Change in change for Ireland

IRELAND is to ditch one and two cent coins in favour of a rounding prices to the nearest five cents.

From the end of October the country’s central banks plans to pull the copper coins out of circulation, allowing retailers to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents.

Electronic payments can still be made to the nearest cent.

While surveys in the Irish town of Wexford, which has already experimented with the change in change, found 100% of retailers and 85% of consumers approved, charities are worried.

They believe they could lose millions in revenues from collection jars as a result of the new policy.

The cost of producing a one cent coin (still referred to as the centime in France) is about 1.65 cent, while the cost of minting a two cent coin is about 1.94 cent. The cost of making one euro is about five cents.

For collectors though, not all coins are the same. The site infocollection claims a 2001 one centime coin from Finland is worth ten euros, while one from Monaco in the same year is worth 100 euros.

Photo:Flickr/Andrea Guerra