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Doing away with copper coins

(65 Posts)
watermeadow Tue 13-Mar-18 18:41:17

I’ve wanted this ever since our imperial money was decimalised because:
They are worth nothing
They allow shops to end every price in a 9 and then hand you a worthless coin in the change. The price is £10, not £9.99!
The penny is commonly called a “Pee.” You even hear people say “one Pees.”
They are dropped into jars or lay on the ground because they are useless.

Auntieflo Tue 13-Mar-18 18:44:29

Not neccesarily. I save all my coppers and 5 pence pieces, then can empty them into the Salvation Army, Save the Children, or the JMA envelopes at Church. Every little helps.

dogsmother Tue 13-Mar-18 18:48:37

Well now, my thirty something yearold son was like this, probably still is. Would cast all change aside, throw it away almost from a very young age.
It used to deeply upset me I was forever saying you must always always look after the pennies then the pounds will look after themselves.
I am not tight, nor wealthy, nor poor.
That particular son is now the more canny of my three, but I am still bothered by any cash waste since.

Fennel Tue 13-Mar-18 18:49:19

I put mine in a container for Guide Dogs today, in Sainsbury's. Many others were doing the same.

Oopsadaisy12 Tue 13-Mar-18 19:14:46

Mine all go into a money box and the GCs share it out when they come to stay and spend it on books in the local Charity shops. I have to say that it usually gets some 1 pound coins added to it by GD.

Marydoll Tue 13-Mar-18 19:38:41

Mine all go into a charity box for Mary's Meals.

Jalima1108 Tue 13-Mar-18 19:45:37

I save my 1p, 2p and 5p pieces for charity too.
This year I'm saving them for TWG nominated charities, on my second jar full so far.

Anniebach Tue 13-Mar-18 21:07:06

What about weekly wages paid in cash, after deductions often 1 2 3 4 pence

mrsmopp Tue 13-Mar-18 21:28:07

There is a reason for prices ending in 99p. It ensures the salesgirls had to ring up the price on the till in order to give you the 1p change. With a rounded up price eg £5 or £10, there is more chance of the correct money being offered, and the sales girl pocketing the cash as the customer walks away.
That was the original reason, back in the days of the small shopkeepers.

silverlining48 Wed 14-Mar-18 08:31:18

That’s interesting Mrs mopp. I always thought it was to make us believe its cheaper than it actually is. I remember things costing 1/6 3/4, ie one and sixpence three farthings. Everything ended in three farthings when I was young.

Found an tin with old pennies yesterday, the oldest were from 1900. I bet there might be even older ones at the bottom of the box.

Teetime Wed 14-Mar-18 08:58:24

We put ours in the Macmillan bucket in Wilko.

lemongrove Wed 14-Mar-18 09:31:11

The WI have a pennies for friendship pot at meetings, which goes towards women all over the world who need it.

Lindylo Wed 14-Mar-18 10:42:59

I rarely seem to get any copper coins these days or 5ps come to that. Must all be in everyone's savings pots!

henetha Wed 14-Mar-18 10:45:02

I would miss them very much. I save 1p's for charity. And I collect 2p's to spend on the Tipping Point machines on piers or arcades.

SpanielNanny Wed 14-Mar-18 10:52:36

Henetha that was my first thought too. I’ve had hours of fun playing those 2p slots at the seaside.

glammanana Wed 14-Mar-18 10:54:09

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

Jalima1108 Wed 14-Mar-18 10:54:18

grin
naughty but a bit addictive

Jalima1108 Wed 14-Mar-18 10:54:53

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

Jalima1108 Wed 14-Mar-18 10:56:02

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

henetha Wed 14-Mar-18 10:57:48

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

sunseeker Wed 14-Mar-18 10:59:50

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!

SpanielNanny Wed 14-Mar-18 11:00:50

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

paperbackbutterfly Wed 14-Mar-18 11:17:06

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 .

Elrel Wed 14-Mar-18 11:20:51

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.

harrigran Wed 14-Mar-18 11:34:06

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.