Change Management

I described how the taxes are frustrating here - you never know quite how much a product is until you get to the checkout. This also means that you can almost never have the right amount of money ready. It's just "That'll be $9.32, now".

The coins are all round and similar sizes, and come in 25c, 10c, 5c, and 1c denominations. I wouldn't be able to manage at all without my cheat sheet. But still getting the exact value quickly is hard; you end up accumulating change instead (remember, you've just finished checking out when you find the final price). So my tips for 'change management' in Canada are:

1. Avoid the pennies (1 cent). If there is a tip jar, leave them there. If there is a charity box, leave them there. Australia phased out the 1c and 2c coin years ago, and now I know why. Keep as few of them as you can. Sometimes they're useful, but most times they're not.
2. Do not try to make exact change. Just try to lessen the amount of change you will receive. You will rarely make exact change in time.
3. Favour shops that include taxes. They tend to have round prices too, like $3.25 rather than $3.19.

But taking an example price of $9.32, what should you pay?

• To be accurate you need a $5, two twoonies, a quarter, a pence, and two pennies. Don't do that.
• If you give $10 you will get 2 quarters, a dime, a pence and 3 pennies. Don't do that either.
• Give $10, a quarter and a dime and you will get a dollar and 3 pennies. Leave the pennies. Take the dollar.

For interests sake, if you were charged $9.32 in Australia, and paid $10, you would get 50c and 20c in change. :)