It's the principle, not the details.

[NomoneyNohoney]

This morning, I was searching through drawers for a stainless steel gadget, which you use for opening supermarket trolley locks. I've had it for years, works very well, but realise I've not seen it for a while.

Couldn't find it, despite rummaging all over the place, so decided to buy one from Ebay.
Ebay have metal ones for about £3.00, and plastic ones for about £2.00. Was just about to sign up for one and had a brilliant idea! I keep a small bowl with odd coins in, so found a £1 coin in there, and decided (Sssh! Don't tell the Bank of England!) to drill a hole in it to add it to my key-ring, That way, total outlay £1.00.

Damn battery drill needed recharging, so did that and then a couple of hours later, started looking for a suitable metal drill. Scrabbling through the odds and sods drawer, where old drill bits hide, what did I find? A supermarket metal trolley token with a hole in it.

Sometimes, God moves in mysterious ways (after wasting a lot of my morning on trivialities.) Anyway, I saved a pound, and my drill is now charged, so its all been worthwhile... I think.

[kempiejon]

Ebay have metal ones for about £3.00, and plastic ones for about £2.00. Was just about to sign up for one and had a brilliant idea! I keep a small bowl with odd coins in, so found a £1 coin in there, and decided (Sssh! Don't tell the Bank of England!) to drill a hole in it to add it to my key-ring, That way, total outlay £1.00.

Madness, for either £2 or £3 you can buy a thing that works a bit like a pound coin but you cannot use it for buying things. Unfortunately in the bottom of my change pot I found have half a dozen old style (worthless?) pound coins. I think I might be able take them back to the bank of England and exchange for working money, but that's a massive faff. My smart idea was keep them in the car and use for trolley release.
Perhaps I should drill holes in them and flog them on ebay for £1.75 undercutting the market and releasing my lost money.

[NomoneyNohoney]

Postage, dear boy, postage...

[mc2fool]

Eh? I didn't realise they were so expensive! I've got a plastic "pound coin" that was given to me when I approached a guy about to put his trolley back, holding up a £1 coin, which he refused and just gave me the trolley anyway. Seeing it had a plastic token in it I asked didn't he want it back and he said, nah, I've got lots of them, so I'd kinda assumed they were sold cheaply in bulk....

Anyway, a quick google reveals a plethora of ways of not having to use a £1 coin, real or fake. From a corned beef can key to a Yale type key to a guitar pick to two 20ps pressed together to ... https://www.google.com/search?q=opening+supermarket+trolley+locks

[kempiejon]

From a corned beef can key to a Yale type key

Sshh I thought these hacks were only known to special people (ex supermarket employees)

[DrFfybes]

We got a handful of 'tokens' from BHF (I think).

I'd have to go to the car and check but there's on in the glovebox of each one on the offchance I get t the trolley, they actually want a coin, and I don't have one in my pocket.

Around here only Sainsburys and Aldi need a coin, or any object of similar thickness like cutlery handle from the in store cafe

[Dicky99]

Eh? I didn't realise they were so expensive! I've got a plastic "pound coin" that was given to me when I approached a guy about to put his trolley back, holding up a £1 coin, which he refused and just gave me the trolley anyway. Seeing it had a plastic token in it I asked didn't he want it back and he said, nah, I've got lots of them, so I'd kinda assumed they were sold cheaply in bulk....

Anyway, a quick google reveals a plethora of ways of not having to use a £1 coin, real or fake. From a corned beef can key to a Yale type key to a guitar pick to two 20ps pressed together to ... https://www.google.com/search?q=opening+supermarket+trolley+locks

Another hack would be to keep a bolt cropper in the car

[NomoneyNohoney]

Purleeze! Finesse, not brute force.

[UncleEbenezer]

Madness, for either £2 or £3 you can buy a thing that works a bit like a pound coin but you cannot use it for buying things.

Today's version of "spending a penny"?

Quite a few years back I had a little plastic thingey for that. Given to me (free) at (IIRC) Lidl, when I asked a staff member about getting hold of a coin for it.

[NomoneyNohoney]

Thought I ought to round off the story.

Full of my own cleverness, I decided to use a trolley to carry goods round the supermarket, rather than a hand basket.
Paid for the items, left the trolley near the entrance for the benefit of anyone who didn't want to walk round to the back of the store to get a trolley, and after all the saga, left the trolley token in there, overlooked and forgotten.

Someone got a bonus: it was not meant to be me.

[didds]

Postage, dear boy, postage...

I'm guessing thats where the extra 75p (2nd class stamp) comes from

"Perhaps I should drill holes in them and flog them on ebay for £1.75 undercutting the market and releasing my lost money."

And just reuse an envelope from a received letter. Make that £1.76 to cover the Sellotape used.

[NomoneyNohoney]

Sellotape? You can't do that - imagine the ignominy if the recipient got charged double postage when the Post Office caught on to what you'd done.

The technique is apparently to use a thin blade or scalpel to lift each corner, and then gradually lift the stamps, working towards the centre. After that, a tiny smear of Pritt glue particularly at the edges is reputed to work wonders, then pressing it with a knife handle on the new envelope, to get rid of any lumps and bumps.

[swill453]

Sellotape? You can't do that - imagine the ignominy if the recipient got charged double postage when the Post Office caught on to what you'd done.

The technique is apparently to use a thin blade or scalpel to lift each corner, and then gradually lift the stamps, working towards the centre. After that, a tiny smear of Pritt glue particularly at the edges is reputed to work wonders, then pressing it with a knife handle on the new envelope, to get rid of any lumps and bumps.

I thought the unique barcode on all stamps prevented that these days.

Scott.

[y0rkiebar]

I thought the unique barcode on all stamps prevented that these days.

Scott.

Correct, the exception being stamps with pictures on & Christmas stamps.

[Loup321]

I thought the unique barcode on all stamps prevented that these days.

Scott.

Correct, the exception being stamps with pictures on & Christmas stamps.

Yep, daughter's birthday card had a reused barcoded stamp, and it cost us £2.50 because the sender was too frugal to pay for a new 2nd class stamp.

[daveh]

I thought the unique barcode on all stamps prevented that these days.

Scott.

Correct, the exception being stamps with pictures on & Christmas stamps.

My Xmas stamps are also bar coded. Clearly they introduced the bar codes as too many stamps were being reused.

[CliffEdge]

Is it true that in future you will only be able to buy stamps using a card, not cash?

[didds]

Sellotape? You can't do that - imagine the ignominy if the recipient got charged double postage when the Post Office caught on to what you'd done..

why double postage? what "have I done" ?

1) take pre used envelope
2) put old £1 coin with hole inside
3) seal with Sellotape (cos there's no glue on old envelope etc)
3) affix 75p second class stamp.

Cost

£1 coin
£0.75 stamp
£0.01 Sellotape

Total £1.76

I feel im missing something glaring here like some archaic law that says you cannot reuse an envelope and readdress and stamp it or something?

[NomoneyNohoney]

Mea culpa! I'm sorry, I thought it was about reusing a stamp but noe I learn that bar coded prevents that.
Glad I found out this way