MoneySaving Poll: Should the 1p coin be scrapped?
Former_MSE_Rosie
Posts: 105 Forumite
Poll started 20 September 2016
Should the 1p coin be scrapped?
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said the humble 1p piece should be scrapped one day because its value is decreasing.
If the coin was axed, we'd follow in the footsteps of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, which have all got rid of their penny equivalents.
Are they an annoyance that you never use, or would it be an unwelcome end of an era?
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Comments
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It's just a sneaky way to put up prices without anyone being able to complain about it. Or will they keep it in the pricing like they do with petrol at 108.9 per litre.0
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I would have liked to vote in this poll but there is nowhere to just say NO :mad:
I don't need the options given, none of them are relevant to my choice.0 -
Why does it assume £9.99 prices won't exist if the 1p was got rid of? You can still pay £9.99 without using any 1p coins! Besides most payments are probably by card these days.
Even countries that have got rid of lower denomination coins still often have prices in finer granularity than their coinage, they just round at the till if you're paying cash.0 -
That's what you get when you have a Canadian running the Bank of England. When he isn't trying to tell British people how to vote in a referendum, or printing money to keep savers' interest rates artificially low, he's wasting his time coming up with these irrelevant ideas.
Obviously you don't have to watch the pennies when you earn a 6-figure salary and get a juicy final salary pension entitlement into the bargain...0 -
On one hand, the 1p coin is now worth far less than a farthing was when it was abolished in 1960. Indeed the purchasing power of a 2p piece is now the same as a 1960 farthing. So logically they should go (a 5p is worth roughly ha'penny (1960) so arguably hangs on... for now)
Its loss would be unlikely to be inflationary - £1.99 would be as, if not more, likely to become £1.95 than £2.00.
BUT a coin called a penny has been the fundamental unit of exchange in most of the UK for pretty much as long as we have had money - 8th century, in fact. The new-fangled pound was just a pound weight of (silver) pennies and IIRC only became the official currency for the UK in the 19th century (replacing the penny).
It would be a BIG step to give it up.
And just because it does not buy much does not matter. There are far lower value coins in circulation in other countries. Many parts of the EU still use the 1c coin, and the US still has a 1c coin.
So keep it!0 -
The £1.99 price is, I have heard, as much an antifraud device as anything as it means the till have to be opened to give change, rather than just taking (and maybe pocketing) the cash!0
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I don't agree with any of the options. I'd be happy to lose the 1p and 2p coins, but why get rid of the 5p ones?
Any 1p or 2p coins I do get just end up in a charity tin. They are so worthless these days, they are not worth saving.If it sticks, force it.
If it breaks, well it wasn't working right anyway.0 -
I think the 1p and 2p coins should go. pricing should be like it is in New Zealand. if you pay by card, you pay the actual total. If you pay by cash your total is round up or down to te nearest 5p (51p becomes 50p and 57p becomes 60p for example). Seems to work extremely well and less worthless coins clogging up tills and purses.
I do actually collect all my 'shrapnel' but it's eeming less and less worth it as exchanging them is a complete pain.0 -
I'm fairly sure that most prices would be rounded up and not down.
Why penalise people who either choose to pay cash, or for financial/other reasons can't have a card? There's more than one occasion when I've been scrabbling round in bags and pockets for enough shrapnel for a pint of milk or some bread.
Those 1p coins matter a lot more when you're on £73 jobseekers than when you're Mark Carney.All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.0 -
Better go and get all my scrap jars changed up as I have tons of them here, I always take all the coppers out of my change and chuck them in a pot.
Don't think it'll make much difference as being in places where the smaller coins are scrapped has not always meant an increase in items, If paying on card as suggested above then there is no issue and if in cash I have had extra or less given back at times but for the sake of a penny or two I would not lose sleep over it.0
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