As most retail outlets no longer price items using 5, 10 and 20 cent designations is it not about time to get rid of these coins?
Even the fifty cent could join them as it iis a hole maker in the pocket.

Parking meters use coins. Some vending machines
also use coins. Supermarket trolleys use coins.
And generous people put coins into collection plates
for buskers, churches, and charities.

You reckon banks will round up/down to 50c?

Foxy,
Only cheapskates put coins into collection hats/tins/plates, a dollar is 1/1305th of the average weekly wage.

Come on Is Mise, enough is enough. I have watched the disappearance of the hapeny, penny, threepence & the guinea, not that long after we lost the 1 & 2 cent pieces. Do you really want your bread, or a lolly for the grand kids rounded up to a dollar.

While I do admit to having a large collection of 5C pieces built up in the container I throw my silver in when emptying my pockets, I do still find the others useful when buying something like bread. I have no desire to have to use my debit card to buy such supplies, after a recent experience.

I had to use my debit card when sourcing medical supplies no longer available in Oz. The Indian supplier did not accept Pay Pal, so I took the chance. 3 days later a thousand dollars disappeared from my a/c in 3 transactions to a UK company. Visa were reasonably quick, & I had my money back in a month, but perhaps I was lucky. I have had to change cards & password, which proved much more hassle than it should have, so will not make that mistake again.

Attempts to eliminate all cash is yet another scam to be forced on us by the elites, & the control freaks.

Hasbeen,

The 5,10 and 20 cent coins are worth so little in real terms that their equivalent size washers 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch cost.10, 15 and 30 cents so money can be saved by drilling with the appropriate holes and.making non-rusting alloy washers.
Of course it’s a crime to do this but I don’t really think that there will be any prosecutions.

Is Mise,

Your reality appears to be very different from mine.
And we can only speak from our own experiences.

I've not seen many people being really generous with
money given to either buskers, churches or charities.
It's usually coins that are given - even on ANZAC
Day. Notes rarely make an appearance. And when they
did appear they are of course gratefully received and
appreciated.

I have not had actual cash in my possession for a very very long time, be it coins or notes.
In the guts of covid it make sense to be using contactless tech. I have never encountered a situation where I have had to go and get cash or coins to do what I need to. There has always been an alternative, pay via an app/ website eftpos terminal and so on.

I'm quite comfortable with this, however do accept when the bank systems cark it, or there is a power failure etc I am royally stuffed.

I do feel that the lower denomination coins need to go, I see little point in the 5c and 10c nowadays. I suspect they cost more to produce then what they are worth.

Foxy,
You said generous people put coins and then you say that you have never seen people being really generous.and that it’s coins that are being given; which was exactly my point, given the low, Iow value of coins giving them is a kind deed but not generous.

When the average wage was £5/-//- per week 10/- was 1/10it of the wage.
Today. $1 which is the theoretical equivalent of 10/- represents but 1/1305th of the average wage so as a gift it has very little value and dropping one or two of them in a bowl sure ain’t generous.

Is Mise,

It was a play on words.

Which should have been obvious even to you.

Hassy old cock, you never cease to amaze.

Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that climate change is real, you continue to call it a scam and a fraud. Lone behold you fell for Indian scamers and fraudsters, three card trick, what were they selling you, penis enlarging pills?

Given your fetish for the 1950's, I though you would have a pocket full of pennies and halfpennies, don't tell me you're gone metric, you radical you!

Foxy,
Well it wasn’t obvious, perhaps you’d explain the humour?

Is Mise,

It was sarcasm.

Is Mise my earlier post was a tongue in cheek effort, but unlike ViolentEntropy, I do find cash very useful. It is my simple budget control method.

Once a fortnight I give myself my spending money, usually using cash out at the super market using my debit card. This is the money for all purchases in the next fortnight. This then has to cover all my spending for that period of things like fuel groceries medicines etc. If I were to run out of this money I stop spending.

Once a month I transfer money to my bill paying account. This is enough to cover all home costs, rates, power, insurance maintenance, plus all similar motoring costs, with an excess to cover tyres etc. This a/c builds over the years, & last year paid for a 12M x 7M 4 bay shed.

