Currency Question

[D C]

15 hours ago, SteveH2508 said:

The devil in me wants to throw Maundy money into the history mix here...

 

https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/maundy-money

I'll say that if you receive any of that, you should best keep it :)

[D C]

17 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

 

No, they didn’t. The title split after William I’s death, with one son (Robert) becoming Duke of Normandy and the second (also William) King of England. 

I may have taken a few liberties with the  details for the sake of conveying the overall status :)  The important point being that the island didn't simply become part of England.  I suspect that early on, the Duke title was retained for when they took back the rest of it from the French.

The British crown over the past 1000 years is certainly one of the overwhelming historical topics, with all of the feuds, intermarrying, illegitimate children, and various claims to the throne.   

[D C]

3 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

That's as may be, DC, but at least we don't have to stuff dozens of notes into a wallet.

A dollar is worth a lot less than a pound, yet the US continues with one-dollar bills. The smallest denomination for sterling or euro notes is £5 /€5.  As I've seen many times,  Americans keep their notes in a roll cos there's too many to fit in a wallet.

 

There are advantages to $1 bills, though.

Even though it's worth less, a two dollar tip seems much more substantial than a couple of pound coins.

And when I leave the house I just take my wallet. Anything I buy results in coins up to £5 in my change. When I get home that change goes on the mantelpiece. Next time I go out, again I just take my wallet and again change ends up on the mantelpiece.. 

Now I'm now facing a huge bill from a structural engineer to strengthen the mantelpiece. 

 

.................................................................

A word of warning if you're travelling to Aus or New Zealand.

I was royally ripped-off in both countries. 

Shops offer goods for prices like AUD 4.99 or NZD 9.99.

In both countries I was short-changed on every purchase by 1 cent.

That's because the smallest coin in Aus is 5 cents, and as of last year the smallest NZ coin is 10 cents.

One cent may not seem very much, but in the course of three weeks it cost me a total of almost 15 cents.

I've written to the World Bank to complain, but for whatever reason I've not yet received a reply.

 

JB 

 

 

I suppose the bright side of modernisation is that the need to carry "paper" money has been reduced (have you seen the new Canadian money? It's plastic!).  I seldom carry more than $20.  Any change just gets left in my pant pocket.  It never seems to be there after the laundry though.... I wonder where it goes...

 

When travelling to the Channel Islands, which has always included time in France, or England, or both, I've found relatively little need for currency.  Credit cards are accepted in most shops and restaurants. 

 

If you're from the US,  they may be a little confused by your card, since they're used to "chip and pin" and our cards are "chip and sign".  They see so few Americans in the Channel Islands, that it may be a new process to them.   Several years ago, before the US started to put chips on our credit cards, I had to show several servers that their handheld credit card machine actually had a slot down the side in which to swipe the magnetic strip.  

 

I'll say that cash is very convenient for smaller shops, small purchases, or for the buses on Guernsey.

[gnome12]

32 minutes ago, D C said:

If you're from the US,  they may be a little confused by your card, since they're used to "chip and pin" and our cards are "chip and sign".  They see so few Americans in the Channel Islands, that it may be a new process to them.   Several years ago, before the US started to put chips on our credit cards, I had to show several servers that their handheld credit card machine actually had a slot down the side in which to swipe the magnetic strip.

On the other hand, I have had my chip and PIN card declined in the US at a chip terminal, because they are used to hitting enter multiple times for a US card. I now caution them to give the terminal to me to enter my PIN at the correct time.

Edited March 11, 2019 by gnome12

[Globaliser]

40 minutes ago, D C said:

(have you seen the new Canadian money? It's plastic!)

 

I love plastic notes. I've been using them since they were first generally introduced by Australia in the early 1990s.

 

I also love Australian notes for their bright and easily distinguishable colours. In the days when I still had to pull out cash to pay tolls, quickly finding and extracting the correct note from my wallet was a simple one-handed job that only took a couple of seconds and diverted precious little attention from driving. You can't do that with the single-size single-colour banknotes issued by, ahem, some other country.

[gnome12]

17 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

I also love Australian notes for their bright and easily distinguishable colours.

Canadian money is also bright colours. $5 notes are blue, $10 notes are purple, $20 notes are green and $50 notes are red(dish, I think. I try very hard to avoid getting them, because I don't use cash much). I have no idea what colour the $100 note is; I would never want one, ATMs never give them out, and many stores refuse to accept them.

