5c Coin to be Scrapped???

[csv8]

Retailers fear backlash if five-cent coin axed
Jessica Wright
June 26, 2011

Tossing the coin ...
HIGH metal prices and inflation have combined to threaten the five-cent coin with extinction.

And while there is not much love lost between retailers and Australia's littlest coin, the industry is likely to be concerned that under such a radical shake-up they could be bear the brunt of a consumer backlash.

There have been past murmurings about the coin's future.


But The Sun-Herald can reveal that the cost of making the five-cent coin now far outstrips its face value.

A source from inside the nation's currency maker, the Royal Australian Mint, said the coin was increasingly ''redundant'' in the currency pecking order.

Now, the Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, is considering the Mint's advice to scrap it.

Retailers have recently had something to say about the coin. Last month the Australian Retailers Association's executive director, Russell Zimmerman, reportedly said the five-cent coin was less relevant in today's economy.

But he cautioned that scrapping the coin would impact most on small retailers.

Under Australian law, it is legal for shopkeepers or businesses to refuse to accept payment in any form of currency, and many services and stores have already put in place a ban on the five-cent piece.

Parking, phone and vending machines have already ceased accepting the tender and many other everyday services were moving rapidly away from cash transactions, especially from small-coin denominations.

The Australian Vending Association's president, Phil Barry, told the ABC earlier this year the coin was now regarded as an endangered species. ''We've got rid of five cents out of vending machines,'' he said. ''The way vending machines are going is the note reader … and credit card readers.''

The consumer group Choice has said that a move to scrap the small piece of metal would be welcomed by a majority of the public, who considered it a nuisance. But it has previously called on the government to prioritise guidelines for retailers to round down rather than up if the coin was scrapped, saying every five cents added to the soaring cost of living.

''Consumers might regard the decision to round up a cost they shouldn't have to bear,'' said the National Retail Association's executive director, Gary Black.

The national president of the United Retailers Federation, Scott Driscoll, was reported as saying last month that associated changes in prices would spark a ''crisis in confidence''.

''Our biggest problem now is getting confidence back in the retail sector and we don't need another hurdle with people thinking they're getting stung down to their last five cents.''

[Whiskeyonesix]

I've got a huge jar full of 5c pieces at home. One day I'll bag 'em up and take them to the bank but it's good to count out a pile every so often and take them to the local deli in exchange for a chico roll or something.
It keeps the money in circulation which can only be a good thing

Although in a few years I think physical cash will be none existant anyway. I haven't paid cash for anything in about 2 weeks*


*mainly cos im a tight-fisted pom

[Jim Goose]

yay... more rounding up of prices...

[rancidpunx]

^ Someone has a brain to see where this will go.

I personally prefer using cash to pay for stuff. I am also lazy and will only ever pay for things with notes so end up with a few grands worth of coins at the end of the year. A nice bonus that I wasnt really expecting.

[JG33RD]

Originally Posted by rancidpunx

^ Someone has a brain to see where this will go.

I personally prefer using cash to pay for stuff. I am also lazy and will only ever pay for things with notes so end up with a few grands worth of coins at the end of the year. A nice bonus that I wasnt really expecting.

+1 I only pay cash and have the coin bonus But I do see the plastic card soon taking over from cash, as much as I hate them I will probably have to get used to them.

[roberts]

its very clear that we are moving to a cashless society, where you are payed in credits rather than cash (which isnt backed by anything anyway) people are happy to except credits for goods and services which just helps to blur the lines between the credits you worked for and the credits the bank will lend you in the form of a credit card/s. It is sad really that we work currently for legal tender not money, soon just credits. But i will tell you where we are headed from here, you know that cool chip that just appeared on you new bank card well that's a RFID chip, and now for your convenience (because your so busy working hard for your credits to pay with cash and hold up the line) your can just pay-wave for items under a $100 dollars, we have seen the adds. Thats what the RFID chip is for, but why stop there wouldnt it be cool if you didnt need the card at all just the RFID chip. You wouldnt need a wallet you have no cash you have no cards, your to busy for all that anyway. So where to put the chip its a bit small(RFID chips can be made tiny theres one in you dog for rego) we can just implant that in oh lets say your right hand with your next flu shot.

