No new 1p or 2p coins produced last year - MSE News

Former_MSE_Naomi

For the first time in decades, the Royal Mint didn't produce any new 1p or 2p coins in 2018...

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'No new 1p or 2p coins produced last year'

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surreysaver

I suppose technically the headline is correct, as there are more than one decade when no 1p or 2p coins were produced. But the 90s and the 00s were only two decades.

TheShape

Just get rid of them. I can't see any reason for the resources being spent on producing them.

MisterMotivated

I don't think we should get rid of them altogether, but would be happy with getting rid of 2p coins, as at least we could still make coins add up to any value.

spenderdave

I thought there were quite enough of these coins in existence without having to produce more of them. Not THAT many of them get lost and they should last for ever. I imagine with the new indestructable new five pound notes they will be saying next year they have not produced any of them either. Definitely non story.

bsms1147

spenderdave wrote: »

I thought there were quite enough of these coins in existence without having to produce more of them. Not THAT many of them get lost and they should last for ever. I imagine with the new indestructable new five pound notes they will be saying next year they have not produced any of them either. Definitely non story.

Surveys have suggested six in 10 of UK 1p and 2p coins are only used once before being put in a jar or discarded, while one in 12 is thrown into a bin.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48133093

Flobberchops

It's a non-story, timed to sound like it's related to last year's debate on whether to scrap circulating coppers. It's actually completely unrelated; the mundane truth is that mintage is controlled by the Treasury based on demand from cash centres, and for the exact same reason barely any 10ps and no £2 coins are being circulated this year.

The question of whether we *need* coppers is a different kettle of fish entirely. I personally feel leery about the prospect of having a system of currency which is based on 100 subdivisions of the Pound, but no physical coin to represent that. It's far from uncharted territory though as many other currencies have successfully demonetised smaller denominations, including Canada, New Zealand, and several Scandinavian and Eurozone countries (USA stubbornly refuses to reform its currency, true to form).

I find the claim that most copper coins are only spent once, a difficult one to swallow. It boggles my mind that people would throw good money in the bin, but apparently that happens. Still, any pennies and other small denominations that are consigned to piggy banks or charity pots will eventually be deposited and re-enter the cash cycle, no? It could be used as an argument for not requiring *as much* circulating copper coinage, but as long as people use cash and receive exact change, they will be necessary.

eskbanker

Another factor is likely to be the ever-decreasing use of cash (halving since 2012/13), as cards become the payment method of choice, as reported by UK Finance last year:

deadendwaterfall

I think that the new minimum value of a coin should be 10p.

MisterMotivated

deadendwaterfall wrote: »

I think that the new minimum value of a coin should be 10p.

Why? And how do you propose making payment or giving change for any transaction where the total amount ends with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 pence?

masonic

MisterMotivated wrote: »

Why? And how do you propose making payment or giving change for any transaction where the total amount ends with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 pence?

How do we currently deal with fractions of a penny?