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ONE AND TWO cent coins will be rounded over the next few months.
The Central Bank made the announcement this afternoon after taking over the project following the Government’s decision to go ahead with the plan.
It follows a successful trial that was carried out in Wexford in 2013, 85% of consumers and 100% of retailers surveyed said they believed rounding should be applied nationally.
As it stands, a 1 cent coin costs 1.65c to produce while 2 cent coin costs 1.94c.
The Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary and Belgium have already adopted a rounding policy.
What does this mean for your wallet?
The Central Bank says details of how rounding will be implemented have yet to be finalised but it’s anticipated that it will be rolled out in the next few months.
Here’s what we know so far:
Rounding will only apply to cash transactions (not to credit card, electronic or cheque payments) and to the total transaction bill (not to individual goods).
The bill can be rounded up or down, as follows:
Two individual items priced at €10.99 and €3.49 respectively would remain at these prices, though the total bill (€14.48) would be rounded up to €14.50.
Three individual items priced at €2.99, €4.49 and €8.17 respectively would remain at these prices, though the total bill (€15.61) would be rounded down to €15.60.
Looking for somewhere to drop unwanted coins?
“Change for Charity” has been in place since last October and is encouraging people all over the country to donate their unwanted 1c and 2c coins to help support a number of Irish Charities.
The Founder of the campaign, Norma Smurfit, said, ”After many months of organising and setting up the campaign we are delighted that the rollout has been approved.
“We hope that it will encourage people to bring their coins to one of the many Change for Charity locations Nationwide.
We want to make sure the coins benefit Irish Charities before they disappear back into the system.
The campaign has over 3,000 collection receptacles all over the country in schools, shops and banks.
Every AIB and BANK OF IRELAND branch has a receptacle and there is no staff assistance required for this service.
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€20.02 will be my new target at the petrol pump!
A bankers wet dream cashless society.
Well by that logic you would be better off getting cash out and paying the 20 euro instead of paying with a card. Them 2 cents will add up over the decades!
Ireland could donate all it’s 1c and 2c coins to Greece!
What will the tesco self service tills use for change now??
5 cent coins
What will I give homeless people now? Sure they’d go nuts with a whole 5 cents.
And tipping! Lord I’ll be broke.
It makes no cents…
nobody likes you Paddy.
Speak for yourself Paddy…getting rid of them is a scam I want in on
Iv only ever had cents in my pocket,guess there will be nothing in it now
I expect things will be rounded up more than down!
Any total ending in a 1, 2, 6, or 7 will be rounded down. Anything ending in a 3, 4, 8, or 9 will be rounded up. You have 50/50 chance if you put absolutely no thought into it. If you’re smart you’ll come out better more often than not. Sorry to bust your whinge.
You seem to forget Colin, that the retailer sets the price so what’s to stop him pricing everything to end 3,4,8 or 9? I can’t see Sean Citizen coming out the winner.
Martin, that only applies if you are just buying 1 item as it is only the total that is rounded up/down!
Hey genius, how does a retailer exactly go about making sure that the totals of every basket will add up to a number ending in a 3, 4, 8 or 9? You could be in for some serious consulting fees if you can work that one out.
if my groceries come to say €60.43 at the till will we be asked if we are paying by cash or card ? if cash the price is then rounded up to €60.45 or if card the price remains un altered ?
My understanding is that each item you buy will be divisible by 5, hence your total will be “round”.
In other countries, the price stays the same.
Vinney from the article it seems individual items will remain the same price and only the total will be rounded if paying cash.
@Liam
And that would make it blatant fraud, at least in my opinion, let’s say, I buy two items each at 4.48 €, then at the till I would have to pay 9 €, and the shop would net a nice 0.04 € profit off me without any cost incurring to them,. that’ is, at least in my understanding, illegal.
Vincent, did you cut off your ear – or stab yourself in the eyes?
Have another read!
No Larissa, the bill of 8.96 will be rounded to 8.95, saving a whole cent
it will be rounded down to €8.95 not up to €9 as per the examples in the article. But this is again only with a cash payment, a card payment shouldnt be rounded up nor down.
Oh Larissa, how you must be over the money now that you realise that you won’t lose a whole 4c, but gain an incredible 1c. Enjoy!
You know there will be some tight arse somewhere that will separate items accordingly into two separate transactions to make 4 cent profit
First step towards a cashless society.
We are years behind much of western Europe in this regard.
