The penny drops in Canada...

[apartment_guy]

Well, today our Minister of Finance tabled the government’s next budget , and it included eliminating the penny. Apparently it costs 1.6 cents to manufacture the things, and few of us return them to circulation. Indeed, according to the story in the Globe and Mail the government has issued 30.5 billion of them since 1908, which means that each of us should have, on average, 953 of them in our pockets or in that jar on top of the dresser.

The penny will continue to exist as a concept and credit card charges will still be calculated to the penny. But if you’re paying cash your cost will be rounded to the nearest nickel (so if you are a card store you can still charge $1.99 for your toploads).

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...rticle2386138/

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/can...144985395.html

[ldm]

I think that makes too much sense for the USA to get involved. Les

[MrMachine]

Once again, Canada is miles ahead of us when it comes to currency.

[sudz@warwick]

As a matter of interest, Australia did away with our 1c and 2c pieces in 1992, with rounding down to nearest 5c invoked.

[Howard]

OK you forced my hand, now I have to convert this to a card versus coin debate

This action in Canada only impacts coin users as all bills will continue to be calculated in one cent increments, and will only be rounded for cash transactions. Thus, if you have a card system you would still be able to charge $2.12 for a wash

[MrMachine]

Originally Posted by Howard

OK you forced my hand, now I have to convert this to a card versus coin debate

This action in Canada only impacts coin users as all bills will continue to be calculated in one cent increments, and will only be rounded for cash transactions. Thus, if you have a card system you would still be able to charge $2.12 for a wash

Ok.....so.....Apartment guy already said that.....
Therefore, no need to start a card/coin debate.

[Adamski]

Originally Posted by Howard

...This action in Canada only impacts coin users as all bills will continue to be calculated in one cent increments, and will only be rounded for cash transactions. Thus, if you have a card system you would still be able to charge $2.12 for a wash

Howard,

Yes, but why would you want to? I'd rather charge $2 or $3 or $4 or $5 etc. Why play with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters when all these coins have too little buying power to mean anything?

Think of it MY way: If all coin laundromats were DCO today (and they really should be), raising prices in dollar increments would simply become an ingrained part of our operation. We'd raise prices by a dollar just as we raised prices by a quarter in the 1980s. That is, we'd hesitate for a while while we ponder the price increase a little more and then, when the time is right, we'd raise the price by a dollar. Then we'd sit on our new price for perhaps years before we'd have to consider another price increase. Most customers would accept our price increase because they are used to using dollar coins and they are well aware that inflation affects the price of everything sooner or later. Some customers would try a competing laundromat after the increase but it's likely they would quickly discover what it was that they liked about our laundromat vs the competing laundromat and soon make the decision to return.

Unfortunately, some areas of the country are so competative that operators there are afraid to make any kind of significant move in a direction that begins to compensate for past decades of inflation.

[KJ]

I think penny increment pricing should be tossed right along with the penny for ALL transactions.
Everything should be priced with a multiple of .05

[Howard]

Larry: I was joking! Didn't you take note of the smiley face?

[apartment_guy]

Originally Posted by KJ

I think penny increment pricing should be tossed right along with the penny for ALL transactions.
Everything should be priced with a multiple of .05

Of course, the government likes the pennies that they collect in sales tax revenue... here in Ontario it's 13 pennies on the dollar, on just about everything (including self-serve laundry) so even if retailers rounded their pricing to the nearest nickel, or dime, or quarter or dollar.... after the sales tax was applied the final price would likely need to be rounded up or down again.