New pound coins in 2017

[chrisild]

I'm getting a bit fed up with the news stories today about the old pound.  These are pretty much the stories the media is hyping:

Poundland are prepared to accept the old pounds after the deadline in case customers still have them.

Was wondering about that too. I saw this story in The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/oct/09/shops-to-ignore-pound-coin-deadline which says that some? many? stores will continue to accept the old £1 coin despite (and beyond) the deadline. The text refers to a Telegraph article, so I came up with this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/08/thousands-shops-will-keep-accepting-old-1-coins-cease-become/

Admittedly I do not mind having such deadlines, but from "around here" I am used to fixed dates. Say, you can use a certain type or denomination until date X, and maybe turn them in for another X years. Not sure about the UK, but I assume that shopkeepers who accept the old coins will later still be able to turn them in. Will they?

Christian

[EWC]

Will they?

Yes of course.   Usual bunk in the press    

Last year an American guy sent me a bunch of old 50p's (demonetized 1998?) and I cashed them at my local bank - I assume you still can cash all the UK decimal coin, (though I never tried the 1/2 p's) 

Rob T

[Alan71]

Admittedly I do not mind having such deadlines, but from "around here" I am used to fixed dates. Say, you can use a certain type or denomination until date X, and maybe turn them in for another X years. Not sure about the UK, but I assume that shopkeepers who accept the old coins will later still be able to turn them in. Will they?

Christian

Apparently the banks will accept them after the deadline.  Not sure how long for though as no ultimate deadline has been provided.  This is a first for UK coins.  All previous withdrawn coins (pre-decimal coins, half penny, old size 5p, 10p and 50p) weren't redeemable at banks after the six month changeover period.  No one apparently had a problem with that then.  Not sure if they've changed it for the old pound because it's a higher-value denomination and so many circulate, but I can't understand what the fuss is about.  The media and the internet (and indeed shopkeepers) are making mountains out of molehills.

[EWC]

This is a first for UK coins.  All previous withdrawn coins (pre-decimal coins, half penny, old size 5p, 10p and 50p) weren't redeemable at banks after the six month changeover period. 

   See mine prior........

[Alan71]

Sorry, my page hadn't updated and I hadn't seen your post when I did mine.

I wasn't aware of that - certainly it was never publicised at the time.  The impression given was that once the deadline had passed, the coins were worthless.  However, charities much later started accepting old (and foreign) coins, so somewhere along the line (ie. during the last 20 years) something changed.  It kind of makes sense - the metal could be melted down if nothing else - but I think publicising it this time is a mistake as it's allowing shops to decide to continue to accept them.  It shouldn't go on indefinitely.

[<k>]

There were notices on all the Lidl self-service machines this morning saying that they no longer accepted round pounds, and you would have to go to the manned tills instead. They didn't say "manned" tho - I can't remember the phrase they used. Well, Lidl is german, chrisild is German, so I'm blaming chrisild and am demanding compensation: a 15¼ euro note by the end of the week, or he's banned!

[chrisild]

There were notices on all the Lidl self-service machines this morning saying that they no longer accepted round pounds, and you would have to go to the manned tills instead. They didn't say "manned" tho - I can't remember the phrase they used. Well, Lidl is german, chrisild is German, so I'm blaming chrisild and am demanding compensation: a 15¼ euro note by the end of the week, or he's banned!

The self checkout places probably said "personned" instead of "manned". Gender neutrality and all that.

Well, when our second generation €5 notes came out, quite a few machines initially had problems with them. My anger about that is compensation enough ... But it is good to know that the older £1 coins can be turned in (by businesses) later - then I do not see any problems with dealers accepting them after the deadline.

Christian

[Alan71]

My concern is that if they accept them after the deadline, they may also give them out again in change (particularly in the self-service checkouts).  Hopefully this won't be the case though, and they will have safeguards against that.  If anyone dares give me one after the deadline they will regret it! 

I did once get an old 50p in change, about two years after they were withdrawn.  The person that gave it me claimed not to have realised (I didn't believe her).  I've also been given at least two old 5p coins (or rather the earlier "One Shilling" versions) passed off as 10p coins.  It was at least 20 years after the coins had been withdrawn.  Never been given an old 10p or half penny though.

[Figleaf]

I accidentally tried to pay a second hand book seller with a half new penny last year. She liked the coin and gave me a discount on the book if she could keep the coin. The book became one of my favourites. Everyone won, even the little coin

Peter

[Bimat]

Shopkeepers braced for weekend of chaos over old £1 coins

By Katie Morley, consumer affairs editor
14 OCTOBER 2017 • 10:25AM

Shopkeepers being hassled by angry customers who are confused over whether they can spend old £1 coins this weekend have been advised to stand their ground.