We can’t afford to fall behind in things like that.
People really need to start reading before commenting
Burn the heretic!
It’s the Journal!
If you pay by card, will bills stay as €6.53 for example?
That’s my understanding, though it would basically punish anyone using cash, and the banks would rub their hands in delight over all the transaction fees they can charge to your account
Larissa, you have to read the article again! If you pay cashless there will be no rounding and if that entices people to use cards more then you could be right and the banks/credit card companies could welcome this development.
But where you are wrong is that it punishes people using cash. You win sometimes and you lose other times and in the end it kind of balances itself out.
If you buy 1 article at 99 cent, you lose 1 cent and have to pay EUR 1.
If you buy 2 articles at 99 cent, the total is 1.98 and you lose 2 cent and have to pay EUR 2.
If you buy 3 articles at 99 cent, the total is EUR 2.97 and you win 2 cent and have to pay EUR 2.95.
If you buy 4 articles at 99 cent, the total is EUR 3.96 and you win 1 cent and have to pay EUR 3.95.
And it continues like that. Get it now?
Big step towards the cashless society. New World Order stuff.
Where’s Frank?
#teamfrank #findfrank
Nobody’s thinking about the children!!! How will little Orla learn to count if there’s no 1c or 2c coins anymore. I foresee generations of confused kids unable add, subtract, multiple or divide any multiple of 1,2,3,4.
It’s a disaster!!!!!!!!!
Centsless decision.
Are Holland and Barrett going to have to change to “Buy one and get another for 5c, unless you are paying by card in which case it will be 1c”?
Leave me short 1c and you might find yourself up for robbery, thieving is thieving whether its coppers or millions.
Companies will round up resulting in the general public paying more
Oh, read the article will you? It’s all explained how that won’t happen, and it’s not complicated.
If I purchase 10 items @ 22cent & pay for each item separately @ the cashier instead of being charged €2.20 the charge will be €2.00- saving myself 20 cent!!!! I wonder how long it will take retailers to charge in multiples of 5 – fueling inflation on many purchases! Am I correct in recalling a precedent from the changeover to the Euro from the Punt!!! Carpe Diem says the retailer – Emptor Caveat says the customer!!!
That’s exactly what will happen, just to save on the hassle and arguments, but most things ending with €.99 will go to €. 95 or just round euros, you win some, you lose some. Inflation though is healthy for an economy, in moderation
Another excuse to hike up the price of everything.
Except wages?
A big step towards a cashless society meaning totalitarianism! Total control no transaction taking place without leaving a paper trail ;) NWO coming into effect!
there will be no rounding down at all, i recall when the € came in, for example £4 items, like a regular fixed taxi fare i used to take went up to €6
8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
> > 0 < > 5 < > 0 < > 5 < > 0 < > 5 < <
.
Better?
Frank says you’re clearly a mason. He also says 3, 17 and 5. He said you’d understand. I’m going to my basement now to feed him.
I also gave him water. He could smell the fluoride from 10 paces.
About time, we did this years ago in Australia, now I’m coming over to Ireland, pleased to see this is being scrapped….much lighter purse again.
There was a brilliant joke about this earlier on a similar article… Something to do with a centipede
Its a good idea! Canada have done that with their currency.
those roundings make no sense
I am going to collect all the 1c and 2c coins to fire at any politician now that comes to my door and say to them here is your 30 pieces for selling us to Berlin, Frankfurt and Brussels… lol.
Everything will be as usual rounded up, them saying this made sense why they have rounded stamps up to the nearest 5c for next month…
“a transaction costing €10.21 or €10.22 would be rounded to €10.20
a transaction costing €10.23 or €10.24 would be rounded to €10.25
a transaction costing €10.26 or €10.27 would be rounded to €10.25
a transaction costing €10.28 or €10.29 would be rounded to €10.30£
In reality it all will be rounded to €11.15…
Goods be rounded up as will bills but wages will be rounded down?
What will happen at the till for each transaction? A question of cash or card, customer pauses to consider gain or loss depending on use of cash or card. If cash, are the tills equipped to note the rounding up or down or will the cashier have to make a note of each rounding to account for the discrepancy in the till at the end of the day? Delays probable initially but hopefully the plan will improve things overall.
100% of retailers im favour. No surprise there as 3 out of 5 times they get to round “up” the total. Another way in which government is helping business to make profit at our expense.
have your say