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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Manitobans can't give a plug to new coins

By: Murray McNeill

Posted: 04/28/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

MANITOBANS are starting to find out just how much those fancy new loonies and toonies can disrupt their everyday lives.

In the past week, Winnipeg landscaper Andrew Stupak tried to use one of the new coins to plug a parking meter downtown, to buy a bag of chips from a vending machine and to try his luck on a VLT in a neighbourhood bar. He didn't have any luck with any of them.

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It was a similar story with 29-year-old Anita, who didn't want her last name used. She tried to use a toonie in a street parking meter and in a vending machine, and they spit it back out every time.

"I didn't have enough other change, so I had to go break a bill (at a nearby store). I was going to a doctor's appointment... and I ended up being late. So it was really frustrating."

Stupak also didn't have any other change on him. So he did without the potato chips and left the bar without playing the VLT.

And he took a chance and parked on the street, even though he couldn't plug the meter.

"I was stuck, so I just didn't pay. I took my chances. But if I did (get a ticket) I would have been livid."

The problem isn't that the new coins, which the Royal Canadian Mint started circulating on April 10, are duds. It's that many of the coin-operated machines in the province, which also include the ones used in laundromats and car washes, haven't been reprogrammed yet to accept the new coins.

That's in spite of the fact more than 15 million new loonies and more than 10 million new toonies are already in circulation, according to mint spokesman Alex Reeves. And more are on the way, although the mint will be introducing them gradually over the next several years to reduce the disruption to consumers and businesses.

Spokesmen for two local vending machine companies said they're trying to get their machines reprogrammed as fast as they can. But there are only two companies in Western Canada -- one in Calgary and one in Edmonton -- that do that work, and they're swamped.

Chuck Pifko, of Can-West Vending Distributors Ltd. in Edmonton, said its customers are having to wait from two to four weeks to get their equipment back. And that's with Can-West hiring an extra full-time worker to help tackle the backlog. Alissa Clark, a communications officer with the City of Winnipeg, said the Winnipeg Parking Authority is examining methods for re-calibrating the 600-plus pay stations it has around the city. But it can't nail down a cost or timetable for completing the work until it determines the most cost-effective plan.

Clark said the WPA has only received "a few" complaints from the public. "We're suggesting people use older versions of the coins to save themselves some trouble."

Manitoba Lotteries Corp. spokesman Lorne Klepke said it's received three complaints as of Thursday. He said the MLC is telling bar and hotel operators who have VLT machines to keep some old coins on hand so customers can exchange their new ones.

-- with files from Geoff Kirbyson

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 28, 2012 B4

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