Putting in their 2 cents, countries spurn tiny coins

BRUSSELS, Belgium — A penny saved may no longer be a penny earned in parts of Europe.

Following the lead of Finland, Belgium and the Netherlands have moved to ditch their 1- and 2-cent euro coins, whose purchasing power and size has been deemed untenably tiny.

"That's a great idea. Those coins are completely useless," said cafe owner Aristoteli Arkoulis.

"I've got a big bag of them that I don't know what to do with, they just take up time," said Arkoulis, whose Kafeneio bar serves thick black coffee and honeyed pastries to homesick Greeks working at the European Union headquarters.

Waitress Saida Achbouk agreed with her boss. "Look at all this I have to carry around," she said, showing a pouch full of the niggling nickels. "I'm ashamed to give them to customers."

However, others among the 12 nations that adopted the euro three years ago say it makes no sense to have no cents.

They argue that consigning the small change to the piggy bank of history will force consumers to pay more as stores round up prices to nearest multiple of five.

"When we switched from the escudo to the euro, the prices were always rounded up, never down. Now we fear that this could happen again if these little coins go," said Jorge Morgado, secretary-general of the Portuguese consumers' organization DECO.

"It hits little things like a cup of coffee, a cake or the daily paper, but it all adds up," he said from Lisbon. "It's better to keep them for a while longer at least."

As the debate over the fate of coins rages, the Belgian government as taken the side of those who don't like the small change.

"Making new coins of 1 or 2 cents has no use," Finance Minister Didier Reynders said Thursday. "We will not produce any more," he announced, adding that the mint will cut production in the new year.

In the neighboring Netherlands, the private sector has already taken the initiative. The Association of Dutch Retailers says around 40,000 of the 120,000 retail shops already round off to the nearest 5 cents, including most of the big chains.

The association estimated Dutch stores will save a collective $36.5 million each year in time spent counting the coins and transporting them to the bank.