Published on: Thursday, November 15, 2007 |
Kota Kinabalu: A Daily Express survey found most supermarkets here having to decide soon whether to voluntarily adjust the prices of their products to the nearest five sen following the Government move to do away with one-sen coin payments by April 1, 2008.
Most do not favour the rounding mechanism for over-the-counter transactions, saying it may slow down the making of payments and affect buying behaviour.
Some said they are already implementing the system due to scarce availability of one-sen coins at the banks.
A manager of the Wholesale Supermarket in Tg Aru, Yolanda Lee, said they may consider changing the price tags to avoid the one-sen payment except for the controlled price of eggs.
"For other products, I think we will not face much problem changing the price as we can still use round figure or add the 5 sen on the price per product.
"But for the price per egg, we may not apply the rounding system as it is a controlled item," she said. She said such rounding system may also make customers wait longer as the cashier would keep looking at the total price and rounding the amount where necessary.
According to her, the supermarket had not been getting one-sen coins from their regular commercial bank since last month. Due to this, they are forced to apply the rounding system, which they believed benefit the customers.
For the time being, she said, they would keep any one-sen coins given by customers when paying for their groceries so that they would have some to return as change when needed.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal, in announcing the move had said it would benefit consumers, business and the Government.
He said businesses would no longer have to handle the coins or ensure a ready supply, while consumers would not have to worry about carrying the coins.
"On top of that, the Government will save RM18 million which it spends yearly to mint these coins," he said.
Shafie said most one-sen coins ended up unused and this was an "economic wastage". Nevertheless, the one-sen coin would continue to be legal tender and businesses would have to accept it as payment up to a limit of RM2.
A Servay supermarket spokesperson said they do not agree to the move as they would have to bear the losses of adjusting the price of the products. He also said the rounding system would be a burden to cashiers as they would have to learn the new system.
A Tong Hing Supermarket Supervisor, Aaron J, said adjusting the price of goods may reduce their profit margin. Nonetheless, he said updating the prices is a management decision.
Also, he said, applying the rounding mechanism would be troublesome as they may have to recalibrate the weighing machines for fruits, sugar and vegetables that normally would involve the one-sen coins.
Meanwhile, consumers appear confused over the decision and fear the Government's rounding mechanism may not benefit consumers in general. Fey Fey, 23, a beautician, said the idea of rounding up or down prices to the nearest five sen would encourage more business to set their prices to one that would cost more.
"If what I am told is correct, then an item worth RM1.99 on the price tag means I have to actually pay RM2. People may say one-sen is not much but what if I buy ten or more items?" she asked, adding the Government needed to further explain the mechanism to the peope.
Mimi, a shop supervisor in her thirties, was also fearful the mechanism would only spur businesses to charge prices that will be rounded up higher in the bills.
"Maybe the Government should scrap the idea (rounding system) and instead order supermarkets and other businesses to do away with prices such as 99 sen or RM2.03. Just stick to prices such as RM1 or RM2.10," she said.
A taxi driver, Mairon Jain, 42, was also quite puzzled. "Isn't it misleading to consumers if say the supermarkets advertised their products as RM82.08 but you end up paying RM82.10, for you are actually paying two sen more," he pointed out.
"I absolutely cannot see it benefiting us. 'Pening kepala ada la' (only causes a headache)," Mairon added. Max Walter, 28, an office worker, said perhaps the Government should just abolish the use of one-sen coins as legal tender altogether instead of gradually removing them from the market.
"The Government says it is losing money over the production of the coin. So what is the use of retaining it as legal tender any further. They (Government) themselves say that the coin ends up being unused anyway," he said.
"RM18 million that the Government saves from producing the coins could be used in other meaningful and beneficial works".
As for the rounding system, Max said he was not convinced it would benefit consumers but believed that unless the Government bans the "99-sen labelling' gimmick widely practised nowadays, consumers would not really mind paying, or for that matter losing two or three sen.
"Just how many people carry one-sen coins in their wallets anyway. Many people would just drop the coins into charity boxes at the supermarkets," he added.
Lily Maira, 40, a housewife, said the rounding system would make transactions simpler and reduce the problem of customers being short-changed by businesses due to the absence of one-sen coins.
CONSUMER Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) voiced concern over the Government's rounding-up mechanism for over-the-counter transactions next year, fearing traders will manipulate it to their advantage.
Its President Datuk Patrick Sindu said it is very easy to cheat the consumers such as by increasing the price of goods.
"Let's say the price of an item is RM1.97 sen but when the one-sen coin is no longer valid, supermarket operators would round off the amount to RM2 instead of RM1.95," he said.
He said businessmen and traders would never want to be at the losing end and hence most taxes such as sales tax would usually be passed on to the consumers.
Patrick said if the relevant authorities do not monitor the situation, the already suffering consumers would suffer even more.
In this respect, he said Bank Negara ought to set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure the traders do not outsmart the move.
"Even though the government clearly outlined how the rounding-off mechanism should be applied, there's still room for the traders to cheat the consumers," he said.
