OT: coins (Was: Types of numerals)

Hi!

Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...> writes:
>...
> :-)  And another good reason for keeping pennies - easy way to save up
> large sums of money!
Ok, I will start today!  (Using cents, of course)

> Anyways, I never have more than 4 pennies in my wallet at any given
> time, because I use them.  Like, if something were priced, say, $7.51,
> and I had a $10 bill and, say, a couple dimes and a penny, I'll pay
> $10.01, to minimize my change.  (Admittedly, I'm semi-OCD on that
> issue ... I've been known to give a cashier $23.01 for a $7.51
> purchase -
> $15.50 in change, the most compact change I could come up with with
> what I had on me)
Haha, errrm, I do exactly the same.  Should be 22.01, BTW...  I did
trigger off strange looks and did puzzle some cashiers who would get
totally confused about how much to return.

People are especially puzzled when I pay, say, 10.05 for 9.95, because
they probably think that is doesn't change anything compared to paying
simply 10.00: it's one coin in return in either case (5ct both 10.00
and 10ct for 10.05).  *But*, of course, may wallet will contain one
coin less after the transaction!

>  > prices are X.99 EUR. And then you've got half a dozen
>  > pennies in your wallet and cannot get rid of them because
>  > hardly anybody accepts them.
>
> Even in increments of one or two?  That surprises me!  If they give
> them out, why wouldn't they accept them?  ...
Well, I think they do except them, actually.  I've never encountered
strange looks (only happy smiles, maybe) when paying exactly 7.98 EUR
using 5 + 2 + .50 + .20 + .20 + .05 + .02 + .01.  Of course, paying 1
EUR with 100 * 1ct will most probably create some discussion, but so
will paying 100 EUR with 100 * 1 EUR.

> One really has to wonder what the EU was thinking setting the Euro at
> a value that made .01 so nearly worthless.  They should've set it at
> about 5 times that value, so that a 1-cent piece would've been more
> worthwhile.
I didn't understand it either.  Finland eliminated the 1ct and 2ct
coins quite immediately and if I had been King of Europe, I would
probably have done the same for my whole empire and would have
additionally defined 20 newEUR := 1 oldEUR (meaning, of course, 1
newEUR = 5 oldCents) so that no cents would have been needed anymore.
I don't like two units for one type of thing too much.

Also, I would probably have founded a commision for single-syllable
nick names for 'Euro' in all the language of my empire.  And then,
after a few years, I would have introduced Tok Pisin as the official
language.  (Or maybe not, who knows. :-))

> A lot of Americans just put their coins in their pocket.  I prefer
> keeping it in my wallet, as its more efficient, but lately I've been
> looking for a new, nicer, wallet, and you just can't find men's
> wallets with a coin-pocket.  Very annoying.
Really!?  That's strange.  Do you think there's a market for buying them
here and putting them on eBay for sale in the US? :-))

**Henrik

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