25 øre

Almost history
Originally uploaded by Funchye

The Danish crown (krone) used to be divided into 100 øre (from Latin aureus). However, when I grew up, the smallest coin was 5 øre, so all amounts had to be rounded up or down to this amount.

Then in the late 80s, 5 and 10 øre were abolished too, leaving 25 øre as the smallest coin.

However, tomorrow that too will cease to be legal tender, and 50 øre (5p) will be the smallest Danish coin.

I think the UK should do the same and get rid of 1p and 2p. A price such as £2.99 would still be allowed, but at the check-out this would be rounded up to £3.00; however, if you had bought three items, they would come to £8.97, which would be rounded down to £8.95, so on average, neither shop nor customer would be better or worse off – it would just leave us with lighter wallets.