[csv8]

This is where are headed !!!
MOBILE phones are being used as credit cards in an Australian trial touted as a technological "turning point".

The 50-person trial by ANZ and Visa, announced today, uses an Apple iPhone case with a built-in memory card that acts as a credit card.

When it is waved in front of a contactless payment reader, users can make purchases of up to $100 without a PIN or a signature.

Visa Australia country manager Vipin Kalra said the trial was designed to prove financial companies could launch the technology without waiting for manufacturers to add it to phones. "We are still waiting for handsets to become available and this is a way to bridge that gap and use the technology today," Mr Kalra said.

"It's been a real eye-opener so far and it's interesting to see the reaction of people around it. They say `how can I get one of these phones?'."


The cases, built by DeviceFidelity with Visa, use a MicroSD memory card that works with an app and a prepaid debit card.

The memory cards could in future be inserted directly in BlackBerry and Google Android phones to avoid adding an extra case, Mr Kalra said.

He called the new technology a "turning point" for phone credit card payments and said Visa would seek to make the service commercially available in the US this year with Australia to follow.

The new trial in Sydney and Melbourne follows a similar test with Telstra and the National Australia Bank more than year ago, though participants can now make purchases in many more locations. More than 20,000 contactless payment terminals have since been installed in Australian stores.

Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi said Australia was a prime location for such a service, given the high rate of mobile phone adoption and our willingness to try new technology.

"There's definitely a place for this kind of service in the future and it won't be too long before we see it used for small transactions that are now annoying, like buying coffee or a bus ticket," he said.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by csv8

Retailers fear backlash if five-cent coin axed
Jessica Wright
June 26, 2011

Tossing the coin ...
HIGH metal prices and inflation have combined to threaten the five-cent coin with extinction.

And while there is not much love lost between retailers and Australia's littlest coin, the industry is likely to be concerned that under such a radical shake-up they could be bear the brunt of a consumer backlash.

There have been past murmurings about the coin's future.


But The Sun-Herald can reveal that the cost of making the five-cent coin now far outstrips its face value.

A source from inside the nation's currency maker, the Royal Australian Mint, said the coin was increasingly ''redundant'' in the currency pecking order.

Now, the Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, is considering the Mint's advice to scrap it.

Retailers have recently had something to say about the coin. Last month the Australian Retailers Association's executive director, Russell Zimmerman, reportedly said the five-cent coin was less relevant in today's economy.

But he cautioned that scrapping the coin would impact most on small retailers.

Under Australian law, it is legal for shopkeepers or businesses to refuse to accept payment in any form of currency, and many services and stores have already put in place a ban on the five-cent piece.

Parking, phone and vending machines have already ceased accepting the tender and many other everyday services were moving rapidly away from cash transactions, especially from small-coin denominations.

The Australian Vending Association's president, Phil Barry, told the ABC earlier this year the coin was now regarded as an endangered species. ''We've got rid of five cents out of vending machines,'' he said. ''The way vending machines are going is the note reader … and credit card readers.''

The consumer group Choice has said that a move to scrap the small piece of metal would be welcomed by a majority of the public, who considered it a nuisance. But it has previously called on the government to prioritise guidelines for retailers to round down rather than up if the coin was scrapped, saying every five cents added to the soaring cost of living.

''Consumers might regard the decision to round up a cost they shouldn't have to bear,'' said the National Retail Association's executive director, Gary Black.

The national president of the United Retailers Federation, Scott Driscoll, was reported as saying last month that associated changes in prices would spark a ''crisis in confidence''.

''Our biggest problem now is getting confidence back in the retail sector and we don't need another hurdle with people thinking they're getting stung down to their last five cents.''

The push to drop 5C will devalue the $ . happened when copper was dropped and wll do nothing now but cost us money

[pottery beige]

if i become chipped does that mean i can be picked up for wandering at large and returned safely home.....

