful that the US is looking outside its borders to other countries’ experiences.
What surprises me is the howls of resistance that seem to come up in the US when someone moots getting rid of the penny. I’ve never been able to comprehend the objection, but it seems to be something like a feeling that somehow it’s a Government/Big Business plot to take even more of The Little Guy’s hard-earned money or something like that. Never mind it’s been pretty conclusively established that it all evens out and even if it doesn’t, regardless of who might come out ahead, we’re talking mere cents - almost infintisemal (and nowadays useless) amounts of money.
I was living in New Zealand when they got rid of 1 & 2c pieces and I honestly don’t remember anyone* having serious objections to it. I do recall a bit of a brouhaha when they got rid of $1 and $2 notes about the same time and replaced them with coins (but even that died down once people realised it wasn’t a bad idea and those gold coins could still be used to buy things).
To be fair I was still in primary school when all this happened (in an era when a 20c bag of lollies contained appreciable quantities of confection and did not represent a vast capital outlay even to a primary school child), but I do clearly recall seeing signs in the local supermarket and shops explaining how “Swedish Rounding” would work and thinking “Fair enough, makes sense to me”.
Having visited the US as an adult, I’m always astounded when I buy something that costs (say) $2.36, paying with a $5 note, and getting several 1c pieces in the change - I’d be thinking “And what am I supposed to do with these?” The answer, I discovered, was to use them when I was paying for things with odd prices to make it a a more sensible price (eg I could use a penny in conjunction with two one dollar notes, a quarter and a 10c piece to pay the exact amount for a $2.36 coffee).
One other benefit our Canadian (and hopefully eventually American) friends may soon see: Prices will stop involving odd amounts and it will make buying everyday things a lot easier when people are mentally trying to calculate what coins to use to optimise their change.
*I’m sure there were people, but you know what I mean
But it’s not a rounding of individual items but of totals. I’m pretty sure it’s a rare business that sells mainly single items, and between that and the addition of tax on top of the total I think the time required to calculate a way to make a profit on this would be counter productive.
I was specifically thinking of the food court near my work, since that’s where I get most of my change on a daily basis.
So for the Subway in the food court, I’d guess that at least 75% of their lunch business comes from people buying a 6" or 12" sub, in one of three price brackets, with or without a combo. So that’s only twelve different prices they’d have to consider.
It’s just a thought experiment, though. I’m pretty sure the prices aren’t going to change on Monday!
I had my first rounding off of prices just now: my $6.77 soup was rounded down to $6.75. If I can just do that fifty more times, I’ll have ONE DOLLAR!!
Got my first rounded purchase today. Timmy’s. The receipt said, “Change. $0.71. Rounded change $0.70” which struck me as a slightly odd way of phrasing it, but may have been easier to implement in the cash register.
My penny (and nickel) stash came to 19.81 after coinstar took its cut. I roll larger coins but I never thought that pennies/nickels were worth the bother.
Coincidentally the bakery in the grocery store had my favourite cake on sale for $15.99
I just did my weekly grocery run, which involves a tour of three supermarkets which are all near my house. I paid in cash at all three shops:
Price Chopper: Total ended in .76 - Cashier insisted on payment to the cent, even when I asked what the practice was. Signs are in place at the checkout and the front door indicating that rounding begins today.
Independent asian supermarket: Total ended in .01 - Receipt indicated exact amount, but change given reflected rounding down. Didn’t notice any signs.
Metro: Total ended in .76 - Total rounded down, rounding indicated on receipt and change reflected rounding. I didn’t notice signs either.
This has been your rounding implementation status report for London, ON
Thanks, wolfstu. Coming up after the break, we’ll have sports with Big Jim, and Ashley will tell us what the weather has in store. And later in the program–find out what this little puppy did for his owner.
Seriously, I was looking forward to getting my coffee today and experiencing rounding–remember, I pay $2.36 for a large takeout cup. But the coffeeshop owner was there, and as she sometimes does (“You come in every day; I’m not losing anything if I charge you for a small”), charged me for a small coffee–cost $2.00 even.
So I haven’t experienced rounding yet. Soon enough, though.
