世論 What Japan Thinks

Here’s one of these surveys that helps explain something that does annoy me in Japan, namely how change is handed out. The survey was conducted by iShare.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 8th of July 2009 590 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private online questionnaire. 55.8% of the sample were male, 36.3% in their twenties, 30.2% in their thirties, and 33.6% in their forties.

Two things annoy me about getting change here; I almost always get notes first, so I end up fumbling with my wallet trying to get them in while holding up the queue and the cashier hovering over me with the coins. Second, when getting a mix of 1,000 yen and 5,000 yen notes, they always put the 5,000 yen note on top, so I either have to put the notes in back to front or spend more time fumbling to put the 5,000 yen note to the back. Do any of my readers get bothered by this, or is it just me?

Research results

Q1: Have you ever done any work that involved giving change to customers? (Sample size=590)

	All	Male N=329	Female N=261
Yes (to SQ1)	49.5%	35.3%	67.4%
No	50.5%	64.7%	32.6%

Q1SQ1: In which order did you pass the notes and coins? (Sample size=292)

	All	Male N=116	Female N=176
Notes first, then coins (to SQ2)	63.7%	56.0%	68.8%
Notes with the coins sitting on top of them (to SQ2)	22.6%	31.0%	17.0%
Coins first, then notes (to SQ2)	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%
No particular fixed order	12.0%	11.2%	12.5%

Q1SQ2: Why did you use that method of passing the notes and coins? (Sample size=257)

	All	Male N=103	Female N=154
Because I find it useful if I get given change that way	39.3%	46.6%	34.4%
Because that way is easiest	28.0%	29.1%	27.3%
Because that’s how I was taught to do it	25.3%	19.4%	29.2%
Because a customer told me to do it that way	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Other	7.4%	4.9%	9.1%

Q2: Which way do you want to be passed notes and coins? (Sample size=590)

	All	Male N=329	Female N=261
Notes first, then coins	53.1%	49.5%	57.5%
Notes with the coins sitting on top of them	13.2%	15.8%	10.0%
Coins first, then notes	8.3%	8.5%	8.0%
Whichever method doesn’t matter	25.4%	26.1%	24.5%

Q3: What kind of wallet, purse do you most often use? (Sample size=590)

	All	Male N=329	Female N=261
One with notes and coins in the same compartment	70.7%	61.1%	82.8%
One with separate compartments for notes and coins	25.6%	33.7%	15.3%
Don’t use a purse, wallet	3.2%	4.6%	1.5%
Other	0.5%	0.6%	0.4%

Q4: Would it be useful if there was an agreed method for passing notes and coins? (Sample size=590)

	All	Male N=329	Female N=261
Would be good if there was	36.1%	37.4%	34.5%
No problem that there isn’t	63.9%	62.6%	65.5%