Doing away with copper coins

The children at church collect copper coins in a large sweet jar in aid of Tearfund. Last year they collected nearly £60.

Thanks for the explanation grandtante, that makes more sense than my imaginings.

What is likely to happen if the small coins disappear is that you will still have prices ending on 79p or 99p. They go into the supermarket register at the price stated, which makes a slight difference if you buy a large number of the item. When you pay any price ending on a small amount there is not a coin for like 9p is rounded up, and anything under 5p is discounted, so instead of paying £ 4.99 you pay £5 and instead of paying £4.40 you pay £4. At least that's the way it works here. You still use all the numbers when calculating prices, interest etc.

I gather it's a case of what you loose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.

As far as farthings go; they were legal tender until 1960, but even before that in Scotland they did not seem to be in circulation, as the smallest coin you got back in your change, or that a shopkeeper would accept was the half-penny. We did however battle with sums ending on 1, or 3 farthings in Junior School.

I remember spending farthings on sweets( four of them to a penny) and like other posters loved the thruppeny bit, but above all I loved half a crown ( didn’t often get my sticky little hands on one though.)?

I'm concerned about the possible rounding up of all items that do not end in a 5 or 0, especially food. To begin with I expect it will make a noticeable difference to a weekly shop and just think of fuel prices increasing by 5p a litre instead of 1p. Also will people who get paid hourly have their hourly rates adjusted upwards, or downwards.

Just listened to Jeremy Vine on the subject and no one mentioned this side of the coin

All my coins have specific destinations;
copper coins go into a charity tin and then to the local school for Children in Need Day;
5p in Smartie tubes (do they still sell them?) for a MS 'Dive' Machine;
10p, 20p in car for carpark machines
50p into kitchen money box for doorstep cash: window cleaner, parish magazine and charity collections, increasingly rare now.
£1 and £2 coins in my purse.
Hebdenali, you must save your copper coins for years to get enough to pay for your whole shop with them. I rarely save more than £5.00 in a year.

I agree, Gabriella - only ever use cash at the local market these days! & the odd little shop with a £5 minimum spend for cards. I actually use cashback credit card for everything & pay it off in full by direct debit.

As you get older, it's difficult to negotiate a purse when wielding a walking stick and a shopping bag, especially if you need to faff about putting glasses on to find the coins!

I actually spend my small change. Yes I will count out the right money for a small purchase. If I don't get rid of it I end up with a very heavy bag. I use my debit card for items over ten pounds. I can't understand why people don't just spend a penny

I very rarely have or use cash. My local monthly pub quiz nights are the only time I have to get cashback at Waitrose...usually a last minute thing.
I have a huge letter M (Metro bank) money box stuffed with silver and pound coins which I will deposit next time I can be bothered to go the 14 miles into town. With the exception of NatWest, all our local banks (and their ATMs) have closed. There is, of course, the Post Office which I'll have to use more.
No need for a purse, just a tiny leather folder holding a debit card and whatever store loyalty card(s) I need on any particular day.
It's all so much simpler. I pay bills by DD or window cleaner etc by instant payment which takes well under 2 hours to reach them.
I also use PayPal for many transactions.
Money is old hat now.

In two minds really, price increases will obviously be by 5 pence at the lowest, but at least we should stop hearing people say 1 pence! Pence is plural, 1 is a penny.

I often save my coppers and when I go to one of the supermarkets where there are very few staffed checkouts and they direct you to the self service tills I enjoy getting out my bags of coppers and pay for the entire shop with them.

Fennel

Guide dogs charity keeps most of their tens of millions of pounds abroad in tax efficient countries. They are not a charity on their uppers, far from it.

For years I have thrown pennies and two penny coins into a jar. When it's full I take it to Tesco and put everything in their coin machine. I usually get a voucher for around £6 which can be taken off my shopping bill.

Charity money. Putting in lots of brown coins does contribute but is very difficult for the collectors to count and then have to take to the bank. Maybe change it to silver coins before donating.

I have heard of some banks charging to take coins!

I do save mine in a large whiskey bottle (empty when I got it), either that or change goes into Air Ambulance Charity box in my local shop, amazing how much they collect.

2p coins are given to DGS if he's going to Amusement Arcade (rare treat)

I save 5p coins & take them to the Post Office when I have £5 worth.

Elrel the smallest British bird is a Goldcrest. The Farthing was minted until 1956 & ceased to be legal tender in 1960. I was born in the 50s & have memories of my Mum spending the coins & seeing references to prices using farthings. Fond memories of threepenny bits & "tanners" sixpence coins often found in Christmas Pudding

Farthings were not minted after 1956 and became demonetised in 1960.
Farthings were very much used in maths problems in the fifties when I was at school and I can remember seeing them in the house but not actually spending them.

I don't think we'd miss copper coins for long. Says she who still mourns the threepenny bit of her childhood with thrift on it. That was, to me, the nicest coin of all. Farthings were already out of use in the 1940s I think but, again, an attractive coin with the wren. I was told that the smallest British coin had the smallest British bird. I think there's actually a smaller British bird although I've forgotten its name.

We put all our 'change shrapnel' in a box and them cash it in once a year using the cash machine at the local supermarket. We then put the money in our grand daughter's bank account for when she is older. LAst year it was over £33 .

I’m not even virtuous enough to donate my winnings I’m afraid jalimall, I play until I have no more 2ps left

A presenter on local radio has just said he puts all his 1p, 2p and 5p coins in a wooden bowl and at the end of the year has enough to buy a good bottle of scotch!

Same here SpanielNanny. It's my secret vice (except that all on GN knows now!)

That was to SpanielNanny btw, not about your DGS's games glammanana

ps my 'winnings' went into the charity pot anyway!

naughty but a bit addictive

We collect all our copper coins for DGS in a pot in the kitchen and add to it after every shopping trip it soon adds up,he then takes it to any Supermarket which has a machine for exchanging it for a voucher to get the money off any games he wants for his techi stuff it usually amounts to £10/12s so worthwhile having