Ireland to phase out 1 cent and 2 cent coins

Akrasia

smash wrote: »

The old marketing trick of "ONLY €4.95" kind of thing will pop up, without people realising that it used to cost 4.87

Or it'll be 'Still only €4.87' but the volume of the product has gone down from 350g to 335g

(now with fewer calories)

diomed

diomed wrote: »

I predict Éirígí will block traffic on O'Connell Bridge to protest against Europe taking all our 1c and 2c coins to pay the bankers for the water.

"PEACEFUL PROTEST!"

PARlance

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

This is why Korea setup a centralised exchange to do this. Contactless payment by mobile phone everywhere. But without the greedy charges here that strangle it.

In East Africa it's M-Pesa and M-Pwaw and in places where you can get 5c topups you can be sure they aren't charging 20c per transaction.

I think M-pesa fee works as a %, had to look into it in work a couple of years ago, iirc 0.5% was the average charge on transfers/withdrawals?
Go over €20 and the 20c looks like a good deal.

Revolutionary system though, just not sure it should be held up as a shining light in terms of it's fee structure.

ScumLord

Markcheese wrote: »

How will a shop be able to do this - the shop don't control how many items you buy- if you buy 3 or 4 1.99 items you'll be up a cent or 2 (as they round down)
If you buy 1 or 2 1.99 items you'll be down a cent or 2-
Spars and convenience stores may win out a bit -

They can buy one of them super smart computers like IBM's Watson, and have him cross reference peoples buying habits with how many things they buy, and have him price everything in such a way that, whatever they usually buy will end up statistically in the shops favor.

It would help your local shop keeper and sell loads of IBM Watson computers.

The J Stands for Jay

psinno wrote: »

Mandating that prices be rounded down to the nearest 5 cent would probably work better.

OK, I'm convinced. Junior Cert Maths needs urgent revamping.

kneemos

ScumLord wrote: »

They can buy one of them super smart computers like IBM's Watson, and have him cross reference peoples buying habits with how many things they buy, and have him price everything in such a way that, whatever they usually buy will end up statistically in the shops favor.

It would help your local shop keeper and sell loads of IBM Watson computers.

The punter pays for these elementary computers I suppose?

Qualitymark

If they brought in a €5 coin there'd be an explosion of spending - it feels so much cheaper to spend a coin than a note.

Cool Mo D

ScumLord wrote: »

They can buy one of them super smart computers like IBM's Watson, and have him cross reference peoples buying habits with how many things they buy, and have him price everything in such a way that, whatever they usually buy will end up statistically in the shops favor.

It would help your local shop keeper and sell loads of IBM Watson computers.

Yeah, trying to make an extra 1c on a few customers weekly shop is really going to pay for a lot of fancy computer time.

PTH2009

You always get the person who buys something for 4.99 and hands a 5 Euro note and won't leave til they get there 1 cent change back

I like small coins it can get u out of a hole especially if ur at a self service til

FrStone

I don't get the hate against paying with cash. It makes so much more sense than paying with card.

Most big purchases you get offered to have the VAT taken off if you pay in cash. Getting the car serviced is 23% cheaper in the garages around here if you pay by cash.

The less tracking of what I spend my money on the better. Sure if you are looking for a mortgage it's a mark against your name if you used a card to pay in the bookies. Just withdraw all your cash when paid, and no one knows nothing. And you may even get a discount.

Bejubby

Pity we couldn't phase out the government instead.
Seriously we have more important things to worry about.

I hate the way the government make changes to petty crap to make it look like they're being active and all about the country.
Absolute rubbish and all other circus acts they put out.

mikeym

What about getting Petrol????

dee_mc

Oh noes, now nobody will be fooled by my workplace's cunning '€39.99 looks much cheaper than €40' pricing structure

Carlos Orange

McGaggs wrote: »

OK, I'm convinced. Junior Cert Maths needs urgent revamping.

