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Have you stopped using the penny altogether? On a recent trip, I noticed that prices were always rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents when paying in cash.
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Yes, I discovered this a month ago. Sums tend to be rounded one way or another, but you feel a bit of a fool standing there with your hand out when it's rounded in the shop's favour.
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Pennies are no longer being produced; whatever is in circulation is all there is.
For cash purchases, prices are to be rounded to nearesst nickel.
For electronic purchases, pennies are essentially still in effect.
So... if you purchase something for, say, $23.02, pay with cash.
If it is $23.03, use your card and save 2 cents.
The reason for getting rid of the pennies are:
1. cost - about 1 1/2 to 2 cents to produce
2. people hoard them and only cash them in on occasion; I remember my parents doing that and cashing in $50 or more at a time - all pennies.
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Interesting. I wish they'd do that here as well. Pennies just add weight, are not accepted by most coin machines, and people just accumulate them in their car's cup holders.
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I generally inflict them about 2 dozen at a time on a waiter who annoys me in lieu of a quarter as part of a cash tip.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Yep, for cash transactions only.
$1.01, $1.02 -> $1.00
$1.03, $1.04 -> $1.05
I'd rather be phishing!
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The quarter is the new penny...don't usually get anything lower than that, inflation sux. I do the bulk of my purchasing online these days, so I don't notice that much.
I still have jars of pennies...should melt them down and sell them as a copper ingot on eBay 
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DaveX86 wrote: sell them as a copper ingot on eBay
They aren't copper anymore; I think they are a combination of metals.
After 1997 to 2003... copper plated zinc
1999 to 2003... steel, copper, nickel
2003 on.. multi-ply plated steel
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Ah, thanks for the info...I guess I'll have to say 'genuine imitation copper ingot' in the description then
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Noticed that on my last trip to Toronto last spring.
I like it and wish the US would do the same. Heck, we could stop using the nickel as well...
I also liked the Canadian mylar bills.
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington
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Mike Mullikin wrote: stop using the nickel as well
Ooooh, I get to roll out Groucho again:
"What America needs is an eight-cent nickel. That way you can use it to buy a three-cent newspaper and get the same nickel back."
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Better yet, add the following paper currency ($1.01, $5.05, $10.10 and $20.20) to what we already have.
That should eliminate the headaches.
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The $9.99 should be handy as well
--
"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."
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Not needed. If I pay $11, I will get back $1.01.
Having $1, $1.01, $5, $5.05, $10, $10.10, $20, and $20.20 should cover all the coin permutations that we need.
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Yes, the coin was deemed to be inefficient. However, it continues to be accepted as legal tender when making a cash payment.
/ravi
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A sensible decision was made.
Normal decision making processes will return shortly.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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They are contemplating removing the 1c and 2c (€) in Europe as well. The money cost more in handling and producing than it is worth it.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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I still have the half-pence from my visits 20+ years ago.
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Please don't. At least not for a few years. It's remotely possible the idiots running my country might still consider a good idea that was done by a Canucklehead first, but if they find out that it was done by Eurotrash too, I'll still be getting a penny in change 50 years from now if I pay cash for a $79.99 value meal at a fastfood restaurant. 
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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So, I'm traveling to Paris in a couple weeks to handle a personal matter with my wife and mother-in-law. I'll be there for a week and it would be nice to have a couple phones. So I'm hoping that our group who country hop more often than I do have dealt with the problem we are trying to figure out.
The wife and I both have unlocked GSM smart phones (Nexus 5) that we could easily pop a pre-paid sim into and be on our way. What I'm wondering is, would it be easier to just buy a couple of burner phones at the airport and leave ours at home? I'm assuming they sell them there but I'm unsure of cost and hassle of a sim vs cost of a throw away phone. Never done it before.
Her mom wants to spend some time in the city alone, which given the reason I understand. I don't feel like we need phones, if we want to meet somewhere at six, look at a watch or clock and be there at six. She wants us to have phones so the two of us can do stuff while her mom is out and still allow communication if she needs, like if her mom gets lost.
Thoughts? I've lost the "We don't need phones." battle, not one worth fighting. I just want the easiest option for the money.
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Go to Luxembourg instead, its far nicer.
Just get a prepaid Orange SIM if you really have to visit that sad old whore that Paris is. You should be able to get one from any Tabac (red double ended cone stuck to the front of the shop. )
Its still a dump. A nasty, dirty, cramped place whose charm faded many decades ago.
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Yeah, we are heading to Paris to honor her father's last wishes. He and the mother-in-law lived there for a number of years for his work many decades ago when they first got married. So she has fond memories of it. So we do have to go there... I tried to get a lay-over in more interesting places, but a direct flight was found for less.
And thanks for the advice. 
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Be really careful of east European beggers/pick pockets ie women in head scarves with grotty kids. If you see them put you hand on your wallet, avoid eye contact and keep walking.
Watch out for being shaken down by the transport police. Keep your ticket stub till you get OUT of your destination station.
As for food, the Vietnamese is probably the best, the rest is crap/toxic: bad kebabs and the usual sad old French fayre that wasn't that exciting 30 years ago and hasn't evolved since.
Hotels? Best bet is to stay on the outside and train/tube it in. Its a tiny city, so it wont take long to get in by train, 20 mins probably.
Places to see? Well, the usual, if you must, my only recommendation is the Dali museum at Mont Matre.
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Munchies_Matt wrote: Go to Luxembourg instead, its far nicer.
Request: I need to go to Paris.
Advice: Go to Luxemburg instead.
You should work as a consultant.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Entropy isn't what it used to.
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Its only a few hours away.
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