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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watdragon!absary
From: absary@watdragon.UUCP
Newsgroups: ont.general
Subject: Re: Money (was: Sunday shopping hours (again))
Message-ID: <2395@watdragon.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Mar-87 13:11:01 EST
Article-I.D.: watdrago.2395
Posted: Thu Mar  5 13:11:01 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Mar-87 21:38:20 EST
References: <5626@watmath.UUCP>
Reply-To: absary@watdragon.UUCP (Al Sary)
Distribution: ont
Organization: U. of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 31

>One thing I really did like about shopping in Australia (and Singapore
>and many other non-NorthAmerican countries) is the prices.  When I
>buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99.  That means that
>I actually have to pay $5.34 with tax.  That's a $5, a $.25, a $.05,
>and 4 $.01s.  When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00.
>That means that I have to give them a $5 bill and that's it.  The
>concept is so simple it is amazing.  Have you ever wondered how many
>man-hous of labour go into counting change every year in this country?
>In the month I was away the only one-cent coins I saw were sitting
>on people's desks at home.  Not once was I ever given or asked for
>a one-cent coin.  Even five-cent coins were very rare.  Why can't we
>do something sensible like that here?  ...

You also have to keep in mind that the currencies in some countries are
quite poor, which means that 1 cent, or even 5 cents, is worth nearly
nothing.  That doesn't hold for Australia, I guess.  Also, I'd rather
compromise having to bother with small change than carrying large
change - such as 1 pound coins in England, or 5 mark coins in Germany
(they may even have larger coins, I can't remember), and so on.  Just
think about it, 1 pound (besides being heavy) is worth something like
$2 CDN, and 5 DM is worth over $3 CDN.  I'd hate to carry all that
heavy money with me all the time.

Another thing that puzzled me about the overseas countries (such as
Germany) is that the tax is included in the price, but prices are
usually round numbers (such as 290 DM, for example).  I am not sure how
that works out.  Also, the disadvantage on the business side is obvious
with this system.  But the science of making money has been studied
much more extensively in North America while other countries may not
care as much (which means they are not as greedy, which is hard to
understand after you've lived here long enough).