Fake £1 coins?

redvision95

Just wondering if any other small businesses are having issues with fake £1 coins at the moment?
With the food delivery side of the business we take £1 coins all the time and my delivery guys are finding it hard to tell real from fake, especially when they are out in the dark.
Ive just counted up ready to take everything to the bank and out of £300 in £1 coins £14 were fake coins :eek: obviously this means overtime we are making a huge loss.

greenface

bag em and bank em . see if they notice

bris

Banks issue fake £1 coins too, all sealed up. There are literally millions of them in circulation. The banks don't even bother to take them out of circulation.

redvision95

so i shouldnt have issues banking them mixed in with real £1 coins then? Ive been keeping the fake ones in a small jar thinking i wouldnt be able to bank them :rotfl:

Hedgehog99

Agree it's difficult to check in a hurry / in the dark, but some things to look out for:
Hold the coin top & bottom, viewing HMQ, spin it round to the other side and see if the design is still the right way up
Check the lettering round the edge - is it evenly indented?
Are the designs good and detailed quality?

Bank them gradually, mixed in with good 'uns.
If I get one, I spend it with a big business rather than a corner shop etc because I think the BB can take the hit better than I or the corner shop can!

HappyMJ

I wouldn't bother checking £1 coins to see if they are fake or not. I've had plenty in my time and although I know it's illegal to pass them on I do. I'm not taking the loss on it.

Hedgehog99

HappyMJ wrote: »

I wouldn't bother checking £1 coins to see if they are fake or not. I've had plenty in my time and although I know it's illegal to pass them on I do. I'm not taking the loss on it.

I mean if the OP suspects they're coming from one or two customers - they could then refuse them at time of payment rather than get lumbered. If there was a worse-than-usual incidence in a district, banks might get more vigilant.

C_Mababejive

Arent they mostly lead and sprayed up..so just rub the edges..?

paddyrg

Royal Mint themselves estimate 2.5% of £1 coins are fakes, the damage to the economy of everybody suddenly refusing to accept £1 coins is bigger than the current burden.

They have a new £1 coin in the works with a huge number of extra security features, but it's going to mean a lot of reprogramming of vending machines!

londonTiger

i think they're being very pragmatic, it probably costs them 30p to mint a coin so I think they're probably thinking it's pointless taking them out of circulation as the forgers are doing a costly job for them.

Also, it's not nearly as harmful to the economy as £20 notes are.

C_Mababejive

Well i suppose if HM Government can produce as much money as they like then we can all can if we have the skills...