Coins creating confusion

Published: 8:19PM Thursday August 03, 2006 Source: One News

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New Zealand's new coins have been in circulation for a few days but many people on the street are still getting used to them, drawing the wrath of motorists at parking lots.

While thousands of parking metres around the country are being recalibrated to make way for the new coins, many motorists are confused over what to do and what coins to use.

Some shops have been giving the wrong change as they adjust to the different coin sizes. The Retailer's Association says it expected some initial confusion about the new coins being introduced.

Most stores are still accepting the outgoing currency but some are refusing to take the five cent pieces which will also go out of circulation by November. Barry Hellberg from the Retailers Association says it is going  to take some time to get every retailer up to speed.

The Reserve Bank says businesses are within their legal rights in refusing to accept the outgoing coins but it does not believe it is good business practice to do so.

And in New Plymouth there was confusion at a local bank when a teller found three five cent Canadian coins mixed in with a brand new roll of 20 cent pieces.

The head of currency at the Reserve Bank, Brian Lang, says "little errors do occur when you're minting 230 million coins.

Meanwhile, the Plunket Society has so far raised over $300,000 in its appeal to collect the soon to be redundant five cent coins. The coin is being taken out of circulation and will stop being legal tender at the end of October.

Plunket spokesperson Cherie McClintock says there are around 600 million five cent coins in circulation and they have collected four million so far. She says the public is really getting behind the appeal as the money collected stays with the local Plunket group.

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