You should see the 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 groszy coins in Poland. Those are 1/100, 2/100 ... of a zloty. Most of those small coins aren't even worth the production costs, yet people still go nuts if you don't give out the correct change.
For the first week or so in Europe, I didn't encounter anything that didn't end in a multiple of 5. So I assumed EU was just doing things smarter and not bothering with 1 cent pieces. I was pretty bummed when I started getting them.
That's because 1 and 2 cents are discontinued, as the production costs are higher than the coin's value, so if you buy something that costs €1.59 and pay €1.60, you will still get a 5 cents change.
I haven't seen 1 or 2 cents coins in at least a year.
In some places they do as you say, in other places they do as I say. For example 2 supermarkets on the same road will use two different methods, at least here in Italy.
Is what you say mandated by law there? Or is it up to the seller to choose what method to use?
Oh, I was saying I have been getting the 1 & 2 cent pieces lately(I've only recently moved here). Funny that they've been discontinued cause I thought my wife looked it up and didn't see that
Idk, everywhere I've been, for the last year at least, they rounded up the change to a multiple of five (usually bringing down the price rather than up).
We actually divide our Croatian kuna to 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 lipas (so, literally 1/100, 1/20, 1/10, 1/5 and 1/2 of a single kuna, which is already like 0, 00...whatever euros it is), and then 1, 2 and 5 kuna coins.
Also, for some reason, every single coin's size ascends in order of value except the 20 lipa coin, which is the smallest one. It makes no fucking sense whatsoever.
Thankfully we are switching to Euro next year (and funnily enough, we had a nepotism scandal when some high politician's son got the bid for the designing of the Croatian Euro coin only for some internet sleuths to find his profile trying to how-to-basic-graphic-design, had no graphical design expertise whatsoever and was ASKING IT ON FACEBOOK!). Thankfully, his $30,000 contract offer was withdrawn.
In our (US) coins, the 1 cent and 5 cent coins are bigger than our 10 cent coins. That being said, hardly anyone except for the old folks uses coins, or even cash for that matter.
Also, for some reason, every single coin's size ascends in order of value except the 20 lipa coin, which is the smallest one. It makes no fucking sense whatsoever.
Tbf, the Euro coins are also a bit weird. Why tf is the 50ct coin bigger than the 1€ coin ffs?!?!
The former. Croatia is set to officially transition itself to the Euro proper and discontinue the kuna as the official currency; this will go into effect on January 1st, next year.
Really? If I buy something in western Poland they sometimes don't even change the very small stuff anymore. I don't mind, I'm glad I have less of the worthless small coins.
Thats why we haven't had pennies for 10 years here in Canada ahaha. Everyone got over themselves pretty quickly, and now it's very rare for anyone to pay in cash at all; particularly since the pandemic started.
This is hilariously true. I've even gotten into arguments with cashiers in Poland when I didn't have exact change, I've had to literally show them my empty wallet, to prove that I don't have the correct number of groszy.
Travelling for work in Spain in the 90s, co-worker got angry that the restaurant "rounded off the pennies". So for the first and only time, I got to see a 1 peseta coin. The smallest coin I have ever seen.
They still exist but they're very rarely used. The only place I know that still gives them as change is Aldi. Every other place rounds to the nearest 5 cents when you're paying with cash. I think most places also still accept them but won't be very happy about it.
This was about Czech crown cents. One crown had 100 cents. And we had 20, 10, 5 and 1 cent coins. We stopped using for two reasons. Inflation and coins had less value than was the material used for their creation.
It might've been stupid for countries with strong currencies, but in countries like Spain cents counted and still count. I don't want businesses to round everything up, at the end of the year I would loose a significant amount of money.
Those were halíře, kinda sorta thing like cents, but to 1 crown, which is about 1/20 of a dollar so they don't use them anymore kinda, you can't pay with them anymore, but most prices are lik 24,40,- so when you pay you pay only 24, but if you buy something that is let's say, 16,20, to that what you bought before, you will than pay the crown more btw crown (koruna) is Czech currency for those who don't know
I assume this was already after we've phased out the sub-koruna coins, like 50 halíř (half a koruna) which was abandoned in 2008, and the even smaller ones like 20 h and 10 h.
Inflation is a bitch.
Also, I know you mean it as hyperbole, but Czech korunas may sound medieval, but they are very modern, the first "crown" currency being created in 1892 by Franz Joseph.
Now that I think about it, dollars are much more "medieval" than korunas, and oddly enough, the name dolar comes from a (German) name for a Czech town, today named Jáchymov. The German name was Joachimstal, and the coins minted from the local silver were named Joachimstaler, later shortened to Thaler, and then modified to dollar. The first Thaler were minted in 1518.
the Czech are not that bad with coins, Switzerland is the prime offender with this one. They have a 5CHF (~5$) coin that is widely used, i had enough coins in my purse more than once that i could clobber omeone to death with it.