I'm pretty convinced my grasp of mathematics is just dandy. Thanks for the concern.

syklops

PTH2009 wrote: »

You always get the person who buys something for 4.99 and hands a 5 Euro note and won't leave til they get there 1 cent change back

I like small coins it can get u out of a hole especially if ur at a self service til

A lot of machines dont take the smaller coins. I was trying to buy a luas ticket one day. It wouldnt let me buy a return ticket using my debit card (€4.50), and it didn't accept 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c or 20c. What the feck is the point having coins which are legal tender that machines wont accept?

Capt'n Midnight

PARlance wrote: »

I think M-pesa fee works as a %, had to look into it in work a couple of years ago, iirc 0.5% was the average charge on transfers/withdrawals?
Go over €20 and the 20c looks like a good deal.

Revolutionary system though, just not sure it should be held up as a shining light in terms of it's fee structure.

Considering that a lot of people on the bottom rung there were living on a euro a day it's not bad. And compared to the 20c for up to €15 for contactless it's still not bad.

SpaceTime

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Well the limit on contactless cards makes sense, because it could be stolen. I agree with the rest though. That said either BOI don't charge me for using a debit card or its hidden. But I don't see it.

The limit isn't on contactless payments it's on ALL debit card usage.
You can only make 10 chip and pin or contactless payments per day. After that your card's declined until the next 24 hours period starts.

On contactless payments your pin's requested after 3 transactions (or if you've used chip and pin in between, the counter resets)

SpaceTime

FrStone wrote: »

I don't get the hate against paying with cash. It makes so much more sense than paying with card.

Most big purchases you get offered to have the VAT taken off if you pay in cash. Getting the car serviced is 23% cheaper in the garages around here if you pay by cash.

The less tracking of what I spend my money on the better. Sure if you are looking for a mortgage it's a mark against your name if you used a card to pay in the bookies. Just withdraw all your cash when paid, and no one knows nothing. And you may even get a discount.

That's actually tax fraud, it's not a discount i.e. there's no record of the transaction, so the garage isn't paying VAT

It's both undermining tax income to the state and unfairly undercutting law-obiding competitors.

Collie D

Collie D wrote: »

It's a much bigger pain in the arse standing behind somebody paying for a €2 sandwich with their card.

This story on One O'Clock News now

There is new contactless payment methods around at the moment although to be honest im not quite sure how much time it actually saves

SpaceTime

Deleted User wrote: »

There is new contactless payment methods around at the moment although to be honest im not quite sure how much time it actually saves

Contactless processes instantly. It's actually faster than handling cash.

SpaceTime

SpaceTime wrote: »

Contactless processes instantly. It's actually faster than handling cash.

Ive tried it out in aldi a few times and while it is quick to scan, your still waiting on the terminal to finalise the transaction and print your receipt so im not sure are you saving that much time vs cash to be honest

PARlance

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Considering that a lot of people on the bottom rung there were living on a euro a day it's not bad. And compared to the 20c for up to €15 for contactless it's still not bad.

Yes, but it's all relative, of course 20 cent would be excessive for someone on €1 a day.
But considering the low costs associated with the service for the operator, and the fact that their customers don't really have an alternative, I would say they're on a par with that 20 cent charge.

SpaceTime

Deleted User wrote: »

Ive tried it out in aldi a few times and while it is quick to scan, your still waiting on the terminal to finalise the transaction and print your receipt so im not sure are you saving that much time vs cash to be honest

That's just Aldi's setup.

I've used it in cafes and the processing time is about 1 second.

Aldi would still have to count your change and print your receipt if you paid cash too.

gossipgirl10

I'm amazed that so many people find the concept so hard to understand... it's not that difficult.

Also I much prefer to use card for payments where possible as it makes it easier to look at your bank statements and track where your money is being spent. Before I used card for transactions my statement was a sea of ATM 50, ATM 100, etc and I would have no clue what I was spending on.

In Australia you just tap your card for any transactions under $100 no pin required. Fast and easy so messing about with cash (and no fees for using your card).

