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time to get rid of the 1 & 2p

radyagradyag Posts: 2,220
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in General Discussion #1
And simply round it off to the nearest 5p. This happens in other lands, down under, wheir it no longer has any real value and nobody would miss it. They even plan to axe the 5 at some point and round off to the nearest 10. I'm only talking.g about cash payments, online will still take the exact amount.
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    UKMikeyUKMikey Posts: 28,728
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    #2
    Those people who keep jars and bottles full of old one and two p pieces would be disappointed.
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    trevgotrevgo Posts: 28,241
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    #3
    It would cause a temporary inflationary blip, but otherwise I agree wholeheartedly.

    We have way too many coins.
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    gasheadgashead Posts: 13,822
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    #4
    There's no point getting rid of a coin just for the sake of it, otherwise where do you stop? It'd cost a small fortune to scrap it and prices would rise. Not a popular move. The only reason to scrap a coin is when it costs more to produce than the face value, as happened with the half-penny. Do they?

    ETA - which is precisely what happened in Australia...

    THE five-cent coin should be scrapped because it is too expensive to make and a nuisance, the Royal Australian Mint says. And the federal government is considering dumping it.
    The government has received a confidential brief that shows it costs more than five cents to make each coin because of rising commodity prices.

    http://www.smh.com.au/national/royal-mint-wants-5-coins-scrapped-20110625-1gl5b.html
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    koantemplationkoantemplation Posts: 101,293
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    #5
    UKMikey wrote: »
    Those people who keep jars and bottles full of old one and two p pieces would be disappointed.

    They'd obviously be given time to exchange them.
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    missy83missy83 Posts: 14,299
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    #6
    I reckon charities who collect through charity boxes would miss them. It was amazing how quickly the 1p and 2ps would add up to pounds in the charity box in the shop I last worked in.

    Plus what about the 2p penny pushers in arcades?!
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    UKMikeyUKMikey Posts: 28,728
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    #7
    koantemplation wrote: »
    They'd obviously be given time to exchange them.
    Not the ones which turn up as attic finds. Maybe, by the time they're discovered, the coins will have become rare collectibles.

    I think to enable this scheme you'd have to first increase the availability of those swipey credit cards and make buses accept them as they've done in London.
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    dragonzorddragonzord Posts: 1,585
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    #8
    radyag wrote: »
    And simply round it off to the nearest 5p. This happens in other lands, down under, wheir it no longer has any real value and nobody would miss it. They even plan to axe the 5 at some point and round off to the nearest 10. I'm only talking.g about cash payments, online will still take the exact amount.

    Yet again it would hit the poorest the hardest.
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    MoJo-GirlMoJo-Girl Posts: 979
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    #9
    I can't say I've ever been that bothered about the 1p and 2p!

    I quite like all the different coins we have...it makes my purse feel like I have a lot of money in it, when I only ever have about 38p in copper!

    :)
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    CryolemonCryolemon Posts: 8,670
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    #10
    missy83 wrote: »
    Plus what about the 2p penny pushers in arcades?!

    They'd all just go to being 10p instead, as some are anyway.
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    SnrDevSnrDev Posts: 6,094
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    #11
    Good idea. We did it a few years ago with the ½p piece, it's time to do it again. I routinely leave coppers behind these days or if there's a collecting jar, lob them in there. There could even be a beneficial effect on prices as rounding down would go from 99p to 95p in most cases, and the oft-lauded price codes in retail barns where £xxx.95p indicates a different offer to £xxx.99p wouldn't take long to change.

    Do it, now.
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    UKMikeyUKMikey Posts: 28,728
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    #12
    SnrDev wrote: »
    There could even be a beneficial effect on prices as rounding down would go from 99p to 95p in most cases
    You sure about that?
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    SnrDevSnrDev Posts: 6,094
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    #13
    UKMikey wrote: »
    You sure about that?
    No. That's why I said could.

