CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 74, 29 March 1933, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

THE SHOPPER'S 'RECKONING

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—l gee that the Numismatic Society has seriously discussed the advisability at the present juncture of substituting the decimal system of coinage for the "archaic fractional" system at present in

I wonder. how many of its members nave had actual experience of both systems, both in bookkeeping and in retail shopping? Let us give the decimal system such credit as it deserves for ease in bookkeeping; although it docs not often tall to the lot of the inexperienced to tot up ong columns of £ s. d., the experienced nnd it easy; and bookkeeping machines make it unnecessary. .But it is when we come to retail, shopPing that we realise the overwhelming advantages of our present system. It is in retail shopping1, that coins are chiefly used, and it is the most serviceable system tha,t is the best When the English people adopted the dozen as the numerical basis^for shopping, and the shilling made up of twelve pence as the corresponding monetary unit, they showed their practical common-sense. The advantage of the number 12 is that it is divisible by 2, 3 4, or 6 without a remainder. I£ Mrs. fcmith sees oranges are two shillings a dozen and only wants five, she Jias no trouble either in figuring' that she must pay tenpence or in finding suitable coins. ,JJut what if they were 45 cents a dozentor the "dozen" habit still persists, so strong is human prejudice, even in the U.S.A. and Canada, both "decimal" countries? Waat would five oranges cost then? How will Mrs. Smith go about finding out? Will she multiply 45 by 5 and divide by 12? Will she do it in her head? Or will she carry a scribbling pad, or a readyreckoner; or peradventure a 'sjide-rule? She need have no compunctio"n about using a slide-rule. No reproach would attach to it. None dare call it "archaic." Rather could she pride herself on "being" ultra-modern! . . .But when she has done her little sum'and finds the answer (well-suppose"'she',has. done it right) is 18%, what coins will she produce? And will she praise the gods for the decimal system, or long* for the old despised "fractional" one? And when she has done many such sums in many shops, and missed her tram home, and finds she has a lieadachel and wrong change . . .? When I was in Vancouver, goods were still sold by the dozen and the 5 cent piece was the smallest available coin. Inconsistent? Inconvenient? Of course. Yet in the East End of London the very poor can do their meagre shopping without bother. Surely the "archaic" way's the best?—l am, etc.,

. F. BROOMFIELD.