Penniless society

SIR – In Australia one and two cent coins went out of circulation in 1992, making five cents the lowest-value coin in use.

As Australian retailers still price their goods in odd numbers, tills add up the individual prices of goods and, for customers paying in cash, the total is rounded to the nearest five cents. Those who use a debit or credit card pay the exact cost.

My husband and I visit family in Australia every year and have never felt cheated or elated by the rounding process. Eunice Harradine

Banbury, Oxfordshire

SIR – Daniel Capurro (Comment, March 15) says that while he no longer carries cash he believes it to be the currency of freedom as it offers anonymity. Cash is the currency of tax cheats and criminals.

Its very secrecy has given rise to tax evasion and the vast, illicit use of cash. We estimate that if Britain was a cashless society it would gain an annual economic boost of at least £20 billion and suffer far less crime.

Mr Capurro cites concerns that charity donations would shrink in a cashless society, but recent trials of contactless payments by leading charities saw average donations treble.

Honest people have nothing to fear from going cashless; only tax cheats and criminals lose out. Jon Levenson

Campaign Director, Go Cashless Tarporley, Cheshire

SIR – What will become of the new banknotes in the quest to be plastic free? Heather Owen

Bodmin, Cornwall