The Lemon Fool

Lootman wrote:I think it's outrageous. It's fascinating how the UK government thinks it can get away with such things. Compare this with the situation in America where the US Mint has wanted to replace dollar bills for decades, a dollar being worth less than a pound and we abolished the pound note a long time ago.

It hasn't happened in the US because the people and voters love their dollar bills and kick up a fuss whenever the idea is mooted. In fact dollar coins are circulated and people just refuse to use them or accept them as change or in banks.

So why is our government so oblivious to public outrage?

Just because the Yanks like to have a ready supply of materials for forging higher value notes, which won't work here as ours are all different sizes, doesn't mean we have to be such idiots.

I for one will be glad to see the back of the damn things, given how many forged ones there are out there.

Slarti

Slarti wrote:Just because the Yanks like to have a ready supply of materials for forging higher value notes, which won't work here as ours are all different sizes, doesn't mean we have to be such idiots.

I for one will be glad to see the back of the damn things, given how many forged ones there are out there.

I've never knowingly had a forged pound coin which, I suppose, means that I might have had some but unknowingly and successfully passed them on to a greater fool.

I did once get what looks like a token with a red nose on it, and a hole through it, which I assume was not a serious attempt at forgery. It operates the lockers at my gym so I found a use for it. But not the trolley dispensers at Waitrose, interestingly, that also accept pound coins.

Do people really go to the trouble to forge pound coins? Why not forge a fifty pound note instead? Or a 500 Euro note or a 1,000 Swiss Franc note?

Personally I admire people who compel governments to change course through popular acclaim and accumulated outrage, but I guess I'm just a proper little anarchist.

Lootman wrote:I've never knowingly had a forged pound coin which, I suppose, means that I might have had some but unknowingly and successfully passed them on to a greater fool.

I have in recent years had the need to use hospital car parks where you have to pay unreasonable amounts by coin and in those circumstances I have had a number of £1 coins that no machine would accept.

I think that I managed to pass them on in manned car parks, swine that I am.


Slarti

I've never knowingly had a forged pound coin which, I suppose, means that I might have had some but unknowingly and successfully passed them on to a greater fool.

Dozens of the damn things in our nearest small town, which has high-ish unemployment and a lot of people on the minimum wage. I get one every couple of months, usually in change from the barber's shop or the pound shop. But the last one was from the till at Sainsburys.

Usually they're a fair copy, except for the Dickus et Tutenkhamun on the rim, which is replaced by a swirly pattern rather like a DNA helix. I am reliably informed by the bloke down the pub that the ticket machines in the council car parks can't tell the duds from the real thing. I'm sure I wouldn't know. When I've amassed enough of them I'm going to melt them down into an effigy of Boris Johnson and throw it into the sea.

BJ

Slarti wrote:Isn't that the same sort of time span from previous coins and notes being notified as going to be discontinued?
Banks will probably stop issuing them before the start of the 6.5 months. Slarti

Difference is that usually when a coin/note is replaced it either runs in parallel for quite a while, and/or is exchangeable at a bank for a few years thereafter, or even indefinitely. Whereas in this case, come October your old pound coins are cancelled.

ps. IMO/E it's different with US$ cash, since it's used as a parallel currency in so many other countries. Not just illegally either, I recall ATMs in Peru dispensing local currency or US$ cash as per your request.

I wish they'd get rid of all the copper shrapnel, annoys me no end, worthless coins that put holes in your trousers, Apparently also the current 'real' value of a penny is actually less than the value of the 1/2p when that was withdrawn.

DiamondEcho wrote:Difference is that usually when a coin/note is replaced it either runs in parallel for quite a while, and/or is exchangeable at a bank for a few years thereafter, or even indefinitely. Whereas in this case, come October your old pound coins are cancelled.

As I noted earlier in the thread, banks will still be accepting them for depositing into bank accounts after October. No need to panic.

Scott.

GJHarney wrote:I wish they'd get rid of all the copper shrapnel, annoys me no end, worthless coins that put holes in your trousers, Apparently also the current 'real' value of a penny is actually less than the value of the 1/2p when that was withdrawn.

The point of the small coins is they keep price rises in check and enable shopkeepers to stay focused on their competitive edge. If the smallest coin we had was 5p you'd soon notice the inflexibility of prices.

I keep my pockets tidy with an old-fashioned piggy bank (well, a rather stylish leather pussycat, actually), which usually gets most coins smaller than 10p, and then once a year I take it all to the change/coin converter machine at the supermarket and hit the charity donation button. Works for me.

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:

GJHarney wrote:I wish they'd get rid of all the copper shrapnel, annoys me no end.............

I keep my pockets tidy with an old-fashioned piggy bank (well, a rather stylish leather pussycat, actually), which usually gets most coins smaller than 10p, and then once a year I take it all to the change/coin converter machine at the supermarket and hit the charity donation button. Works for me.
BJ

That sounds like far too much effort for me. Whenever I am in a shop with a collection box for a charity which I support, I just get rid of any small coins in my pocket. Simple, and it means I never have small coins for more than a couple of days.

--kiloran

bungeejumper wrote:

GJHarney wrote:I
The point of the small coins is they keep price rises in check and enable shopkeepers to stay focused on their competitive edge. If the smallest coin we had was 5p you'd soon notice the inflexibility of prices.


BJ

Small coins can be removed and the systems will still work.

Take a look at the prices of petrol advertised on forecourts. How many times do you see the price ending in .9p? Does anybody have a pocket full of 0.9p coins? So how do we manage to pay for it?

In supermarkets in New Zealand your total bill is just rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 10 cents. Seems to have been happening quite happily for a good few years now.

Markab01

bungeejumper wrote:Sound move, though, if you ask me. The new design means that you can now use a spanner to get the coin out of a Yorkshireman's fist.BJ

Does anyone know a source of suitable spanners? The new coin is 23.43mm corner to corner and about 22.7mm across flats. Spanners are slightly oversize to allow for an easy fit onto nuts at the large end of the tolerance range so I am wondering if a 7/8" one would fit. 7/8" is 22.225mm so it might need a bit of grinding (which I would rather not do as it would damage the chrome plating). The next standard size up is 23mm which will probably slip. Whitworth spanners are a non-starter as 7/16" Whitworth is 20.8mm and the next size up, 1/2" Whitworth, is 23.4mm.

TIA,

Julian F. G. W.

Does anyone know a source of suitable spanners? The new coin is 23.43mm corner to corner and about 22.7mm across flats.

A think a Mole wrench ought to suit your purpose. The crunch of accidentally-caught knuckles would soon prove an effective incentive to let go of the damn coins. Failing that, you'll have to call for the vice squad.

BJ