Interest-free ice-blocks: How a five-year-old beat the big banks

March 28, 2026 — 5:20am

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My oldest grandson, Pip, has just started school. His parents gave him a $2 coin so that he could buy an ice-block at the canteen. He came home excited. He handed over the $2 coin at the canteen, and they gave him the ice-block – plus more coins! One coin in, three coins in return. Plus the ice-block. What a system.

“If you ever need money,” he said to his parents, “just ask me. I know where to get it.”

Pip’s experience made me feel nostalgic about money – coins and notes. Cash, as we all know, is on borrowed time. Already some shops won’t accept it. In places like Sweden, it’s become a rarity. And yet there’s something magical about the stuff.

For a start, there are the oddities of the system. Why is the $1 coin bigger than the $2 coin? It makes no sense. Why is the 20-cent coin, and the 50-cent coin, bigger still, although they’re worth less? No wonder Pip decided he was on a good wicket. At the school canteen, according to this system, if you hand them an ice-block, they’ll give you four in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald