In Superman III Gus Gorman hit upon the genius idea of transfering all the half cents that were lost in the system, when people's salaries were rounded down the nearest whole cent, to his own bank account. Of course, this scam having appeared in a Superman film no one was stupid enough to try it for real. It would be just too obvious and people would know they are being stiffed. Until now. Only now the small quantities of salami slicing (as web literate types know this sort of crime) are deemed to be small change and today's Gus Gormans will take you for anything up to £1-80 at a time if my experiences today are anything to go by.
The first experience was the air machine at a petrol station. Now despite vending in 20p increments, the machine only accepts 20p, 50p, £1, and £2 coins. And it doesn't give change. Hmmmmm. So either I have the right money (a 20p coin) or I can choose to pay up to £2 for my 3 minutes of air. Gus Gorman take a bow.
Fast forward to 10 minutes later. Tyres inflated to the correct pressure I deftly manoeuvre the pigs & bees mobile into a city centre parking space and go to get a pay and display ticket. The minimum tariff is a hefty 70p. Only the machine doesn't give change, so the minimum tariff is really £1 for most people (based on the number of motorists wandering up and down the pavement with pound coins in their outstretched hands). Now if they (in this case Kirklees Council) said it was a pound I could live with it. Granted I would probably be living with it like a chronic Tourettes sufferer, but it's there in black and white and that's the price. But the Council has seen Superman III and they are sticking it to the motorist like old Gus stuck it to the man.
Could this trend catch on? Could we send out invoices rounded up to the nearest £500 and claim that our accounting system only accepts thousands or half thousands? I doubt it.
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