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Do you think Japan should do away with the one-yen coin?

47 Comments

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No, very drop counts so does every yen :)

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

I've heard many people say thay the 1 yen coin actually costs more to make than it's worth. Not sure if this is true? Is so then, Yes... or put a hole in it to make it cheaper.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

So every price will have to end in a -5 or a -0, and every time tax goes up, it'll be in increments of 5? Erm...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Get rid of the 1 yen and the 5 yen coin. Both are just useless.

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

I heard it costs at least two yen to make a one yen coin... seems pointless to me !

1 ( +5 / -4 )

¥1 coins are totally unecessary. Costly to produce, occupied space (purse,wallet, registers,banks etc) vs value is out of kilter, time consuming......!

When purchasing goods the total is rounded up or down to the nearest 5. You can still have items for ¥38 or ¥1,241 just round the total - fuss free & efficient.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

I hate 1¥ and US pennies. Whenever I have over 4 in my wallet's coin pouch, I discard the extras in the street.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

They did this in Canada a few years back (dropped the 1cent coin). When I went there last time, they just rounded everything up or down. Seemed to work pretty well.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Yeah.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Canada got rid of its penny. It sucks. Nine times out of ten the price gets rounded up. Consumers lose.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

No because it will be round up from 8 Yen to 10 Yen and round down from 7Yen to 5 Yen and most item end with 8 Yen. I dislike the 1 yen coin for the same reason mention above. The Government Pension if I am correct is 50,000 yen per months. How could anyone live on that. That why we read stories about pensioner continuing to collecting the dead Partners Pension. If they increase the Pension with the saving by discontinuing the issue of the 1 yen coins. Yes get rid of it.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

When I was there last, they were rounding up or down based on the rules of rounding. It seemed relatively even for the round-ups vs. round-downs to me.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

In New Zealand they don't have 1 or 5 cent coins. Instead, they use Swedish rounding of the total price. Takes a little getting used to but it seemed to work.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Only thing one yen coins are good for is throwing in the little charity boxes at stores, etc.

In Canada we did away with the one cent coin and I can't think of a single person who regretted to see it go. The rounding is a non issue since cash payments that would result in one or two cents change are rounded down, and ones with 3 or 4 cents in change are rounded up. Non cash bills (eg credit card, electronic transfers) are not affected at all.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Money and rice in Japan are based on an accumulation of little units.

100 Sen = 1 Yen, and the stock exchange is still quoted down to Sen today, even if there is no coin.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

It costs 1.6 yen to make 1 yen, but it also only costs 14 yen to make a 1000 yen bill. I personally would like to continue using the 1 yen coin as I have a feeling shops will start rounding prices up to the nearest 10 yen, thus resulting in a net loss for consumers.

John-san :

The Government Pension if I am correct is 50,000 yen per months

The kokumin nenkin (for those who did not have full-time jobs) is around 60,000. However, "salarymen" receive kousei nenkin which is around 150,000 yen on average.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

I hate one yen coins, mainly because shop staff are often useless at giving me one yen coins with my receipt. You know, they give you the receipt, and put the one yen coins on top, but because they are so lightweight they kind of bounce off the receipt and you have to take care not to drop the pesky little things... It's just annoying.

More generally, Japan is way behind the times in getting rid of cash. In more enlightened places you can get by almost completely cash free these days, through use of debit cards etc.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

MapleG. Unfortunately, prices seem to be set so that they end up being rounded up. I almost never have a bill that is rounded down.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Seems like many people don't get the idea that it's only the total that's rounded up or down. How can a shop rig that to always round up on random purchases?

Been done for ages in Australia, and the amount of suffering & cultural loss created couldn't fill a postage stamp.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Thank you kickboard,

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Charities will be the biggest losers if one-yen coins go out of circulation.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Losing one yen coins? Please dont give the government any ideas.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

In the UK a few years ago we had the half a penny (about 1 yen) was phased out due to its worthlessness, and popularity, its the sort of value coin if it fell out of your pocket, you would not bother picking it up.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

its the sort of value coin if it fell out of your pocket, you would not bother picking it up.

Time-wise, it costs me significantly more in money to spend time to pick up the 1 yen coin, than I make for working that same amount of time. But I still pick them up because that's what we do.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yes, it's annoying ending up with a pocketful of those bronze coins... they're not exactly light.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I would actually like to see have Yen coins added in too. Taxation is a killer.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No because my wallet would then be empty

5 ( +5 / -1 )

Mentioned this to my Japanese mother-in-law about thirty years ago. She said (if I have this correct), "Hokori wo tsumoreba, yama to naru." Loosely translated, it means, "If you gather enough dust, you can make a mountain."

3 ( +3 / -0 )

You're close, it's "chiri mo tsumoreba, yama to naru". The meaning is the same though.

