Can you spare some change ?

Rick Snyder

Silver
Nov 19, 2003
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What is the Dominican mind-set concerning money? For the last few days there have been a number of articles in the newspapers concerning the centavos here in the DR. The vast majority of the people seem to want to do away with the centavos and in reality they have been done away with for the last couple of years. WHY? Do the Dominicans like getting robbed and/or making the rich richer? I paid my phone bill yesterday which was 2,053 pesos with 74 centavos and handed the girl 2,100 and she gave me 46 pesos back. Multiply this 26 centavo thief by the number of clients that Verizon has and you have a BIG ladron in our mists. The same is true in any and all stores where you have prices of 4.95, 1.75 etc. etc. etc. Nobody has the 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 centavo coins and why not when they are minted here in the DR, backed by oro and authorized by the government. I have seen people throw away pesetas and even half pesos. Last time I calculated 4 pesetas equalled 1 peso as did 2 half peso coins as did 10 10 centavo coins etc.
If you go to Europe and buy something for 1 euro and 95 cents and give them a 2 euro coin do they give you a 5 cent coin in return? In Canada you buy something for 4.75 and give them a 1 dollar coin and 2 2 dollar coins do they give you 25 cents back? In the USA you buy something for 9.87 and give a 10 dollar bill do they give you 13 cents? In any of these countries do the people throw away the change in cents that has been given to them? I THINK NOT!!!!!!! Dominican mind-set. :eek:
 

Hillbilly

Moderator
Jan 1, 2002
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Rick, you have certainly hit on something that

is in the news. If they lower the price by 50?, you won't see yourself getting a 50? coin in return.

this is a concern since pesos are now worth a squidgion more than 3? of a dollar, so half-pesos coins and 25? coins as well as the smaller change would be worth more than a peso!! looks like a Catch 22 situation to me.

HB:D:D
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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I once worked out that a large shop serving thousand of customers must make thousands of pesos daily because of this.

They don't even give you sweets or chicle instead of coins any more.

Was it you, HB, who said we should save them up and use them to pay for things? I loved that idea.
 

simpson Homer

Bronze
Nov 14, 2003
559
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wonder

Claim your change or leave the product in the counter
don't acept candies.

Rick you are right saying that 30,000 person leaving every day their 1 cents when usually is more. 30,000 * 0.01 = $300

NORMALLY STORES NEVER GIVE YOU BACK THE CHANGE JUST THE STUPID CANDIES

But if somebody doesn't have enough money they you can't take the product.

I wonder if they can get lawsuit for keeping people's money

Ho.Si
 

Rick Snyder

Silver
Nov 19, 2003
2,321
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Still a sham in another form

when they owe you 30 centavos and give you a candy that they sell for 25 centavos and they bought from the distributor for 15 centavos.Still 15 centavos in their pocket.What I fail to understand is why the banks, who handle the money, don't have any centavos and have no desire to get any. The article in the Listin Diario says that with the 16% ITBIS it is impossible to have a rounded out price and that you will always have excess centavos and therefore a need for the coins. And on top of all this the vice-president of the Supermercados Nacional, Antonio Fern?ndez said "Nosotros no ganamos", and if you believe that I have a bridge I'll sell you. :nervous:
 

Guatiao

El Leon de los Cacicazgos
Mar 27, 2004
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I keep wondering the same thing when I?m in DR, why don?t I get my change back!! Maybe they should start a new system everything rounded off to the nearest peso, any purchase that?s end under .50 cents should be rounded lower; ex: $1.25 = $1.00, over .50 higher, ex:$1.51= $2.00.
But there can be a bright side if you?re a coin collector. If they abolish all the coins and want to melt them to make metal or whatever, they few coins left would be extremely valuable. Since the avg Dominican doesn't collect coins there are still some valuable coins in avg people hands that dont know the true value.
Anyway its a con that Dominican sellers play, I want my change & save all the pennies till I can be presented on TV for my enormous collection. :laugh:
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
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Where must the shopkeepers find centavos if the banks don't have any? We're in our third year of living in the DR and do you know that I've never even seen a centavo. I think centavos are a urban legend...
 

Pib

Goddess
Jan 1, 2002
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newuser said:
Some restaurants round their bills up to the next highest 10 pesos. For example if the bill is 462 pesos and you pay with a 500 peso bill you will receive change of 30 pesos instesd of the correct 38 pesos.
Not in my experience. I always get change, to the last peso figure.

And when I pay purchases that end in some cents I just give the next lowest round amount. I have yet to see anyone tell me I need to cough up an extra quarter. YMMV though. I doubt supermarkets make money on this, it is most likely the mom and pops places that do.

