Bags of Change

jimmo

I use the Coin Star machines at the supermarkets.
Yes it costs a bit less than 8p per £ but when I empty my pockets each day the £2, £1 and 50p coins go in one jar and the rest goes into another.
It’s only the small stuff I put into the Coin Star and the last time I did this I went to the supermarket with a bag of assorted coins. Working it backwards I got a voucher for £78 so I would have put in roughly £84 and was charged £6.
How long would it have taken me to sort £84 worth of small change into denominations and then into bags I do not know.
I do this as part of a normal shopping trip so see it as no travelling costs but my bank is about 3 miles away and I reckon I’ve only been there 3 or maybe 4 times in the last 10 years.
It suits me but each to his own.

charlie555

LittleVoice wrote: »

From the Royal Mint website: "Legal tender has a very narrow and technical meaning in the settlement of debts. It means that a debtor cannot successfully be sued for non-payment if he pays into court in legal tender. It does not mean that any ordinary transaction has to take place in legal tender or only within the amount denominated by the legislation. "

As far as I know, buying a new BMW is not usually done by paying into court.

The second sentence of your quote says that an ordinary transaction can be completed not only in legal tender but in any form of currency deemed acceptable by the parties concerned. "Both parties are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes." This sentence does not imply the right to refuse legal tender.

The concept of legal tender is not limited to paying in to court. Any debt can be paid in legal tender: the recipient cannot successfully claim non-payment of a debt if the payment is made in legal tender. So if you incur a debt of £25,000 to your BMW dealer and you dump a bag of 25,000 £1 coins on his desk he cannot successfully claim that you have not paid the debt. I'm not recommending you try this however!

Your experience in Nationwide is interesting. Since you are not settling a debt when paying into a bank or building society I would guess that they are not legally obliged to accept inconvenient coins, even if those coins would constitute legal tender in settlement of a debt.

Anyway, I was simply making the point, in reply to the question in the original post, that as long as the coins you use to pay in Tesco or Morrisons constitute legal tender the supermarket should not refuse to accept them. In fact they are often glad of the change.

Andy_L

charlie555 wrote: »

So if you incur a debt of £25,000 to your BMW dealer and you dump a bag of 25,000 £1 coins on his desk he cannot successfully claim that you have not paid the debt. I'm not recommending you try this however!.

Buying a BMW for £25k for a BMW is not a debt, it's a transaction so the dealer, & you, "are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes".

charlie555 wrote: »

that as long as the coins you use to pay in Tesco or Morrisons constitute legal tender the supermarket should not refuse to accept them. In fact they are often glad of the change.

You are mistaken, it is a transaction not a debt. If you were paying for, eg, a restaurant bill (after eating) or a haircut they could not refuse legal tender because a debt has been inured.

From the Bank of England:
"Whether or not notes have legal tender status, their acceptability as a means of payment is essentially a matter for agreement between the parties involved. Legal tender has a very narrow technical meaning in relation to the settlement of debt. If a debtor pays in legal tender the exact amount he owes under the terms of a contract, he has good defence in law if he is subsequently sued for non-payment of the debt. In ordinary everyday transactions, the term ‘legal tender’ has very little practical application."
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/about/faqs.htm#15
I grant you that's talking about notes but I feel safe assuming it applies to coins that are legal tender as well

darich

charlie555 wrote: »

Yes they do charge a fee, so avoid!

Why???

I've regularly saved hundreds of pounds in coins - enough to pay my car insurance on one occasion. My bank (Nationwide) will not accept any more than 5 bags per day per customer. That, added to it being around 7miles away makes it inconvenient if not impossible to make to make numerous trips to that branch.
Finally it would take me hours to sort and count the hundreds or thousands of coins i have and bag them. Incidentally I'd need to visit the branch without coins to get bags in the first place!

For the above reasons and because I value my time more than 8% charge, I'm happy to pay them their charge and save me lots of time, hassle and expense!

charlie555

Andy_L wrote: »

Buying a BMW for £25k for a BMW is not a debt, it's a transaction so the dealer, & you, "are free to agree to accept any form of payment whether legal tender or otherwise according to their wishes".

You are mistaken, it is a transaction not a debt. If you were paying for, eg, a restaurant bill (after eating) or a haircut they could not refuse legal tender because a debt has been inured.

Andy,

Thank you. You are perfectly correct. There is a difference between a transaction and a debt which I had not appreciated.

"Legal tender is money that must be allowed in settlement of a debt. A purchase is not a debt, but an exchange of goods and/or services for a cash equivalent sum."

So you don't have the right to pay for your BMW in coins after all. But if you drive away without paying and get taken to court by the dealer you would have the right to pay at that time in pound coins. Also if you have a haircut you incur a debt and have the right to pay in any legal tender and, it seems, if a shop gives you credit you thereby incur a debt for which legal tender should be accepted. So if the BMW dealer says you can pay tomorrow I guess you can then use your stash of £1 coins to settle the debt.

Anyway, I've always found Morrisons happy to accept a handful of coins.

tessie_bear

i read somewhere that hsbc are having coinstores in some branches so u might be able to use them

frasersmum123

That would be great so I hope its true!

MoreThanGold

My local Post Office changes bags of coins. I've went in with 15 - 20 bags at the one time and had no problems.

charlie555

tegvic wrote: »

Has anyone got any good ways of spending lots of change - its wasted money lying around my house.

Simon

Take-aways are usually very happy to take change from you. At my local Chinese takeaway while waiting I make neat piles of coins: some £1 coins plus stacks of 20p, 10p, etc coins each pile one pound high, with the odds in copper coins. A lot of their customers pay with notes and the take-away is very happy to have the change.

lilac_lady

If you have LOTS of small coins, I'd make it a project to get rid of them when shopping, over a specified period of time. 6 -12 months, depending on the amount. If you have presents for children to buy, why not give them a piggy bank each, half full of coins? It would encourage them to save up for something or have a spending spree themselves. It it's a ton of coins, I'd use the Coinstar machines. Saves a lot of hassle.