    Edit - ah - put would not could in there. <shrugs>
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    rumpleteazerrumpleteazer Posts: 5,746
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    #14
    SnrDev wrote: »
    Good idea. We did it a few years ago with the ½p piece, it's time to do it again. I routinely leave coppers behind these days or if there's a collecting jar, lob them in there. There could even be a beneficial effect on prices as rounding down would go from 99p to 95p in most cases, and the oft-lauded price codes in retail barns where £xxx.95p indicates a different offer to £xxx.99p wouldn't take long to change.

    Do it, now.

    I can almost guarantee that wouldn't be the case, everything would be rounded up.
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    bart4858bart4858 Posts: 11,436
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    #15
    dragonzord wrote: »
    Yet again it would hit the poorest the hardest.

    If they pay by card, then it makes no difference; transactions will be pounds and pence as before.

    Only if paying cash, then there might be a loss to the customer, if the total is always rounded up.

    So if you go to the shops say, twice a day, and pay with cash both times, then over the year you might be looking at nearly £20 per year. Hardly a sum which is going to make anyone richer or poorer to any great extent.

    To offset that, you don't have to deal with all these pennies, many of which will just get lost anyway. Work out how many man-hours would be saved by not fiddling out with so much loose change (not only yours, but of everyone in the queue behind you).

    But if totals are rounded to the nearest 5p, then overall no-one loses.
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    SnrDevSnrDev Posts: 6,094
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    #16
    rumpleteazer wrote: »
    I can almost guarantee that wouldn't be the case, everything would be rounded up.
    Ok - I admit defeat. Don't drop coppers as everything we buy would go up by a whole penny and cause instant destitution across the UK. Sorry for even thinking there might be a beneficial side-effect. Or maybe the same logic that rounds prices down - customer interaction, offer codes, prob others who cares - would still apply and prices wouldn't automatically increase by the huge margin that could knock the recovery off course. Or something. Probably.
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    spookyLXspookyLX Posts: 11,730
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    #17
    this again .......

    Quite a few charities depend on those 1 &2 pence pieces
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    emptyboxemptybox Posts: 13,917
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    #18
    Thing is, it must cost more than 2p to manufacture these copper coins.

    You could keep shop prices the same; i.e still have items on the shelf at £1.99, but at the checkout, round the total to the nearest 5 or 10p.

    You could keep the ones in existence as legal tender. Just don't make any more.
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    droogiefretdroogiefret Posts: 24,117
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    #19
    I agree - we should join the euro.
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    Bill ClintonBill Clinton Posts: 9,389
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    #20
    I'm on benefits and still think the 1p and 2p coins are completely useless, there is almost nothing at that value anymore and rounding up (or down) to the nearest 5p wouldn't be a huge deal.

    I wrote a celebrity sketch once where | compared celeb lives to us "plebs" and one of the lines I wrote was

    "people like you are the only reason 1p and 2p coins are still in circulation".
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    LostFoolLostFool Posts: 90,662
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    #21
    In the Netherlands, they don't issue 1c and 2c coins and all princes are rounded to the nearest 5c. 1c and 2c coins from elsewhere in the Eurozone are legal but many shops refuse to accept them as nobody wants them in their change.

    The US still has 1c coins but you don't see them very often.
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    nessyfencernessyfencer Posts: 9,195
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    #22
    rumpleteazer wrote: »
    I can almost guarantee that wouldn't be the case, everything would be rounded up.

    I don't think so. There's a very strong psychological reason that everything is sold under the £x. The differences in how much something sells at 99p compared to £1 is huge.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,279
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    #23
    There'd be nothing to pick up for luck...
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    TheTruth1983TheTruth1983 Posts: 13,462
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    #24
    No way. I collect 1ps and 2ps, and keep them in a jar.

    That reminds me, it must be near time to count them out again.
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    UKMikeyUKMikey Posts: 28,728
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    #25
    TheTruth1983 wrote: »
    No way. I collect 1ps and 2ps, and keep them in a jar.

    That reminds me, it must be near time to count them out again.
    I thought so too but according to some posters you would "obviously" be given time to exchange them.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 8,916
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    #26
    That's my fun ruined at the seaside amusements then.
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