DHES

I heard on the news today that New Zealand will be scrapping it's 5 cent piece. i have also heard plans that this may happen to Australia's currency soon as well....

Now is the time to plan rounding with POS because anything eventuates.

Currently, rounding is taken off the first item of a sale, if rounding of 5 cent is enforced and it only does it to the closet rounding point.

But if the move towards is now a 10 cent rounding, this difference can be anywhere from 1 to 9 cents. If this happens reguarly, the difference between the price rung up and the amount in the till will not add up.

So, I suggest discussion in how POS will continue to support rounding and how to deal with it. I have always supported rounding to be dealt with using a separate 'rounding' payment that will be able to track the positive and negative roundings of a sale.

Discussion Points:-
[1] Inclusion of 10 cent rounding
[2] Use Rounding On First Item / Separate Rouding Payment
[3] Ability to Round Fully Up / Down.


So, what are your views on this?

Yes it is true, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (the issuers of legal tender/currency in the country) announced they will be:

- altering the size and metal used to create the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins
- taking the 5 cent coins out of circulation

The loss of the 5 cent coin will not be a sad one - it has been around for ages and is a tiny wee coin, it's a nuisance when you get given them as change because they can't be used in 99% of vending machines etc due to their tiny size and weight.

Besides this, New Zealand has embraced the use of EFT-POS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) and is by far becomming more popular than carrying cash.

The Reserve Bank Governor commented: "Some people have expressed concern that withdrawing the 5 cent coin would cause inflation, as retailers would round prices up," he noted. "We believe this is unlikely to occur as retailers would round up and down as they did when the 1 and 2 cents were removed in 1990 and rounding would only affect cash transactions and only final totals.

The changes are likely to be in effect by July 2006.

http://www.rbnz.govt.nz

Andrew Bunn wrote:Yes it is true, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (the issuers of legal tender/currency in the country) announced they will be:

Yes, I heard it on the radio, two days ago. It's always sad to see when a demonination to go. It was the same when Australia lost it's 1 and 2 cent peices.

I guess the only positive thing to come out of it is that there was more room in the register for the higher demoninations.

Andrew Bunn wrote:they can't be used in 99% of vending machines etc due to their tiny size and weight.

Yes, it's the same here, 5c coins are no accepted in public phones and ticket machines.

What is your view on the rounding for POS, Andrew?

Just out of intrest:
If a 10cent coin is called a dime and a 50cent piece is called a half-dollar, what do you call a 20 cent coin (here we call them quarters but they are 25cents)

- Chris

Just out of intrest:
If a 10cent coin is called a dime and a 50cent piece is called a half-dollar, what do you call a 20 cent coin (here we call them quarters but they are 25cents)

We don't really have any terms to describe our currency. Only the face value of the coin/note.

New Zealand doesn't describe it's currency like the USA.

Coins are: 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, $1, $2 ($1 and $2 are gold, the rest silver)
Notes are: $5, $10, $20, $50, $100

The most popular note is $20, as it is dispensed by all ATM's except my bank's ATMs can also dispense $10 notes.


Some years ago we switched from the paper versions to a new flexible plastic-blend, in the above, the two white panels (fern on the left, oval on the right) are transparent, it is also watermarked with the image of the queen. Each note is a different colour, and have images such as Sir Ernest Rutherford (NZ'er who first split the atom), Sir Edmund Hillary (NZ'er who conquered Mt Everest) etc...

The old paper notes had a foil strip woven through the paper to help prevent counterfeiting.