[Guernseycruiser]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

On the other hand, I have had my chip and PIN card declined in the US at a chip terminal, because they are used to hitting enter multiple times for a US card. I now caution them to give the terminal to me to enter my PIN at the correct time.

Not to mention contactless as well!!!

For those who have not been to Guernsey, I thought you might like to see a one pound note, serial numbers blanked out.  Different colours and sizes depending on value.

[gnome12]

50 minutes ago, Guernseycruiser said:

Not to mention contactless as well!!!

Unfortunately, my travel credit card (the only one I have that doesn't charge foreign currency fees and there are very few Canadian credit cards that don't) isn't contactless.

 

However, with my previous travel card (before Amazon pulled out of the Canadian credit card space) I found that at Macy's, which was the only place I had seen contactless payment, I couldn't use tap and pay; I had to insert the card and use my PIN. I'm not sure whether that was Macy's specifically, or my card specifically, or some combination with using it in a foreign country. I can't test it anymore.

[sddsddean]

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

No, Simon, not a skinflint.  I'm careful, just careful 

 

PS Did the kookaburra that I sent you arrive safely ? 

I had difficulties with it at Brisbane airport - they're a protected species & exporting live kookaburras is illegal.

So to avoid prosecution first I had to put it on a barbie.

Do eat it within 48 hours

 

JB 

 

 

 

That's what it was!? I thought you were self mutilating again. It was a bit small and droopy. Thought it tasted a bit odd.

 

Simon

[SteveH2508]

9 hours ago, D C said:

I'll say that if you receive any of that, you should best keep it :)

I'm not quite a proper pensioner yet - but a set of Maundy money would pay for quite a decent cruise (if auctioned). 

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, sddsddean said:

 

That's what it was!? I thought you were self mutilating again. It was a bit small and droopy. Thought it tasted a bit odd.

 

Simon

 

Simon, you're an ungrateful b******.

I'm glad that I didn't send you the endangered Kea that I ran over in New Zealand.

It was a lot more droopy than that kookaburra, but it was delicious. 

 

JB 

 

Back on subject (vaguely).....

 

My card worked contactless in the States once even though I hadn't intended it to. 

And on most occasions there I wasn't asked to enter my PIN number, or to sign, and nobody checked the name on the card.

OK, not checking the name on the card was quite useful - it was my g/f's card  and it avoided awkward questions about the sexuality of this guy called Julie.

No surprise that the US is top of the card-fraud league.

 

On the other hand, despite my diatribe about US banknotes, the UK is apparently top of the counterfeiting league. 

Good to know that there are some crafts in which we still lead the world.  

[sddsddean]

4 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Simon, you're an ungrateful b******.

I'm glad that I didn't send you the endangered Kea that I ran over in New Zealand.

It was a lot more droopy than that kookaburra, but it was delicious. 

 

JB 

Good to know that there are some crafts in which we still lead the world.  

 

Rare species barbecuing springs to mind!

 

Simon

[Bob++]

13 hours ago, SteveH2508 said:

I'm not quite a proper pensioner yet - but a set of Maundy money would pay for quite a decent cruise (if auctioned). 

 

You might think so, but there are plenty on Fleabay for less than a tenner. There are four coins: 1d (penny), 2d, 3d and 4d, and even the silver ones go for under £100 for the set.

[D C]

I suppose that, for completeness, we should consider Sark, as some visitors to Guernsey may be taking an excursion over there.   Sark is within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, but is administratively separate from the Island of Guernsey.   Indeed, Sark is/was the last vestige of Feudalism in Europe, and from 1565 until 2008 was run by the Seigneur (the feudal lord) who owns the island, with the permission of the Queen…err….Duke, of course.   Criminal law is borrowed from Guernsey, but civil laws are local, approved by the crown, and enforced by the two volunteer constables.  

 

There are no ATMs on Sark, so if you’re going, you may want to be prepared.  The currency is Guernsey pounds, though I’ve never been refused when using British pounds.   Most shops do accept credit cards, although if you’re renting a bike or taking a carriage ride, I do recommend cash.  Also, a ride up harbor hill on the “toast rack” was £1 when I was last there a couple of years ago.

[crafter188]

This thread has been so interesting and entertaining! Sorry for going off topic even further but the political status of the Channel Islands made me go “googling” because I wondered how my country of Canada, as a Commonwealth country, differed. Look what I found! It’s no wonder we can be confused!