[roberts]

Originally Posted by csv8

This is where are headed !!!
MOBILE phones are being used as credit cards in an Australian trial touted as a technological "turning point".

The 50-person trial by ANZ and Visa, announced today, uses an Apple iPhone case with a built-in memory card that acts as a credit card.

When it is waved in front of a contactless payment reader, users can make purchases of up to $100 without a PIN or a signature.

Visa Australia country manager Vipin Kalra said the trial was designed to prove financial companies could launch the technology without waiting for manufacturers to add it to phones. "We are still waiting for handsets to become available and this is a way to bridge that gap and use the technology today," Mr Kalra said.

"It's been a real eye-opener so far and it's interesting to see the reaction of people around it. They say `how can I get one of these phones?'."


The cases, built by DeviceFidelity with Visa, use a MicroSD memory card that works with an app and a prepaid debit card.

The memory cards could in future be inserted directly in BlackBerry and Google Android phones to avoid adding an extra case, Mr Kalra said.

He called the new technology a "turning point" for phone credit card payments and said Visa would seek to make the service commercially available in the US this year with Australia to follow.

The new trial in Sydney and Melbourne follows a similar test with Telstra and the National Australia Bank more than year ago, though participants can now make purchases in many more locations. More than 20,000 contactless payment terminals have since been installed in Australian stores.

Telsyte research director Foad Fadaghi said Australia was a prime location for such a service, given the high rate of mobile phone adoption and our willingness to try new technology.

"There's definitely a place for this kind of service in the future and it won't be too long before we see it used for small transactions that are now annoying, like buying coffee or a bus ticket," he said.

its not a microSD card it a RFID chip (Radio-frequency identification)
the devils in the details 666. Its has your card number and pin stored and transmits it via the set frequency, you would be surprised how much info could be stored on it, like your home address, your drivers license, your mobile number your blood type all your friends on facebook, your criminal history and so on. I hear also that organised crime syndicates can make there own scanners for around a $100 to steal you info

I love how some researcher says buying a coffee is annoying, really who gets annoyed paying for a coffee

It dosnt surprise me that apple is getting onto this, surley it not just me who has noticed everyone went out and brought an I-phone, did they even have a marketing campaign was it word of mouth? subliminal messages maybey? I dont what it was but every ones got one, I saw a guy on the train the other day with his Ipod, Iphone and Ipad, and I thought dont you get promo gear with that many purchases, you know stickers for you car hats and and jackets.
"If you dont have an Iphone, well you dont have an Iphone"

[roberts]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

if i become chipped does that mean i can be picked up for wandering at large and returned safely home.....

I imagine so, your home address will be on there and gps will be able to find you.
mabey by then wandering at large will be punishable by death.
i read that a electrial engineer in I think in Sudan, has designed a RFID chip with cyandie in it so would be more cost effective to kill you and locate your body after with the push of a button.

[fat4D]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

yay... more rounding up of prices...

Dont think it will overly affect rounding. I work at aldi and out of the 1 800 products we sell i could probably count on one hand the amount of items with a 5 or lower on the end. So really it will work in favor nethe people goin to get the 5 items as in stead of paying 1cent more they will pay 4cents less. While will add up. And we can get our petrol to the 4cent instead of 2 gotta love free petrol

[rancidpunx]

I dont want a phone with a chip to pay for things. They cant even work long enough to make Phone calls for more than 3 weeks.

[roberts]