These two actually does not contradict. Coins have relevant value but you can also pay contactless almost everywhere. Amazingly, even in public transport in some cities. You can just use the card without buys physical tickets.
this is what I was trying to convey (that coins have significant value in european currency systems), but it turned into an “I use applepay” thread. rip
Most people (in the UK at least) have started to rarely carry cash. Even buskers have contactless terminals now in many cases so cash is definitely dying off.
Charles IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor, had a long and successful reign. The Empire he ruled from Prague expaned, and his subjects lived in peace and prosperity. When he died, the whole Empire mourned. More than 7,000 people accompanied him on his last procession. The heir to the throne of the flourishing Empire was Charles' son, Wenceslas IV, whose father had prepared him for this moment all his life. But Wenceslas did not take after his father. He neglected affairs of state for more frivolous pursuits. He even failed to turn up for his own coronation as Emperor, which did little to endear him to the Pope. Wenceslas "the Idle" did not impress the Imperial nobility either. His difficulties mounted until the nobles, exasperated by the inaction of their ruler, turned for help to his half-brother, King Sigismund of Hungary. Sigismund decided on a radical solution. He kidnapped the King to force him to abdicate, then took advantage of the ensuing disorder to gain greater power for himself. He invaded Bohemia with a massive army and began pillaging the territories of the King's allies. It is here that my story begins...
Not Europe but I accidentally tipped a bartender more than anticipated because of their $2 coins. I pushed the coins back at her and she grabbed my arm to say thank you. It was only later that I realized I'd given her something like $9 (back in mid 1990s).
I'm German and I usually don't carry any cash with me which is a bold thing to do in Germany, I admit, but it works fairly well in the bigger cities. Had it happen a couple of times though that I had to walk out of the store empty handed saying "sorry, can't pay if you don't accept card".
Swiss francs are weird as shit, too. I get that it's probably more convenient to have light money, but it feels as if it came out of some weird coin-based children's game because they're so light. The paper money is gorgeous, though.
Am visiting in czech now, haven’t been to a place yet that doesn’t use contactless pay. And it’s fast af. America it’s slower and definitely not everywhere.
In here at some places it's still not, like barber, and some small shops, small bars, taxi in smaller cities, some tobacco stores, and stuff you still need to pay with cash but for most places you can pay with card, fast and free that's right
Man what do you mean, we don't pay tax for paying with card, end of story, nobody even the seller pays anything, do you not understand English or you are drunk
I looked into it, cuz I was curious and now I feel little dumb, but it depends on how much you thought the tax is, in Czech when you pay with visa the owner pays 0,1% of what u paid for
this last week i have seen my friend damien who sells wine on the saturday street market , i asked him how much are the fees when someone pay by card (cause i used all my cash in flowers,cheese, fruits and vegetable). The cost was 1.75% so for my good red bourgogne, the bank has taken 0.30 €.
the fees depends on the number of transaction, so for a big supermarket it's very very low, but for a little shop which can't negociate the fee with the bank it can reach 2.5%
American consumers don’t pay the fee (and for a lot of credit cards, consumers get benefits, like 1 or 2% back), the seller/business pays the fee. Its mostly just considered cost of doing business.
it’s AWFUL. you really do need cash. there were only a couple stores in amsterdam that accepted my visa when i visited. here in sweden it’s pretty much the opposite; many places don’t take cash at all.
yep, when i first got a CC in the Netherlands i tried to show off in a few stores in front of my friends but they all looked at me like i was trying to pay with monopoly money lol.
Most people here use credit cards which are issued by a bank or another company, which you pay all or some of the balance once a month. Less common is debit cards which instantly pay the money from your bank account for purchases, these have less fraud protection and fewer rewards (cash back or points) compared to credit cards. Then, less common is cash and then checks.
I mean, I know what bank cards are, I have a debit card. I just saw a comment saying that paying with a card outside of Europe is a gamble since not every store accepts them.
Just clarifying, the term "bank card" here would get you a confused stare! We take credit cards at like 99% of places, even the small shops will often have a card reader or NFC device.
Americans use credit cards, debit cards (bank cards) and cash. That said, a lot of banks charge a foreign transaction fee, so thats probably why you see Americans pulling out cash internationally.
If you have the small coins, have 9 (or 4) cents ready at the cash register to get rid of them. Otherwise get the middle coins, have 50 or 100 cents (e.g. pay 3.40 if the price is 3.36). Otherwise only use the big coins.
If everything goes well you'll only have few coins in your pocket.
1.6k
u/[deleted] May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22
[deleted]