Non-motoring > Getting rid of small change....	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: R.P.	Replies: 46

Fri 17 Sep 10 13:53   Getting rid of small change.... - R.P.

I used to have loads of this, it sort of collected into embarrassingly never used piles - anyway tried an experiment - I now carry five pounds in loose change, say 3 pound coins, two fifties, four twenties, and the rest in smaller stuff - not too heavy but I pay for anything under a fiver in cash - anything else is in notes and I add the small change so getting pound coins back instead of loads of minute silver and large copper - OK so I need to get out more ! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:34   Getting rid of small change.... - bathtub tom

SWMBO often has a purse full of copper that then mysteriously disappears. I suspect a charity benefits. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:38   Getting rid of small change.... - WillDeBeest

Parking ticket machines often won't take 1p and 2p coins. (Are you there, l'Es?) happily, the chocolate machine in my office will. If I'm there past about 1830, I'll sneak down to the one on the floor below, which is in a more secluded spot, and pile in the fistful of coppers from my change collection, plus whatever else it takes to make up the 55p price of a piece of greasy, over-sweet confectionery. It must be a guilty pleasure because I don't like to be observed doing it. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:44   Getting rid of small change.... - DP

We put all ours in a big container (a catering sized orange squash bottle) and when it gets full I take it down to the local Sainsbury's who have one of those small change deposit machines. I had about £120 worth when I took the last lot down there in December. Even after the 7.5% commission deduction, it made a nice dent in the Christmas food/drink bill. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:41   Getting rid of small change.... - Cliff Pope

Funnily I was thinking the same thing only today. I realised the reason I have so much small change weighing my pocket down is because I was behaving like a foreigner, unfamilir with the currency and the language. So I would pay for everything with notes or pound coins because I couldn't be bothered to count out exact amounts in smaller denominations. In the end one's mental faculties probably decline from lack of use in adding up small change to get to 79p when it's so much easier just to hand over a pound. Alongside that is neglecting to count the change. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:46   Getting rid of small change.... - BobbyG

I have one of those plastic Coca Cola bottles that stands about 60cm high and I put everything under 20p in it. It sits by the front door so is handy for emptying pockets as soon as you go in. Have had it for years, and last time I tried to move it it broke so is now held together by duct tape! Must take it intot he work sometime and get it changed over into notes - I think when we started it was the "Florida" fund, now more likley to be "a week's shopping fund" Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:55   Getting rid of small change.... - Redviper

I have a huge jar, that can hold about £60 worth of 1p/2p/5p Although it takes about a couple of years to completely fill use it towards my road tax. Otherwise if I have pocket full of pennies (currently in my desk drawer @ work) I do what WillDeBeast does and pile them into the chocolate/crisps machine at work. Makes them taste so much nicer (for some reason) but I don’t feel guilty doing it. I’m sure though I’ve had some odd looks, as I’ve fed 50p worth of pennies into the machine for some crisps. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 14:50   Getting rid of small change.... - Fenlander

Same here... tend to unload my jeans pockets at night and put the change in a bowl in the bedroom drawer. Then next day I leave all copper, 5p coins and many 10/20p coins just taking pounds and 50p. Over time I've built up hoards of small change in loads of places around the bedroom. I've sussed the solution now though. I normally go to out local Teso for a lunch sandwich/drink, paper etc. Go through the self-serve tills paying cash but always feed in a load of the small change before the note regardless of how it adds up. The change given is always in the largest coins. Result.... Except the eagle eyed self-serve helper girl the other day noticed this and said my *jiffling* would confuse the machine. I assume that to be a techincal term. Last edited by: Fenlander on Fri 17 Sep 10 at 14:52 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 15:01   Getting rid of small change.... - Zero

Every evening anything under 20p bit goes into a large upright tin (cant remember what came in it) When full (very Heavy) it gets carried to the nearest tesco change machine to get changed into folding. When full last time it held 95 quid, and took about 15 minutes to run through. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 15:06   Getting rid of small change.... - Bromptonaut

Three pots by front door. One each for £1/£2 coins, silver & coppers. The first two keep parking change in both cars, kids tuck money and deserving door to door collections etc sorted. And I'm the station newsagent's favourite customer 'cos I've always got the right change - even in the season when I'm feeding my Creme Egg addiction. The coppers go to the machine in sainsburys. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 15:23   Getting rid of small change.... - Stuartli