Originally Posted by atec77

The push to drop 5C will devalue the $ . happened when copper was dropped and wll do nothing now but cost us money

your exactly right, this is another form of tax, labour loves them taxes.
our currency is at the heights its ever been against the us dollar which is constantly devaluing due to the printing of currency qe1, qe2, soon qe3. though i use the term printing loosely as the federal reserve doesn't print currency it simply creates credits into accounts, which robs everyone with savings (china is very unhappy with being payed back the huge amounts of debt with devalued currency and have been off loading the stock piles of us notes for physical silver) but if our dollar keeps going up then our manufacturing dies, no more ozzie built fords, mustangs would be cheap though but will properly be made in china You see it took along time for the us to wise up that china holds down the value of there currency through market manipulation and now with all the manufacturing going there, the US has huge unemployment so the us wants a piece of that action and is holding there currency value down, and guess what we lap it up and buy car parts straight from the us, by passing the Australian companies because well its cheaper long term retailers go out of business, manufacturing stops less people working less money in your pocket, TOYOTA is struggling to stay in Australia because the dollar is so high and have been cutting corners since the gfc and there brand has taken huge hit, yes i work in the auto industry and have noticed the cars being pumped out since the gfc have had more problems than prior(cheaper labour, cheaper parts and higher car prices which we can afford because our currency is higher although substandard products) oh this is about the 5c piece

[Kryton]

Im happy to be rounded up - just get rid of the bloody 5c piece.
Should have been axed years ago.

[Dave_Obsession]

Originally Posted by davway

Im happy to be rounded up - just get rid of the bloody 5c piece.
Should have been axed years ago.

This +1. IMO it's a nuisance. If you want to save the 2c or whatever the cost of rounding the item is, pay on card.

[chrisfpv]

Originally Posted by davway

Im happy to be rounded up - just get rid of the bloody 5c piece.
Should have been axed years ago.

Damn straight, stupid coin!

[Franco Cozzo]

Personally, I think we should do away with drivers license, credit cards, debit cards, any form of identity like passports and just have a national system that links your details via your biometrics, like retina or something.

RFID is a little too sus for me.

The only way they could steal your details would be if they cut out your eye.

Want to pay for something, just put your face on this thing, no PIN at the ATM or checkout etc.

Links all your details to it, where you live, name age blah blah blah.

[You Yangs]

20 of the little suckers makes a Dollar, then 20 of those makes a lobster!

[Riksta]

But the 5c piece is the best one for the money spinner, it makes the most noise, and when you put like 30 of them in quick succession, nobody can hear themself think!

[atec77]

Originally Posted by roberts

I imagine so, your home address will be on there and gps will be able to find you.
mabey by then wandering at large will be punishable by death.
i read that a electrial engineer in I think in Sudan, has designed a RFID chip with cyandie in it so would be more cost effective to kill you and locate your body after with the push of a button.

The chips in the new credit cards have a read range of several meters , I keep all my cards in a foilpouch in my wallet , foil means no reading

[TheInterceptor]

Putting all my trust in plastic and electrics is not going to happen. Cash cant go wrong. What if the system crashes like NAB(?) did earlier this year?

Many people were without money. And how bout security? There will always be ways around it.

Sorry but im sticking to cash, keycard for larger purchases. Easier to control your spending aswell.

Dont like where we're headed...

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by atec77

The chips in the new credit cards have a read range of several meters , I keep all my cards in a foilpouch in my wallet , foil means no reading

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by atec77

The chips in the new credit cards have a read range of several meters , I keep all my cards in a foilpouch in my wallet , foil means no reading

Its been shown that RFID chips in cards can be read by a scanner while on the move. Imagine just walking along a busy footpath or shopping center how much info can be scanned without your knowledge?

[Mr Hardware]

ahaha potto
thats what i was gonna post

[Geez Louise]

I think within a 30yr timeframe, money/cash will be a thing of the past. Will we still have a currency? Sure! but it will all be swipe and go type of transactions.

Having to search down the back of the couch or under the seat of a car for coinage will be a thing of the past....looking for the remote...well that one will stay around for awhile though...

[Bossxr8]

5c are useless anyway. Not even parking meters will take them now.

[XD 351 Ute]

I reckon it's all going the wrong way.
Bring back the days when a cent could buy someTHINGS.
So people value their money and what it could buy.

Stupid inflation.

Ed

[WMD351]

Australia Card anybody?

[xtremerus]

NZ got rid of the 5cent a few years ago, I think.
Last time I was over there, I never really noticed that it didn't exist.

I say get rid of it here too.

Name one thing that you can buy for 5 cents.