塵も積もれば山となる

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Don't forget that 5 and 1 yen coins are already not accepted where the POS (point of sale) is automated, such as in vending or ticket machines.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

coin is coin

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I don't see this as being a good idea. Sure, individually they might be useless, but you can collect them in a jar at home, then change them up for larger value coins/notes. It's what I do in Britain with pennies. Anything up to the 10p coin I'll save in a jar. Sometimes I'll need the 10p coins so I'll use those then. The rest, I change up. You'd be surprised how much you can accumulate with small coins like that. A friend of mine saves up between £70-£220 a year in loose change. If we rounded to the nearest five or ten, then he'd be losing that much money. It'd be the same for all of us. So suck it up, unless you enjoy throwing your money away. In that case, throw it to someone who actually needs that money.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Fox - it's not only rounding up, it's rounding down, so it balances out in the end for the most part.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Stranger - right on! I can't for the life of me see why people don't get that simple concept. The Total is rounded Up or Down at the register - not every individual item.

Sheesh!!!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Let's get hypothetical for a second:

Let's say for lunch every day you want to purchase several items, costing 101 yen, 82 yen and 73 yen, for a total of 256 yen.

This rounds up to 260 yen, resulting in a loss of 4 yen -per day-. All well and good and very minor at first, but over a year this results in a whopping Y1,460 yen lost. Still not a lot..but I'd much rather spend that on a nicer lunch at some point.

Now, let's say, to get around the system, you have the cashiers ring up and pay for each item individually/separate receipts (which is common especially for business purchases). Now, you save a total of 6 yen for 2,190 per year back in your pocket.

Small change...but imagine this being done on a macro level...as in bank paper-money transactions and such.

We've all seen the movie Office Space right? A lot of money can be made from shaving off bits of money here and there.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

for a total of 256 yen.

This rounds up to 260 yen

No, it rounds down to 255 yen. The talk is of getting rid of 1 yen coins, not 5 yen coins.

We've all seen the movie Office Space right?

You mean where the guy in the movie took the idea from Superman 3?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

kaynide: As long as you are taking them from the tray for the children.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Remember in the good old days of 5% consumption tax and 1 yen coins were hardly apparent. Just like before consumption tax started at 3% - that is when the head ache started.

One yen - yes, be gone! Rounding off does not incur too much loss. Also, the alloy production cost is greater than the value of the monetary unit.

Five yen - not yet - wait until consumption tax hits 10%. Also rorting of 4 yen a pop instead of just 2 yen. Hmm - just a bit too much at this time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Strangerland: Of course you're right- that was a per-coffee comment. The numbers are off, but the point is that in each individual transaction there is a chance to either gain or lose 2 yen. For individuals it's kind of a no-biggie of course, but it can potentially add up over years, especially for companies who can work loopholes in cash exchanges. (eg. buying 1000 items at once could mean +/- 2 yen total, individually could be +/- 2000 yen)

Also, I must admit I've never seen Superman 3. I'm sure it was mentioned (even prominently) in Office Space...but I don't remember at all.. it's been long enough as it is since I've even seen that.

Thank you!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

See how the EU has dealt with the low denomination coins. They ditched them. Long, long ago. They cost more to produce than their face value. Unscrupulous characters melt them down. Time is wasted counting out change and customers trying to find another penny/cent to complete the sale. There was a time the small coin was worth something, you could buy something with it, like 50 years ago, but now?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's possible. We got rid of the penny here in Canada. For electronic purchases the prices do not change. For cash, 3 and 4 cents rounds up to 5 cents, and 6 and 7 rounds down to 5 cents. No one has to fumble for change and it averages out. Japan would be fine with it dropped.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

For individuals it's kind of a no-biggie of course, but it can potentially add up over years, especially for companies who can work loopholes in cash exchanges. (eg. buying 1000 items at once could mean +/- 2 yen total, individually could be +/- 2000 yen)

The prices are only adjusted for cash purchase on the total bill. Individual items do not have their prices rounded, only the total bill. So even if they bought 1000 items, the greatest difference in price would be 2 yen. And if they paid by credit card, the price would not be rounded at all.

Also, I must admit I've never seen Superman 3. I'm sure it was mentioned (even prominently) in Office Space...but I don't remember at all.. it's been long enough as it is since I've even seen that.

Yeah, it was actually mentioned in Office Space. The guy was explaining his theory, and one of the other guys said 'isn't that the plot of Superman 3?'

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Strangerland:

Right. that is what I said: all at once is +/- 2 yen, but individually, one at a time (yes huge waste of time and highly improbable) would be +/- 2000 yen.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No it wouldn't.

Let's say I buy one item worth 557 yen. It will be rounded down to 555 yen. A difference of 2 yen.

Let's say I buy 1001 of these items at 557 yen. The full price is 557557. The price is rounded to 557555. A difference of 2 yen.

Let's say I send out my staff to buy 1001 items individually at 557 yen. They make 2 yen on each purchase, saving a total of 2000 yen. Let's say each purchase takes 20 seconds (a conservative estimate, since payment has to be made, and change and a receipt have to be given with each purchase). It takes 20020 seconds, which is some ridiculous amount of time that I don't feel like calculating. Even if I'm paying my staff minimum wage, it's still going to cost me way more to pay them for the time to do it, than the 2000 yen I'm going to make off the rounding.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

You've got me there- it is a ridiculous situation and I can not imagine a vendor who would agree to losing so much money and time by ringing up purchases in that manner... So I guess the system would work and average out overall. I yield the floor!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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