Consumers have just two days left to spend their round pounds before they cease to be legal tender from Monday and are expected to hit the shops in a bid to get rid of them beyond the deadline.

But a mass boycott of the official deadline by thousands of stores is likely to result in mass confusion among consumers over when and where the coins can be spent.

The switch over to the new £1 coin is set to give shops a boost over the weekend with up to two thirds of the remaining coins expected to be spent before the deadline of midnight on Sunday.

Shops are expected to be busier - but also rowdier over the weekend - with confused shoppers expected to create queues by quibbling with shopkeepers over the £1 coin.

Angry shoppers have this week spoken out after being handed old pound coins as change just days before the deadline.

Shops handing out old coins over the next two days are likely to face an even stronger reaction, as time is running out for shoppers to spend the coins.

A spokesman at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "There's no obligation for any business to accept the old pounds after the deadline. Any businesses that continue to accept them are doing so voluntarily. While it is likely many will, it's purely at their discretion."

Some 500 million old-style coins ones are still in circulation.

The Royal Mint and the Treasury are understood to have told businesses that they want a "clean break" from the round pound to avoid potential chaos being created by some shops continuing to accept them as payment. But thousands of stores including Tesco, Poundland and Iceland will defy the deadline and continue to accept the coins beyond the deadline.

Rules coming into force on Oct 15 will prevent shops handing out old £1 coins as change and will give shops the right to refuse them as payment.

However, there is no rule preventing shops – which are able to bank old £1 coins long after this date – accepting the coins beyond the end of this week.

The 12-sided £1 coin came into circulation in March as part of the Mint's efforts to cut back on counterfeits.A Treasury spokesman said: "The new pound coin was brought in to reduce the multimillion-pound cost to British business from counterfeits. Businesses told us they wanted certainty on a cut-off date, which is why we introduced the October 15 deadline.

"We have worked tirelessly with businesses for several years to support their preparations for this, including launching a campaign a year ago to help firms educate their workers.

"The overwhelming majority of businesses tell us they are ready, and the small minority who choose to keep accepting the old coin, after it ceases to be legal tender, will have to make their own arrangements with their banks."

Source: The Telegraph

[Alan71]

In other words, it would be going far more smoothly had all the stores stuck to the deadline.  The "confusion" has been caused by the stores that thought they were helping their customers by deciding to defy the deadline date.

I know there are now generations that weren't around or weren't old enough during previous coin changes - the last one was almost 20 years ago - but really, what is the problem?  Pound coins are high value.  How do these people think we went on when it was half pennies, large 5p, 10p or 50p, or pre-decimal coins?  As lower-value coins, there must have been many more lying around in houses?  People managed to spend those coins back in the day, and that was under the belief that they would be worthless after the deadline date.  The pre-decimal coins were explicitly stated in public awareness campaigns that they "cannot be used as money" after the deadline date.

Perhaps it was a mistake to make people/shop owners aware that the old pounds can be traded-in at banks for an unspecified period (perhaps indefinitely).  All it's done is caused no one to take the date seriously, and the shop owners that are doing it properly are being criticised for sticking to it.

[EWC]

Perhaps it was a mistake to make people/shop owners aware that the old pounds can be traded-in at banks for an unspecified period (perhaps indefinitely). 

Afraid I find this suggestion troublesome in a general and very fundamental way.  Can it ever be a mistake to tell people the truth? 

On this specific problem - it rather reminds me of that year 2000 computer crash that never happened.  The press have pretended there would be a problem, and are now pretending there is a problem. 

Problem?  What problem?

Rob T

[andyg]

At work our cash counters tell us they can continue to accept the old £1 coins for now, so although officially we don't accept them after Sunday I've sent instruction out to the front line staff that we are to politely remind the customer that they are no longer valid but to still accept them...

Like EWC I cannot see what the fuss is about - I suspect it's just the usual "make a story out of nothing"

The 2000 computer crash didn't happen because businesses were prepared, the 2017 pound crash won't happen likewise

[EWC]

All sounds very sensible 

[Alan71]

Afraid I find this suggestion troublesome in a general and very fundamental way.  Can it ever be a mistake to tell people the truth? 

Sometimes yes.  In this instance, no one is really taking the deadline date too seriously.  Some shops are thinking "we can trade them in with banks at anytime" and for this reason the public are seeing the date as unnecessary and irrelevant.  As I say, this definitely wasn't the case in previous changeovers.  Coins were apparently worthless after the date, and shops and the public appeared to accept that. 

I think it is up to the individual to take responsibility for spending coins they don't want.  It shouldn't be up to the state to say "never mind, you can bring them to a bank at any time in the future and they will welcome them with open arms".  That's half the trouble with the world today - no one wants to take responsibility for anything.

I know it is different times though... and the old pound having so many different reverse designs (and some known to be less common than others) mean that people have become more reluctant to part with them.