SpaceTime

Irish banking history on cards:

1) Introduced Laser unbelievably late - 1996! - Many banks made it a hurdle to even apply for one. (This was at least a decade later than the UK and even later than some of the continent and Australia .. There was no technical reason for this.. it was just foot dragging)
2) Ensured Laser didn't work online very well, or abroad.
3) Co-branded with Maestro - slightly better abroad, total disaster online.
4) Rolled out Visa Debit years after everyone else seemed to have it.
5) Impose heavy fees on many card transactions (unless you've a special deal)
6) Roll out contactless payment in the most conservative way possible €15 limit, now about to increase to €30.
7) Completely fail to promote the technology and throw in random barriers to its use : high merchant charges, high user charges, random rules like 10 transactions per day (AIB) and so on...

It's almost like they are just trying to encourage maximum cash usage.

raze_them_all_

jonnypacket wrote: »

Prices will remain the same if paying with card. You should be charged a premium if you insist on paying with cash, in my opinion. It's an antiquated method of payment the belongs in the last century and involves costly security transportation to banks not to mention time wastage in counting it.

Debit card master race here.

Kids and teenagers, not allowed to buy anything.

endacl

My thoughts on the matter, already posted elsewhere...

Bloody stupid idea introducing them in the first place. We did away with the half penny in 1987 and introduced a daft little disc that was worth substantially less in real terms in 2002.

The one cent coin costs 1.7 cents to produce. Minting 1 & 2 cent coins is straight from the script of Brewster's Millions. Even counting and bagging 1s and 2s, and bringing them to the bank, isn't a couple of euros worth of anybody's time. To say nothing of paying the charge for a counter transaction in the bank.

Whichever idiotic Eurocrat decided they were a good idea in the first place should be made sit down and eat his bodyweight in 1 and 2 cent coins.

The Highwayman

yeppydeppy wrote: »

I recently got a PINless debit card and I think it's great, very handy and definitely the way forward. I bank with Permantent TSB so I don't have pay bank fees.

But what really annoys me is places that say they have a minimum charge - as far as I'm aware this is against the terms of their contract.

It's to stop assholes who want to pay for a can of coke with a card slowing service down. Also every transaction costs the business money.
I will always use cash. It's nobodys business what I spend my money on. I'll go to the ATM take out 400 and make a major purchase with it.
I don't understand people believe believe cards are fantastic and the future. Cash in your pocket is power and independence.

The Dark Side

FrStone wrote: »

I don't get the hate against paying with cash. It makes so much more sense than paying with card.

Most big purchases you get offered to have the VAT taken off if you pay in cash. Getting the car serviced is 23% cheaper in the garages around here if you pay by cash.

The less tracking of what I spend my money on the better. Sure if you are looking for a mortgage it's a mark against your name if you used a card to pay in the bookies. Just withdraw all your cash when paid, and no one knows nothing. And you may even get a discount.

Sometimes the people who advocate weaselling out of your taxes are the same people who want to see the Govt spend more on services.

They probably fail to see the irony in this.

FrStone wrote: »

Teachers are paid more and have less contact hours in the Finish system. It won't do to just implement parts of the system, like a master requirement for teachers. All parts should be implemented not just parts that suit us.

SpaceTime

It might have made sense if the €, $ or £ were much more valuable and a cent or a penny were actually worth something.

The halfpenny was there because old £ were slightly ridiculously valued. The pre decimal system was even worse.

They'd over valued £ so everything had to be priced in 240 pennies and 480 half pennies.

Daft system!

One of the biggest issues in Ireland is that retailers forget that there is a cost in processing cash transactions - banks actually impose fees, there are security overheads etc etc.

They over-penalise the use of cards.

Hopefully with the completion of a single banking market and proper SEPA rollout that allows other companies to process transactions for merchants, the cost of using cards in Ireland should plummet.

The idea of being tied to the 'big four' is quite contrary to the concept of a single European market and the EU Commission is starting to move on it. There was a bit of foot dragging as they were a little scared of upsetting the apple cart immediately after the financial crisis, but I think it looks like that is no longer the case.