I believe it is very easy to overspend when using cards, & the system works very well for me, & many others. I would be most unhappy to see cash disappear, allowing my every purchase to be monitored.

Hasbeen,
I’d be unhappy to see cash disappear as well as I use quite a few washers!!
However the point is, is the small coinage necessary when it has so little value?
No doubt the groat and the farthing were useful in their day but once they became so small in relative value they disappeared.
No one lamented the disappearance of the fourpence coin probably because it was so easily mistaken for a threepence piece and usually in the wrong direction.

I do much the same as you regarding expenditure although since the onset of COVID I’ve been using the card much more.
Mine too is a debit card and I’ve never had, and never will have a credit card..

Is Mise: You wrote: " Only cheapskates put coins into collection hats/tins/plates, a dollar is 1/1305th of the average weekly wage."

The single pension is $967.50 per fortnight. So for a pensioner, a dollar is 1/494th of their weekly income. I suspect that many pensioners donate a dollar at church (or buy a raffle ticket) because they know what it is like to be short on money and want to help others.

Cossomby,
Then such pensioners are generous but put those on the average wage who drop in a dollar in a poor light.

When the value of the coins is low then the strugglers get little got their money,,personally I never give to buskers who have amplification or who are just practicing music.

Foxy,
So it wasn’t a play on words but simple sarcasm, sorry I missed the sarcastic bit as well; perhaps you’ll enlighten me?

Is Mise: "personally I never give to buskers who have amplification or who are just practicing music."

Some notable buskers I have given a dollar (or more) to.

1. The Doug Anthony All Stars, when they were mere uni students in the mid 1980s and busking at Civic, Canberra.
2. An old guy (ca 60-70) who occasionally busks outside the supermarket in my small country town. I think he does it mainly to get out and chat to people, not for the money (not during the lockdowns, but hopefully he'll be back soon).
3. My son, when he was at high school and in the youth orchestra. Well, I didn't give him dollars, but I encouraged him.

A couple of points:
1. Everyone under 90 uses amplification (and no doubt there's the odd centenarian with his guitar and amp somewhere). Are you still trying to send telegrams or have you heard of email?
2. Why not encourage those young people who are just practising music?
It can be scary to play in public and the more practice they get the better. I've seen the excitement and validation kids get when they busk: Wow, people clapped! Wow, I got $20!

Is Mise, are you practising as the Christmas Grouch? You are pretty good at it, so let me now where to send you some dollar coins

Cossomby,
Buskers who can afford amplification equipment don’t need the money and they obviously have no regard for the listening enjoyment of people who don’t like their kind of music.
I was once in an Army workshop where the radio blared all day to my discomfort so I devised a strategy and suggested that as not everyone shared the same taste in music that we should all have a choice of radio station. As there were only five of us this was approved by the boss and as luck would have it my turn came on the Wednesday,
I gleefully put on radio 2BL which played the heaviest of classical music continuously.
Two hours after we started work the boss turned the radio off and decreed that it was only to be turned on for the news.NO MUSIC.
I take your point about young musicians and will amend my attitude towards them and dig deep.

Hi Issy,

The wife done some busking back in the day, do you know how much a buskers licence costs these days? And the conditions attached.

How about this one, one of the Street People I know in Sydney 'Raincoat' Stew, takes his guitar and gear on a 2 wheel trolley, on the bus to Sydney's Paddy's Markets. Brings a box of those disposable raincoats on wet days, a bit of an opportunists me thinks. The city ranger is always at Stew for busking without a licence, and running a retail business on the footpath.

BTW, The Kiwi's got rid of 5c coins some time ago, now they are all broke, no one has any cash!

The Redfern Mob do well down at Circular Quay, the young blokes on the didgeridoo, Old Albert (Namatjira) with the clap sticks, doing the Aboriginal stomp for the tourists. The tourists pay big money for a photo opp with a real live savage from the bush (Redfern). The lads even have CD's for sale. On a busy day they pick up a few hundred dollars.

cont

Issy , if you're going to busk in style, not only do you need an amp with power, but a lap top plugged in as well, for your 'karaoke' music and lyrics, music stand, mike etc. We could bill you as "Issy Gillespie", but none of that 2BL stuff. Next thing you'll be telling us you were tuned into Howard Craven and his "Easy Listening" music.