In my club, many members put the small change from each drinks order into which ever local charity box is currently on the end of the bar. Surprising how quickly a useful sum builds up. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 15:27   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...The coppers go to the machine in sainsburys... Didn't know they had one that sold doughnuts. Boom-boom! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 16:00   Getting rid of small change.... - Robin O'Reliant

I do Cash on Delivery sales and all my coppers are kept for change (real nuisance to have everything at X.99p). In fact I pick up any I see on the pavement for this purpose, you find loads near schools as the kids think it is cool to throw all the coppers away. How times have changed, we used to seach down the back of the sofa for pennies in the days when shops would sell individual cigarettes to impoverished schoolboys. Last edited by: Robin Regal on Fri 17 Sep 10 at 16:01 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 16:01   Getting rid of small change.... - Bellboy

and go round finding empty pop bottles to return Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 16:04   Getting rid of small change.... - Zero

>> How times have changed, we used to seach down the back of the sofa for >> pennies in the days when shops would sell individual cigarettes to impoverished schoolboys. Yup, 5 Players Weights were a shilling, or threepence each, with a free match. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 18:23   Getting rid of small change.... - AnotherJohnH

SWMBO accumulates change to the point of bursting her purse. Usually, just before the explosion of small change, I persuade her to empty it a bit and I use it over a few days when buying things which don't total up to round figures (nearly all the time). I suspect the cause of the problem is not wanting to put on the glasses, and also by her fingers being slightly less nimble than they were when she was younger: it's easy to offer notes and let somebody else sort it out. Probably an age thing. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 18:28   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...with a free match... Your face, my backside. Ha-ha, schoolboy humour at its best. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 18:56   Getting rid of small change.... - spamcan61

I wonder what the point of copper coins is these days anyway. I would think a 5p coin is worth less now than a 1p was at decimalisation. EDIT: OK a quick check and the RPI has increased by a factor of 10 since decimalisation, so a 5p now is worth the same as a half pee at decimalisation. So I propose dumping 1p and 2p coins and making the 5p the smallest coin. Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 17 Sep 10 at 19:01 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 19:03   Getting rid of small change.... - Runfer D'Hills

About once a week I bung any copper coins I've aquired in whatever charity box I happen to be passing when I remember to do it. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 19:21   Getting rid of small change.... - Kevin

>I wonder what the point of copper coins is these days anyway. In the election manifesto for The Monster Raving Loony Party they promised to introduce a 99p coin. I'd have voted for them if they'd fielded a candidate in my constituency. Kevin... Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 19:34   Getting rid of small change.... - Robin O'Reliant

5p coins are the biggest nuisance of all in my opinion, those are the ones that go in a jar in my house and when I accumulate about £25 worth they are paid in the bank. Shops would not want copper coins being dumped anyway. The reason for X.99p prices is to ensure the cashier has to ring the item on the till to get the penny change rather than slipping the tenner straight into their pockets. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 22:56   Getting rid of small change.... - Harleyman

The reason for X.99p prices is >> to ensure the cashier has to ring the item on the till to get the >> penny change rather than slipping the tenner straight into their pockets. >> I'd have thought it was more to do with the fact that people will buy something for say £4.99 in preference to something for £5, because it looks cheaper; by the same token the ".9" of a penny on a litre of fuel irks me considerably, because it's simply disingenuous. I had rather hoped that the advent of the £1 litre would wipe out this nefarious practice. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:51   Getting rid of small change.... - Stuartli

>> Yup, 5 Players Weights were a shilling, or threepence each, with a free match.>> You smoked them one after the other then..:-) Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 20:16   Getting rid of small change.... - Badwolf

