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Posted

Actually... they are more used as a manipulation technique... £9.99 doesn't look as bad as £10 to someone in a rush.

 

In the days of cash - the 99p bit (or for us oldies 19s 11d) meant that the cashier had to open the till and therefore register the sale - stopped them spiriting the £10 note away (or for us oldies the 10s note)

Posted

I think some of the countries that got rid of pennies still have the .99p pricing, they just round it after the shop is completed.

 

I'd be happy to see pennies and 99p pricing go thought tbh. just round everything to the nearest 00 and do away with coins I have almost lilterally started throwing away

Posted
I think they said on the radio this morning that 60% of 2 and 1p coins are only used once and then put in piggybanks, drawers etc. Seems a huge number to me.

 

Other countries have got rid of them - Canada for one

 

I save up all change including 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2 and then put them into my bank.

 

I only ever pay cash at the pub. Everywhere else I go I pay with card.

 

I do keep £20 in my wallet in case a shop does not accept card.

Posted
I dont understand why those countries that have got rid of the coins in general use still price things so that you would need them but then round up or down? Seems nuts to me
Posted
I save up all change including 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2 and then put them into my bank.

 

I only ever pay cash at the pub. Everywhere else I go I pay with card.

 

I do keep £20 in my wallet in case a shop does not accept card.

 

As an addict of the school vending machines... that's where all my change goes :(

 

Although I rarely pay cash unless it's a small shop that doesn't take cards (e.g. local chippy), or if I've just been given the rent by the housemate (in cash, so I have to either go to the post office and put it in the bank, or get rid of it on a tank of diesel and a trip to Sainsburys)

Posted (edited)

Functionally speaking it makes sense. People don't use them, 90% of the time they get tossed or 'stashed' (piggy banks or some other flavour of money-horde).

Personally I stash anything lower than a 50p. By the time my big ol' plastic bottle gets some sizeable weight to it, I end up with about £150-200 in it, though that does take a few years.

 

But I can't help but feel this is just a dumb way of doing it.

Nobody will keep prices at £x.99 because that means you are literally unable to pay with cash, so everything will go from costing £x.991 and instead cost £x.052, the treasury will have to print a bunch more 5's to compensate and people will end up with excess 5's and the cycle repeats itself.

The main 'issue' seems to be that people are saving money instead of spending money. The money isn't circulating (primarily because it's worth so little, and if you do any circulating of them in your shop, you're probably just circulating the one or two per transaction, ie, the ones you get in change for something being £x.99). If you want to solve that, the solution is to make easier ways to 'cash in' your pennies without having to bag them up and go to the bank (or lose 7% to those coinstar machines)

 

1: Because keeping prices at a non-exact-pound amount is important, as it forces the teller to have to open the till to give change, ensuring every transaction is recorded and no money goes disappearing.

2: Because nobody is going to lower their prices to £x.95, that's less money, and companies don't want less money.

Edited by Garacesh
Posted
As an addict of the school vending machines... that's where all my change goes :(

 

When I say I go to the gym, people ask me what my favourite machine is.

 

I get funny looks when I say "vending".

 

:getmecoat:

  • Thanks 3
Posted

Pricing will remain x.x9 - the psychology of shopping needs it to.

 

If you buy three 99p items you will still pay £2.97 if you pay by card; you might pay £3.00 or £2.95 if you pay cash depending on the shop's policy.

 

For me, the charity box on the counter is the one likely to lose out.

Posted
They do in New Zealand for example. It works well for them.

 

I thought New Zealand rounded up, so $x.99 = $(x+1).00?

I wonder how they've got around the 'opening the till' issue, then?

 

Maybe they just take a harder approach to stock-takes.

Posted
Lifehack: you can make them at home for free

yes but i dont want a cold sarnie for dinner when theres a decent sarnie shop on the way from point a to point b and i cba making breakfast in a morning never mind dinner as well

Posted (edited)
Who still uses cash anyway, so annoying, swipe card, done.

It's really easy to write off cash because there are other - arguably better1 - methods of undertaking a transaction. But there's a lot of places that can't have the infrastructure for taking card payments (outdoor markets, door-to-door, new businesses, buying something off your mate)2 or simply don't want to deal with the transaction fees. Then again there's some businesses that just don't for the sake of not doing. You can decide for yourself whether they deserve your custom or not, to each their own, but I don't think that cash should be a complete write-off, and apparently neither do the Treasury.

 

1: Better from a functional perspective. As @difinity points out, they may not necessarily be better from a privacy perspective

2: Not that I'm necessarily saying these styles of business do or do not need preserving, only that they exist.

Edited by Garacesh
Posted
Interesting other issue raised by the Spring Statement: the possibility of legislation requiring receipts for cash transactions thereby trapping at least some of the black economy and getting it taxed.
Posted
It's really easy to write off cash because there are other methods of undertaking a transaction. But there's a lot of places that can't have the infrastructure for taking card payments (outdoor markets, door-to-door, new businesses, buying something off your mate) or simply don't want to deal with the transaction fees.

 

https://squareup.com/gb for doing it via your phone, bank transfer, https://www.pingit.com/help/

 

Remember banks charge businesses for putting in/getting out cash too.

Posted
https://squareup.com/gb for doing it via your phone, bank transfer, https://www.pingit.com/help/

Typical I-don't-want-to-sign-up-for-yet-another-service-to-replace-something-that-already-works-just-fine, plus privacy.

 

Remember banks charge businesses for putting in/getting out cash too.

Yes, but nowhere near as much as they have to pay per card transaction.

Plus then you have chargebacks, that cost a lot (comparatively speaking) if they happen, and bunch of other fees briefly listed here

Posted (edited)
”The 1p coin is legal tender for amounts up to 20p, so it is not permitted to pay debts with a sack full of pennies.”

 

When did that come illegal. Inspired by people doing it on tv programs, I always try and make an effort to pay rude suppliers / bankers looking for me to pay a fine or something in the most difficult way possible

Edited by dapaulio

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