Bye Bye 5 cent pieces

JulieW

JulieW

Well-Known Member
Silver Stacker
Exactly 50 years since they were introduced, it seems five cent coins could be on their way out.

On 14 February 1966, Australia's pounds, shillings and pence were replaced with dollars and cents.

Or, as the official song went: "In come the dollars and in come the cents/ To replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence "

But as inflation inevitably took its toll on the currency, low-value notes slowly became coins and low-value coins were ruthlessly thrown into the dustbin of history. First the one-dollar note became a coin, shortly followed by the two-dollar bill. Then the one- and two-cent coins stopped being produced.

Now, in remarks made almost exactly half a century after the introduction of decimal currency, the chief executive of the Royal Australian Mint, Ross MacDiarmid, has indicated five-cent coins could be on their last legs, too.

"I think the five-cent piece is almost dying a natural death," he told the ABC.

"We've seen a halving of the demand for five-cent pieces over the past five years and our expectation is that it will just simply progress, it's lost its utility, it will lose interest from the public."

Besides the effect of inflation, MacDiarmid said technology such as contactless electronic payment was lowering demand.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of decimal currency, MacDiarmid said the new national currency reflected the nation's story, echoing growth and development in Australian society since 1966.

"Almost 50 years ago, on 14 February, Australians took a step towards a more united country featuring typically Australian designs on all of our coins, and so the Royal Australian Mint wants to capture this moment and celebrate with the public," he said.

As part of the celebrations, the mint will make round, gold-plated 50-cent coins, ahead of a possible permanent shift to a round design.

http://www.theguardian.com/australi...y-50-years-after-pushing-out-pounds-and-pence
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JulieW said:
Besides the effect of inflation, MacDiarmid said technology such as contactless electronic payment was lowering demand.
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I was at a city convenience store a few weeks ago and the electronic payment system had just gone down. The two people in front of me had to leave without buying their small item (a drink or something). They did not even have $5 in cash in their pocket. Nothing. People are increasingly using contactless payment cards for everything.
 
SilverPete said:
I was at a city convenience store a few weeks ago and the electronic payment system had just gone down. The two people in front of me had to leave without buying their small item (a drink or something). They did not even have $5 in cash in their pocket.
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That could have been me. :D
I rarely carry cash, not even 5 bucks. :cool:
 
I still use them. Does that mean that those such as me who try to post with cash now have to round to the nearest 10 cents? So I lose another 4 cents.

:)
 
Naphthalene Man said:
I still use them. Does that mean that those such as me who try to post with cash now have to round to the nearest 10 cents? So I lose another 4 cents.

:)
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That's the idea....

Left, Right & Center keep losing them all
 
This may have more to do with the maker wanting to avoid its contractual obligation to provide a currency with a production cost threatening its face value ... they deserves no sympathy ...
 
SilverPete said:
I was at a city convenience store a few weeks ago and the electronic payment system had just gone down. The two people in front of me had to leave without buying their small item (a drink or something). They did not even have $5 in cash in their pocket. Nothing. People are increasingly using contactless payment cards for everything.
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I hope they learned valuable lesson.
 
Naphthalene Man said:
I still use them. Does that mean that those such as me who try to post with cash now have to round to the nearest 10 cents? So I lose another 4 cents.
:)
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Likely the opposite. $9.95 items will get rounded down to $9.90.
Only a fool would increase the price to $10, that psychological ploy still works, so the extra sales would offset the new loss, no problem.
 
The reason 5c coins are out of fashion is because the parking meters accept nothing less than a 10c piece.
the most abundant place to dispose of the small change does not accept them.
 
Only fair if you remove the 5c piece due to inflation then you introduce a $500 note at the same time
 
tozak said:
Only fair if you remove the 5c piece due to inflation then you introduce a $500 note at the same time
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Just waiting for Australia to be completely sold off to foreign interests, then they can issue the new notes.

ITsau46.jpg
 
raven said:
I'm gonna stack 'em !
:)
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I've got a huge bucket of them for the reason mentioned above parking meters and vending machine don't accept them any more.

Out of interest, are the old 1 and 2c pieces worth more than 1 and 2c these days?
 
Well good riddance, everyone knows these small denomination coins support international terrorism, arms and drug dealing and money laundering!
 
They are still legal tender in Canada, just stopped issuing them.

Any turned over to a Canadian financial institution are sent back to Bank of Canada (Reserve Bank) for destruction; the usual excuses (oh-ah-organized crime, money laundering blablabla) were cited.
 
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