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Canada ditches the penny

globaltvedmonton.com

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Re: Canada ditches the penny

#111

Post by gyardley »

henrikschroder wrote: post #102
taitems wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are several thousand, if not million of Australians that would disagree. The ability to round prices by ten or twenty cents at a time is a luxury that cannot be afforded by everyone.

What? If you remove coins and round to the nearest payable amount, it evens out over time. Sometimes you'll pay less than the actual total, sometimes you'll pay more. Prices aren't magically going to increase, so how is this a luxury?

If I ran a large business, I would certainly look at the most-common purchases and combinations of purchases (especially low-cost items, like a candy bar) and consider tweaking prices so I gained rather than lost two pennies on my most common transactions.

Places with limited and standardized menus, like fast-food restaurants, could do this quite easily.

Enough businesses do this, and things no longer even out over time.

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#112

Post by redthrowaway »

huggyface wrote: post #109
redthrowaway wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cutting spending is positive among their base, which is about a third of Canadians. The rest typically wouldn't vote Conservative. They and the NDP simply split the Liberal and Bloc vote in the last election. You may view the CBC and Healthcare as waste; the vast majority of Canadians do not. Harper wants more than anything to convince Canadians that the Conservatives are trustworthy. The last thing he wants is for C…

Cutting spending is positive among their base, which is about a third of Canadians. Cutting spending is a positive among all Canadians. The Liberals had their most populous years when they were responsible for -- and still deserve credit for -- brutal spending cuts (health care transfers, services, etc) that balanced the budget. While HN isn't the place for discussions like this, it really is hard to rationalize some…

I'll agree that HN isn't the place for this discussion. I will say, however, that if what I wrote comes across as me thinking he's "hiding his true intentions", that's not what I intended. Rather, he doesn't want to give voters, many of whom would not normally vote Conservative (and didn't when the libs had strong leaders) reason to distrust them. It's not a conspiracy; he's just playing a long game and trying to set up the Conservatives as Canada's new Natural Ruling Party (r).

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#113

Post by maeon3 »

Is the ditching of the penny an alarming event like the addition of a zero on the largest denomination of currency? Why do I work hard to exchange my labor for money that is being inflated on purpose?

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#114

Post by dhughes »

mhyee wrote: post #11
dfc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not very familiar with canadian politics. Why is it amusing that the NDP proposed this?

The party that implemented this is the Conservative party, the right-most mainstream party. The two parties generally don't see eye to eye, to put it lightly.

The Conservative party was decimated years ago and was nearly eliminated then eventually the Reform Party which became the Canadian Alliance merged into the Conservative party (both parties were dead anyway).

Reformers were certainly farther right compared to the members of the old Conservative party. Now there is a Conservative party it's the same skin on the outside but fundamentally different, it couldn't be more different, it's pretty much the Reform Party 2.0 yet people see "Conservative Party" and vote for it.

That's my take on it anyway.

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#115

Post by Egregore »

maeon3 wrote: post #113

Is the ditching of the penny an alarming event like the addition of a zero on the largest denomination of currency? Why do I work hard to exchange my labor for money that is being inflated on purpose?

To exchange that money for goods. To invest those money into something that will bring you more money back.

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#116

Post by lambersley »

tabbyjabby wrote: post #72
yay_cloud wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be construed as a partisan comment, but that is exactly how politics works. After working on a few campaigns (and leaving in disgust), a politician or party will gladly pocket an easy but visible decision like this in order to "steal eyes" away from other -- less positive -- changes or events.

Ok, but in this specific case, the premise of this being an item that is stealing attention away from the more significant cuts in the budget simply isn't consistent with reality. Go to any national Canadian newspaper. The headline will not refer to the elimination of the penny; it will refer to changes to Old Age Security, or cuts to the CBC. The penny has been but a footnote to budget news. The reason that is the o…

I concur.

The reason this topic generates chatter is because its simple to understand. My teenage sister gets it, my 7 y/o gets it, the homeless person at Union understands and the Bay St exec gets it. Its not obviously complicated. It takes $0.16 to make a penny. Its eradication will save millions in Gov't spending. "It costs 1.6 Canadian cents to produce each one cent coin and stamping out the penny will save around C$11 million ($11 million) a year." (1)

The other proposed budget topics aren't so easily understood by the general public. Old Age Security? Greater than 40% of Canadians are (2). This isn't likely to be the prevailing conversation topic. CBC? Canadian Crown Corporation? Really? Who knew? Who cares? Who understands the impact?

I don't think mass media has conspired to fool the common man (in this case anyway). Its just a simple conversation topic.

Edit: There really isn't any complication since only cash payments are effected (3)

(1) http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/30/canada-penny-federal...

(2) http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo10a-eng.htm

(3) http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/themes/theme2-info-eng.html

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#117

Post by artursapek »

mahyarm wrote: post #93
artursapek wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sure wish it would. I never really understood the supposed psychology behind .99 and .95. To me, three nines looks less welcoming than three zeros.

It's so it doesn't cross the subconscious barrier of "under 20 dollars". $99.99 doesn't cross the subconscious barrier of $100 for example. It's probably been A/B tested to death, since it's so widespread among retailers.

Wow. I'd like to think people aren't wired like that, but I guess subconsciously there's lots of exploits like this.

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#118

Post by prawn »

gyardley wrote: post #111
henrikschroder wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? If you remove coins and round to the nearest payable amount, it evens out over time. Sometimes you'll pay less than the actual total, sometimes you'll pay more. Prices aren't magically going to increase, so how is this a luxury?

If I ran a large business, I would certainly look at the most-common purchases and combinations of purchases (especially low-cost items, like a candy bar) and consider tweaking prices so I gained rather than lost two pennies on my most common transactions. Places with limited and standardized menus, like fast-food restaurants, could do this quite easily. Enough businesses do this, and things no longer even out over t…

To the point where the less-privileged suffer significantly? It's not as though rounding up a bit is going to be the only way businesses try to squeeze out more money.

Re: Canada ditches the penny

#119

Post by prawn »

gyardley wrote: post #111
henrikschroder wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? If you remove coins and round to the nearest payable amount, it evens out over time. Sometimes you'll pay less than the actual total, sometimes you'll pay more. Prices aren't magically going to increase, so how is this a luxury?

If I ran a large business, I would certainly look at the most-common purchases and combinations of purchases (especially low-cost items, like a candy bar) and consider tweaking prices so I gained rather than lost two pennies on my most common transactions. Places with limited and standardized menus, like fast-food restaurants, could do this quite easily. Enough businesses do this, and things no longer even out over t…

To the point where the less-privileged suffer significantly? It's not as though rounding up a bit is going to be the only way businesses try to squeeze out more money.
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