>> So I would pay for everything with notes or pound coins because I couldn't be bothered >>to count out exact amounts in smaller denominations. Don't take this the wrong way, Cliff but this gets right up my nose! I have to provide my own float on the bus and it often gets wiped out as people do exactly as you say. I've lost count of the times I've seen people get a pocket full of change out to pay for a £1.70 fare only to give me two pound coins, even though they have the exact change. It's just lazy and thoughtless. They look at me very oddly too when I ask them if they'd mind giving me the correct change. It's also amazing how often people who try paying with a higher value note manage to find the correct money when I tell them that I can't give them any change and I'll have to issue them with a change voucher! Many many people think that I have an inexhaustible supply of change and just cannot grasp the concept that I can't just 'nip in the back' and get some more... Rant over......and breathe :-) Reply to this message | Report message       1

Fri 17 Sep 10 20:30   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...I have to provide my own float on the bus... I would expect a bus driver to have a limited amount of change, so would always try to have somewhere near the right money. What annoys me is large retailers who claim to have no smaller denomination notes or even pound coins. McDonalds has been a major culprit over the years. Tender a tenner for a £3-odd buy and get offered a couple of pound coins and ten 50p pieces as change. I just cannot believe that a busy operation which has been taking mostly cash for several hours through several tills cannot find a fiver or a few pound coins. Last edited by: Iffy on Fri 17 Sep 10 at 20:31 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 20:51   Getting rid of small change.... - Bellboy

anyone working in retail would know that buying change from a bank is an expensive business and also who do you send to get it? tracy on the minimum wage and cant be bonded or the manager who is far too expensive to stand in the long bank queue this is why banks would love to make us a cashless society as would the large retailers as would inland revenue as would customs and exercise what about the dear old lady at no 25 though who only understand coinage of the realms i put it to you brothers.......... Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 20:53   Getting rid of small change.... - R.P.

Cash is king - ultimately... Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 20:59   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...who do you send to get it?... When I worked at the Renault dealer, we collected the weekly wages in cash - a nice few quid. The arrangement was someone in sales would use a demo - unlikely to break down - to take the wages clerk and a mechanic to the bank. The mechanic carried an old holdall which contained nothing but a pickaxe handle on the way there, and the money on the way back. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:08   Getting rid of small change.... - Runfer D'Hills

It occurs to me that I'd probably use a card for more small purchases if it was to be made a quicker process. By and large, with the exception of the example I'll describe in a moment, I use cash for anything under £20 and a card for amounts exceeding that. Not sure why, just feels about right. But to come back to the speed of transaction thing. It can be done. One of the quickest being the card readers on the M6 toll road. Just bung your card in the automated slot and it pops out more or less instantly and gives you a printed receipt at the same moment. Whole process takes a handful of seconds. No requirement for a PIN or signature. Maybe it's more open to fraud but then so is cash for different reasons. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:16   Getting rid of small change.... - Zero

>> printed receipt at the same moment. Whole process takes a handful of seconds. No requirement >> for a PIN or signature. Maybe it's more open to fraud but then so is >> cash for different reasons. This system is only possible by cutting the security right down, but in this application its acceptable as its a known fixed price "one off" small value transaction. They also tag your car registration number to the transaction. If you use a suspect card your car wont get through the barrier again. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:18   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...Maybe it's more open to fraud but then so is cash for different reasons... Barclays have a proximity system in which the card can be debited simply by being within a couple of metres of the till. Transactions are limited to £10. The adverts show the busy young professional picking up his skinny latte of a morning, grabbing his sandwich at dinner time and an evening paper on the way home. Not sure how far Barclays have got with introducing the system. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:24   Getting rid of small change.... - Runfer D'Hills

Interesting, although it it does beg the question of whose card gets charged for what if there are several BYPs grabbing coffees and buttys at the same time from the same stall. I'd take the most expensive sandwich just in case. :-) Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:30   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...I'd take the most expensive sandwich just in case... Humph, Looks like they are ahead of you - the limit's now £15. Quoting from the website: What is Contactless? Imagine being able to buy those little things like a cup of coffee, sandwich or newspaper without carrying cash. Contactless technology lets you do just that. It sets you free to make fast and secure payments for items of £15 or less. All you need to do is hold your card near the reader and you're ready to go. www.barclays.co.uk/Helpsupport/Barclayscontactlessdebitcards/P1242561764200 Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:01   Getting rid of small change.... - Harleyman

>> >> I just cannot believe that a busy operation which has been taking mostly cash for >> several hours through several tills cannot find a fiver or a few pound coins. >> >> >> Fivers seem to be the biggest problem, not just the scarcity of them (I put this down to them not being issued from ATM's any more) but also the generally disgusting condition of the notes themselves. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:30   Getting rid of small change.... - bathtub tom