Paul, Did my share of busking in Sydney, anywhere in the CBD was good, we never had a licence 9don’t know if they were required in the ‘60s.
I played flute and tin whistle whilst my mate played accordion.

People tend to give the smallest value coins, whatever is in their change, low value coins make it hard for buskers and those depending on a handout.

Hi issy,

From memory, over Manly way is a gold mine for the local council as far as busking is concerned. Just checked $31.80/day, $54/month, $124/3 month plus $2 mill in public liability, all councils demand insurance All councils set conditions about location, times, position near shop doorways, footpath obstruction, selling CD's etc. Sydney City are not too bad with fees and locations. My mate Stew, generally gets moved on, but one day a new bloke slugged him with an on the spot fine, over $100. He was spitting chips! You would have to blow a lot of tin whistle to get your money back.

Paul,
We weren’t dependent on busking, only did it for fun and a bit towards drinking money on our way to folk music venues.
Are the councils anti-busking or is there good money to be made?

Glen Innes Council pays the insurance for registered buskers during the annual Celtic Festival, which, as a Celt I avoid at all costs!!

Is Mise, I asked my now grown-up muso son about the cost of portable amplifiers for busking. (He's moved in with me because of lack of work due to covid). They're cheap, he said, check out costs of Pignose amps.

So...here's a fun video about Pignose! The first portable guitar amp in history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWjfvPQRuo8. This one was battery powered (AA), and seems to be still available http://www.fishpond.com.au/Electronics/Pignose-Legendary-7-100-Portable-Amp/0639586071007?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=ps&utm_campaign=AU&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-rPW59T98wIVVXRgCh3z1wTGEAQYAiABEgKI2fD_BwE.

There are many other brands of small portable, now rechargeable amps: Fender, Marshall, Boss, Donner. Top end prices can be high, ca $5000, but many are between $100-200. Here's one for $57.99 http://donnermusic.com.au/products/donner-da-10-mini-guitar-amplifier-5w-portable-british-tone?variant=40339309723804&currency=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4LHDkNX98wIV0sFMAh2XvQ_CEAQYAyABEgK2CvD_Bw. And there's lots of secondhand ones listed on Ebay, Gumtree etc.

So your argument that buskers don't deserve any money because they can afford expensive amplifiers doesn't really hold. Very cheap amps are readily available. Your army workshop analogy doesn't hold either. It was legitimate to complain about the loudness of music in your workplace, because you were forced into close proximity. With street buskers, if it's too loud, you can just walk away.

Cossomby,
First off, my workshop experience was not an analogy it was an example shewing that not everyone likes the same music as buskers and amplification is an intrusion, if I’m in town to go shopping I don’t want to be forced to listen to someone’s discordant attempt to be an entertainer.
So I shall continue to not give anything to a busker who thinks that he/she has some right to force people to listen to their efforts, if nothing else, it’s downright bad manners on their part.
There was a time when canned music was played in aircraft until a famous conductor complained and claimed that he had a right to travel in comfort and not have to listen to drivel, the upshot was that airlines introduced individual access to the music.
I play a number of instruments and when I play I make sure that I don’t intrude on anyone who doesn’t want to hear me.

Hi Issy and Cossy,

There's money in busking, but its location, location, location. Markets are good, festivals as well. The wife's amp is on wheels, rechargeable, she said 2nd hand paid $200. Have to pull it out to check how it is, its output was good. Some of the cheapies are a bit of a let down. Wife is good with guitar, sax and uke, she also has keyboard, but doesn't play it much, she sings. She also has some Buddha bowels and drums which give meditation music.

One of our favourites; Te Aroha does a fantastic job with this song with the uke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es3Vsfzdr14&ab_channel=PlayingForChange

My son tells me that at the football they no longer at the bar and food bars take cash.

With the prices they charge at those places, I guess they want an arm or a leg. No one enough enough cash.