So here we are, a week after the country introduced new coins and I still haven’t seen one. This could mean that my cash flow is too low, but more likely it points to the fact that coins are pretty much irrelevant. The smallest transaction I make each day is generally the bus fare to get to and from work. And it’s all covered by a monthly pass, paid for by a direct debit.
Coins, especially the heavy old ones, are such a nuisance that any that do find their way into my pocket get dumped into a jar at the end of the day. And that’s where they stay.
But, on the subject of rounding and making change, it’s great to see that the Retailers Association has recommended a clear policy of rounding downing any amount from 1-5c and rounding up 6-9c. I hope it gets adopted widely accompanied by a clear indication at the cash registers.
In an idle moment I thought I’d Google the name of the sailboat that I sold 12 years ago after sailing from Vancouver to Auckland. And I got a pleasant surprise. Out of the perhaps dozens of boats named Oceana, one of the first search results was obviously our faithful old boat.
It’s wonderful to see that she is not only still afloat (in the Caribbean) but that her current owners, Andy and Christina, are bloggers.
Sailing and blogging. It’s such a change from the late 1980s when we had no GPS, no refrigeration or watermaker, and not even a radio transmitter! We thought reaching port, and sending a fax from a Pacific Island post office to family at home was high tech. :-)Â
There are several ways to use the web to find out which of two items is more popular.
Take this weekend’s Tri-Nations match between Australia and South Africa. From the 49-0 thrashing they received in their last encounter with Australia, you could be forgiven for thinking the Springboks are down and out. Let’s see…
According to Googlefight, there are 2,770,000 search results on Google for Wallabies, with the Springboks slightly ahead on 2,930,000.
FlickrTagFight shows there are 302 pictures on Flickr tagged “Wallabies” and a mere 60 tagged “Springboks”.
And Technorati reveals 9654 blog postings that mention “Wallabies” and only 3032 mentioning “Springboks”.
Hard to tell from this. May have to watch the game. [Results may have changed, of course, by the time you view this.]
Yesterday it was a cafe that refused to accept the “old” NZ coins - the ones that are still legal tender for another three months.
Today it’s NZ Post, refusing to give the “old” coins, specifically the soon-to-be-extinct 5c piece, as change. So, if you buy a single 45c stamp and proffer 50c in payment, you’ll get nothing back.
As David Russell, chief executive of the Consumers’ Institute, wondered on One News this evening, what happens to the GST component of the 50c received by NZ Post if the company is only recording a sale of 45c?
The situation is not limited to the 3-month transition to the new coins. Since the 5c piece is not being replaced by a new coin, any purchases at NZ Post that add up to an amount not divisible by 10c will apparently get rounded up.
Of course, if NZ Post wanted to treat its customers more fairly - and introduce a bit of fun - it could try this idea:
When a purchase doesn’t come to a multiple of 10c, pull a coin out of the till [an old one will do just as well as a new one for this] and flip it. Heads, the customer’s purchase is rounded DOWN to the nearest 10c. Tails, it is rounded UP.
On the other hand, if you’re really worried about being short-changed, the Post Office does take Eftpos and credit cards.
