Do you think customers would object to "no coin change"?

[inhawaii]

I'm my B&M store, do you think customers would object to a "no coin change" policy,

rounding their purchase up or down to the nearest dollar?  No need to stock the till with coins!

You think that's even legal?

[inhawaii]

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@uncle-papaw wrote:

I used to have a convenience store. One customer would come in and buy two 25¢ cakes and always insisted on paying for them separately  because the way tax was calculated, she could save a penny that way. I would say rounding up would be a bad idea.

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That reminds me of a good friend of mine.

She would always go to this place and order a "hamburger with cheese".

Hamburger:  $2.25

Cheeseburger: $2.50

Extra cheese: 5 cents 

[caldreamer]

If you want to round price down...I have no problem.   If you want to round up I would be **bleep** and walk out.  I am sure this is illegal (you cannot charge customer more than actual price).

Only way you could avoid giving change is if you change all your pricing to include "sales tax" and price in whole dollars only.   Or demand that customers pay with credit card only.

[alcoforever]

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@coolections wrote:

No, it would not be legal. You will have to just keep your coins as always.

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Citation needed.

[soh.maryl]

OK, how do you know it "would not be legal"? And in what location? 

[maxine*j]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I just thought most people would think, yeah I might lose a few cents once in a while but I also might GAiN a few cents once in a while. It should all even out...

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They might think that if it were the universal policy, if all merchants did it.  They might think that if they shop in your store frequently.  But, otherwise?  No, they wouldn't think that way.

When we ran B&Ms, we found that people would buy certain things or tender their payments in certain ways in order to get certain coins in change, for whatever reasons they had.  (Of course, that was many years, when people needed coins for parking meters, pay telephones, newspaper boxes, etc.)

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[axiombody]

I do get annoyed when the store, now since Covid, only excepts exact change or otherwise you can use a card for a 50 cent fee.  If your going to charge to use a card I expect you to have change in your till.

[coastaltechsolution]

I say don't change, we like you just the way you are  😁

[maxine*j]

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@inhawaii wrote:

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@downunder-61 wrote:

Over here we did away with 1c and 2c coins years ago.

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I did not know that. Very interesting.

I don't care what everyone else says, you Aussies are pretty darn smart.   😉

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Canadians had a bit of fun when the penny elminated from their coinage.  You can read the entire thing here, but I've included a few snippets below:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/obituary-canadian-penny-1858-2013-1.1315144

Obituary:  Canadian Penny, 1858-2013

  
Penny, Canadian — Passed away peacefully on Feb. 4, 2013, when the Royal Canadian Mint stopped distributing the copper-coloured coin.

The penny's demise had been anticipated since March 29, 2012, when federal Finance Minister James Flaherty announced in the budget that his government had decided to phase out the smallest denomination of Canada's currency...  [here follows a lengthy,. detailed history of penny designs, production, etc. through the decades]

The cause of death for the penny was likely the drop in its purchasing power, as inflation took its toll. An 1870 penny would be worth about 31 cents today, adjusted for inflation.  In its last year, one penny was costing the government 1.6 cents to produce.  With the penny's passing, the government expects to save $11 million a year.

The Canadian penny is pre-deceased by the Australian (1911-1964), New Zealand (1940-1989) and Irish (1928-2000) pennies.  It is survived by the American penny (1793- ) and the British penny, its royal and ancient ancestor, which dates back to the seventh century.

The penny will be missed by the other members of the Canadian coinage system, which are now expected to be more in demand.  It will also be mourned by the 28 per cent of Canadian adults who told the Angus Reid polling firm in January 2013 that they disagree with the government's decision to take the penny out of circulation... [here follows info on what do with pennies one has]

Messages of condolence are being accepted online.

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[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@inhawaii 

Well here's my 2 cents on this subject and you may keep it.

We did this at our thrift shop at the beginning of the pandemic,  we stopped carrying change and rounded up. Few complaints were heard but many just excepted it because we supply the our foodbank.

     We stop the pricing of .25c-.50c items and rounded up to 1 dollar.

      We've now stop this practice and are excepting coins back since nobody caught covid from those dirty filthy coins as the government lead us to believe!

[albertabrightalberta]

Another option that many stores do is to keep a bowl of loose change in front of the register. People can take and/or leave change they need (to round up) or don't want to carry (if they receive). 

I did use Mr. Google and found that there's no law against refusing change or rounding. But I'm with those who'd do whatever works in MY OWN favor.

[iart]

Wouldn't it be better to figure out the total in advance, including taxes. Round that number off and then advertising as the actual price, taxes included?

I think people who were rounded up would feel cheated.

[varebelrose]

If you always rounded down, no problem. Round up, and we have issues. I like my change, I usually cash in a couple hundred dollars worth every year.

[katzrul15]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@inhawaii 

Well here's my 2 cents on this subject and you may keep it.

We did this at our thrift shop at the beginning of the pandemic,  we stopped carrying change and rounded up. Few complaints were heard but many just excepted it because we supply the our foodbank.

     We stop the pricing of .25c-.50c items and rounded up to 1 dollar.

      We've now stop this practice and are excepting coins back since nobody caught covid from those dirty filthy coins as the government lead us to believe!

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Perfect! 

If you do this @inhawaii , be sure to tell the credit card processors.  Every time we round-up at the thrift, I get  FRAUD alert from Chase.....credit card companies think it is odd/weird transactions are exact amounts.

[tex-421]

There is nothing illegal for a merchant in his or her B&M store not to give coin change.  Shoppers are free to take their business elsewhere.  It might be one thing to put a big sign on your entry door announcing that fact, and quite another announcing your policy when you finish ringing someone up.   

Try it as an experiment and see how people react.  Unless you have a store in a super affluent neighborhood I suspect a lot of people might take their business elsewhere.

[penguins_dont_fly]

@inhawaii 

It might be easier to just price things so that they end up being a round number.

Item Price + Hawaii State GET + Locality GET = Round Number

You might have to do some backwards calculations to get there but it would head off the "I want my penny!!!!" buyers  🙂

For our readers following along at home - Hawaii does not have "Sales Tax", they have General Excise Tax.  GET is technically a tax on the business (not the sale) but can be passed on to the buyer (at a maximum pass-on rate) in a retail setting.