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In future, all cash payments rounded off to 0 or 5 cents
2
December
2019
From 1 December, all cash payments made in our Belgian stores will be rounded off to 0 or 5 eurocents. This legal obligation now applies to all traders in Belgium who accept cash from consumers, not just supermarkets. We are rounding off cash payment for our business customers, too. However, there will be no changes for payments made by card or smartphone app.
What will appear on my till receipt?
Totals that end with 1 or 2 cents will be rounded down to 0 cents. Totals that end with 3 or 4 cents will be rounded up to 5 cents. The same applies to totals that end with 6 or 7 cents, which are rounded down to 5 cents. Totals that end with 8 or 9 cents will be rounded up to 10 cents. Fully automatic. Rounding-off can thus go in two directions: up or down.
From now on, your till receipt will show the amount payable and the amount that was actually paid at the end, rounded off. The payment method will also appear on the till receipt. Another new feature is that it will be standard practice for your receipt to be printed after payment, instead of before.
Will the ‘red pennies’ disappear?
Rounding-off to 0 or 5 cents will in fact make the 1 and 2 cents coins obsolete in the longer term, meaning that they will gradually disappear from circulation. However, until that happens, you can still continue to pay using these low denomination coins.
