h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But until *relatively* recently it would have worked very effectively in stopping that kind of casual theft by employees. The sort of tills we are discussing here only became standard during the second half of my lifetime.

Given how slowly governments and banks respond to relatively unimportant trends, its quite feasible they haven't thought it through yet, either.

It used to be 19 shillings and 11 pence 3 farthings when I was young.

Well, I've never paid for it in my life so I wouldn't know...

Boom! Boom!

Another aspect of this is how, when one goes out for a meal and the price of the meal is, say, 35 euros. The waiter doesn't ever give you back a five euro note from your two 20 euro notes, but rather five one euro coins, to enable you to leave a proper tip.

az

Someone mentioned the Finnish system of rounding up or down to the nearest 5c. It got me thinking, if they did that, you'd end up paying an extra 1c for nearly everything since most things end in .99 - I wonder how that would add up over a year?

Interesting thought az...

In NY, it appears to work in a different manner - they give you as few small bills as possible so you will leave a larger tip...

Though in fairness i was never once refused a request to break a twenty into two tens. Normally with grace and cheerfulness, which is more than I can say for the UK...

When I was in NY, they actually wrote what the tip should be! It had its own box on the bill. Was rather annoying when some Neanderthal bawbag, who'd p!$$ed me off the whole time, was telling me how much to tip him.

Took a bit of getting used to, that

Australia did away with 1c and 2c coins some years ago, but, like Finland, prices like $2.98 or $4.99 still appear. The total bill is rounded to the nearest 5c at the register. 98 and 99 cents are rounded up, 96 and (I think) 97 cents are rounded down. Buy a couple of things priced at $1.98, and the bill will be rounded down... It all averages out over the course of the year, and in the meantime it gives frugal pedants something to obsess about, which can be entertaining.

Well, entertaining before you get stuck behind one yapping at the till, anyway!

Yes, I live in Wisconsin, U.S. and everying is $4.99 or $4.98, what has the worldcome to?!?!?

I'm an American from Las Vegas, and yes we too have the same $.99 thing here. I guess some people think an item for $3.99 (or in pounds) is a much better deal than if it were for $4.00. I've heard the same argument for the .99 coin here too, but we have sales tax that would defeat the whole purpose. For example, if I want a cheeseburger for $.99 then after tax it would be $1.06. Goodbye!

-Arthur R. Taylor
[email protected]

Ah yes, good old Australia for getting rid of its 1 and 2 cent coins, I think I'd just throw away all my 1 and 2 cent coins if they were still in use... 5 cent coins are unimportant enough! Although I have a few 1 and 2 cent coins lying about somewhere in my room, but that's just 'cause my sister used to collect coins and that was part of her collection, and then the collection got passed on to me, although it was really my dad collecting the coins anyway and saying they were my sister's... aaaaanyway, speaking of 5 cent coins being annoying, my brother's friend was once selling fundraiser chocolate, like, $1 for a giant Freddo (Mmmmmm, chcolocate)... and I bought one using twenty 5 cent coins, and my brother's friend then threw all those coins away and paid for it using a $1 coin instead... just goes to show how much some people hate 5 cent coins.

So if there was a 99p coin and no 1p coin, what would you do when someone bought two items for 1.99?

Use my debit card

Or should we have a £1.99 note?

Sales tax! Now there's something that I have a few views on, but I gues now and here is not the place.

I just got married in Vegas, Art. Loved every minute of it, but I'm guesing that living there might be...different.

About Finnish system, in case you pay with card no rounding is done. So if you're really cheap you allways pay with card if sum ens in 98 or 99 and with cash if sum ends in 96 or 97.

Gnomon's point 2 about stopping staff nicking the money is sadly obsolete now due to the fact that nobody is able to do mental arithmetic any more, or at least the cash registers assume this to be the case.

I used to work in a chemists that had an old-style till that you could ring the charges into and it would add them up but you couldn't put in the amount the customer paid to get the change due - you had to work that out for yourself. The drawer never had to be closed so it would have been *very* easy for me to steal practically every penny paid over (so long as I left the cash float at the same level) had I been that way inclined...

My mum regularly falls for the x.99 con so it does work on some people

For some illogical reason, this whole 99p or £1 debate reminds me of the Spinal Tap 11 thang.

'Yeah but if you want to go louder why not just make the maximum louder, make 10 louder?'

'Well, because this one can go up to 11'

>>I live in Wisconsin, U.S. and everying is $4.99 or $4.98<<

to Wisconsin to buy a house, a car, an aeroplane, a yacht and much much more...

Please don't blame the shop assistant for having to type in the amount given. I have just begun working in a shop where they absolutely insist you do that so that the *customer* (that can't add up ) can see how much change they should be getting. I was bought up using a cash register (my dad had a shop for the first 18 years of my life) that just added up so I always seem to know what change to give without looking at the till. The problems arise when the assistant makes a mistake on the till like typing in the wrong amount given. Then you get a few blank faces and see them reaching for a calculator...that's sad.