Wednesday, August 15, 2012

It Makes the World Go Roooound

Have you ever seen Danish money?  If not, here are the coins:


They go from 1/2 of 1 krone on the left (also known as 50 øre) all the way up to 20 kroner on the far right.  20 kroner is currently equal to about $3.30.

I'm of two minds about all of these coins.  Part of me likes them.  It's fun to have all of that change jangling around, and who doesn't like coins with holes?  They're like tiny metal donuts.  Fun!

Another part of me finds them irritating.  Since I'm not used to which coin is worth how much, I'm constantly standing at the register flipping them over, trying to find the amount on them.  Also, they're bulky and heavy.  Europe generally finds America silly that having bills for amounts as small as $1, but paper money is much lighter and much easier to fold into a wallet.  With all of the change I get, I often can't close my wallet at all, which often leads to me spilling change all over the inside of my purse.

But all of these things are really no huge deal, beyond being something to get used to.  Here's what I really don't get about Danish money:

As I mentioned, the smallest denomination is 50 øre, or 0.5 of 1 krone.  But if you go to buy something, often it will cost something like 12.95 kroner (as did the parmesan cheese that I bought today).  And since there is no way to give them .95 kroner, they just round up.

And you end up paying 13 kroner.

Why not just charge 13 kroner?

As my husband and I discussed tonight, the only way not rounding up would save money is if you're buying something in bulk.  Hundreds of that one thing.  And then, maybe you'll save a few kroner.

Otherwise, I don't get it.

3 comments:

  1. Once you get a dankort, you pay the .95 but before then, yeah, they round up (and down if it's like .45).

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  2. That's because everyone is paying by card. I never carry money (paper or coin) in my wallet. We use dankort for everything. Who would bother with coins? It'll make you wallet heavy

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  3. Well you will get used to that. And with euro is i think the same that if the price 2.95 will be 3 :)

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