>>the generally disgusting condition of the notes themselves. A colleague had a drug sniffer dog sit down next to him at an airport (nice doggy, Oh damn!). The handler asked him if he'd drawn out any cash recently. He replied he had. It was explained nearly all used notes contain traces of cocaine where they've been used to snort the stuff. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:37   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

...nearly all used notes contain traces of cocaine... Similar stories circulate about cannabis. The drugs dog detects a hit because a dealer handled the note before you received it. Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 18 Sep 10 00:01   Getting rid of small change.... - Dulwich Estate

What ! - paying 7.5% of your own money so a machine can count it for you. Ye Gods - what next ? You'll be buying ready meals and pre-cut/washed vegetables next. Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 17 Sep 10 23:52   Getting rid of small change.... - Stuartli

>>would expect a bus driver to have a limited amount of change>> It's normally called a float. The biggest problem these days is the almost permanent shortage of £5 notes. Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 18 Sep 10 03:52   Getting rid of small change.... - DeeW

Coppers go in a pot ready for carnival season, when any small people with us can be supplied with a bagful to throw into collecting buckets. When we first married all our change went in a large china pig. When about half full, it was enough to pay our fares from London to Boulogne on the train/hovercraft, B&B and an evening in the casino plus the opportunity to buy duty free goodies for Christmas on our way home on Sunday evening. Pig now feeds money son requires for cookery lessons and other such expenses such as youth club plus charity collectors. Much preferred his old contribution to life! Reply to this message | Report message

Sat 18 Sep 10 08:12   Getting rid of small change.... - L'escargot

I keep all the one penny and two pence coins in a pot at home and use them (together with larger coins as necessary) to buy the local daily newspaper. I tell the shopkeeper I've just been robbing the grandkids piggy bank. Reply to this message | Report message

Sun 19 Sep 10 23:35   Getting rid of small change.... - Ted

I do what maqny here do. I keep everything under 50p in a couple of pots. When I feel it's enough ,I take it down to the machine at Asda , run it all through and convert the paper reciept into wine. Ted Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Sep 10 10:54   Getting rid of small change.... - The Nut

Our local big tesco's just got some new self service tills. Instead of a slot you feed coins into one at a time they have a tray that you can throw handfulls of coins into, might start getting rid of all the change that way. Just hoping the little tesco by the kids school get these since I'm in there most days for things which the corner shop dosn't sell. edit: If I leave it to Mrs. Nut it will all go into one of those change sorting machines losing 7.5%. Last edited by: The Nut on Mon 20 Sep 10 at 10:59 Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Sep 10 12:52   Getting rid of small change.... - VxFan

>> edit: If I leave it to Mrs. Nut it will all go into one of those change sorting machines losing 7.5%. How about tinyurl.com/32fgfpz and DIY? Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Sep 10 14:22   Getting rid of small change.... - rtj70

But if you bag it yourself you have to put exactly the right amount in each bag before taking to the bank... and queuing for ages. Our local Natwest is so slow. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Sep 10 17:12   Getting rid of small change.... - Iffy

I got rid of some small change early this morning by paying the right money - £1.99 - for a sausage and egg McMuffin from McDonald's. Yummy. Reply to this message | Report message

Mon 20 Sep 10 19:52   Getting rid of small change.... - The Nut

One bank around here has a limit of 5 bags of coins per customer. They also wouldn't change an old £20 for me, would only pay it into my account. Thought this might be money laundering regs but Mrs. Nut tells me she got 3 old £20's changed last month at a Barclays in london. Reply to this message | Report message

Tue 21 Sep 10 22:17   Getting rid of small change.... - Hugo

Before I was self employed I worked in an office environment and was a member of a tea club. membership was £1 a week. That paid for milk, sugar and teabags for all of us. Any excess used to be rolled over into 'free' weeks. My small change used to be bundled into £1 lots and handed to this chap on a weekly basis. Excess £1 lots were handed to the cashier at work who used to change them for £1 coins so they could go on my vending card - a card we used to buy from the canteen etc. Reply to this message | Report message