MSE Poll: Should 1p and 2p pieces be ditched?

Former_MSE_Karl

Poll started 30 April 2019

A year ago, the Chancellor called 1p and 2p coins obsolete. This week, he'll announce his decision on whether to scrap them (it's expected he won't).

The likes of Australia, Canada and Sweden have already ditched their copper equivalents, so should the UK follow suit?

Click here to vote in the poll

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below.

If you haven't already, join the forum to reply.

Thanks!

LadyDee

Not surprised at all - the young generally have very little idea of the value of money (saw a post on here today when a debt of £2.5k was dismissed as being nothing) - and the Chancellor doesn't need to count the pennies in his own pocket. We older ones do.

One-Eye

I think many people leave their small change in a charity collection jar at the counter. Charities might suffer a little bit if copper is withdrawn.

facade

Won't prices go down?


Instead of conning us that prices are less than they actually are by ending in 99p they would have to end in 95p.

Ectophile

When I was young, you could actually buy something for a penny (sweets, mostly).


Now, they are just pointless. I have a big jar of them, that never get used for anything. Any pennies or tuppences I get now just go into charity tins.


According to this BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43388662 six out of every ten pennies or tuppences are only ever used once. They get shoved into jars, or just thrown away. The Royal Mint has to make another 500 million of them every year to replace the ones that have just dropped out of circulation.



I rarely even use 5p coins now.

wooried

I've been to Oz. Prices are still x.99 in supermarkets, they get added up at the till, then rounded.
In last week's poll we showed that we'll mostly pay electronically in future, so shops won't even need to round the final bill.
However, it appears that the Tory support Base (over 65, average member 72) won't like it, so don't hold your breath.
BTW I'm 70, hate the little things and nearly always pay electronically.

203846930

They should wait until all the old people have died before they stop issuing the coins.

Anyone that throws any coin away on purpose should be shot.

unforeseen

How about outlawing 0.9p or 0.7p on the price of fuel? What is the point apart from Asda being able to claim their fuel is cheaper than Tesco because the charge x.7p per litre instead of x.9p

MinnieCooper55

I always put my 1p and 2p change in charity pots. I think they would lose out if people couldn’t do that.

MinnieCooper55

One-Eye wrote: »

I think many people leave their small change in a charity collection jar at the counter. Charities might suffer a little bit if copper is withdrawn.

Totally agree. :T

NOWSE

I say ditch the 1p but keep the 2p. That way we could still price things at the amounts that we do now, except for something costing either 1p or 3p, by combining 2ps with 5ps.