Have you stopped to think that there may actually NOT be any coins out there? I doubt minting is worth it when it comes to anything less than a peso. I am sure it stopped been "profitable" long ago. And I doubt people keep a stash of worthless 10-cents coins around.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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But then, isn't it time to stop adding centavos to prices, if they don't exist?
 

Rick Snyder

Silver
Nov 19, 2003
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Existence of the centavo is a sureity

As I have some in different corners of my house as do a lot of other people. The problem is nobody will use them because they think or other people have brainwashed them to believe that the centavos are worthless and they have no idea that because of this belief they are getting ripped off every day.
Pib, to address your post. If everyone were to pay the lower round amount, and to do this you must always have 4-1 peso coins, 1-5 peso coin and a 50, 20 and 2-10 peso notes, then the problem would end as coins would surely appear but the magic word here is the participation of (everyone).
Newuser I applaud your defense of Supermercado Nacional but as a business whos purpose is to make money I guarantee you that their percentage of register receipts that total 50-99 centavos far outweights those that total 1-49. It it outweights by one then they have won(robbed) someone.
Prices are not rounded out, never have been, never will be and the 16% sales tax on some items only compounds the problem. IMHO the seeding and spreading of the rumor that the centavo is wothless was and is the brainchild of a person who is rich and is in business to become richer and has found another way to rob the people of this country. They are robbing you and I but WTH we can afford it. The great crime is that they are robbing the poor people of this country who do not know they are being robbed and can't afford it and they are laughing all the way to the bank.
 

Keith R

"Believe it!"
Jan 1, 2002
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newuser said:
I asked her where she was from. She replied "Brazil."
Not surprised. Brazil actually has a Consumer Code (since 1990), a pretty good one, and the DR does not. There are also decent laws about pricing and display of pricing in most major Brazilian states, and authorities have been enforcing it, consumer groups keep an eye on it and consumers are encouraged to report shady and questionable practices. As far as I know, none of that is on offer in the DR....
 

Texas Bill

Silver
Feb 11, 2003
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This very issue of change was addressed in DR1 today

It seems that the banks have plenty of "small change", but the merchants just ignore that fact and don't stock it in their registers. Whether out of laziness (which I seriously doubt) or from an attitude of making a better profit margin (which i believe to be the case) is a moot point. The fact is, these merchants just ignore the situation and continue to overcharge the public, even in this high inflation environment. So much for "honest merchants"!!!!

Personally, I'm going to the bank and get about RD$200 in small change and start paying those centavos. Maybe I can save what the merchants are making extra. It'll be interesting to see the outcome of such an experiment.

Texas Bill
 

Rick Snyder

Silver
Nov 19, 2003
2,321
2
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What I was told today

by the owners of 2 different stores here in El Seybo, who I know personally, when I showed them the article from the Listin Diario was that the article was talking about the 1 and 5 peso coins. Don't know if they were trying to convience me or themselves of their stupid statements. Maybe they actually believe it who knows.
Good luck to you Texas Bill as I have been trying for over a year to get a bank to give me coins below the 1 peso and I'm always told that they don't stock any but then again with all this publicity maybe they will finally see the light. Your idea is a great one as I paid a couple of bills a year ago with the exact change and then Codetel and my cable company didn't want to accept it but I put up such a fuss that they finally gave in. ;)

edited to add
I have found that the majority of the people working in all the business establishments in this country have no idea as to how to calucate to give change and some of these include when they have a cash register to tell them. Go figure.
 

Pib

Goddess
Jan 1, 2002
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Texas Bill said:
It seems that the banks have plenty of "small change",Texas Bill
Cite?

I asked at the bank if I could have some fives and tens and cents. They looked at me funny and said that they didn't have any.

I was there while shopping for groceries. The total was 500.85. I gave the cashier 500, she gave me my receipt and said nothing about the missing 0.85. Same thing when I paid my electric bill, nobody asked for the 0.6 missing cents on one bill or the 0.76 on the other one. How they do the accounting beats me.
 

Rick Snyder

Silver
Nov 19, 2003
2,321
2
0
Pib I haven't met you

but it's possible that you cast a big shadow and the tellers didn't want to argue with you but IMHO I think that right behind or in front of you were a number of customers that over paid to make up for what the tellers lost with you. IF a lot of people were to go to their banks everyday and ask for small change and IF some store owners were to do this also then there is the possibility that the banks would in fact get small change from the Banco Central. In that article from yesterday the rep from BC said that all the banks have small change in their personal vaults in the BC and that the BC has enough small change to cover demands. Heh-heh-heh, maybe what the rep was trying to say was that there is no demand and therefore they can cover the (no demand) because there is no small change. What a way to run a country. ;)