Cityvisitor blog

Say goodbye to the coppers?

The Bank of England says getting rid of 1p and 2p coins wouldn’t affect the economy.

I don’t know about you but I have to say I agree with them to an extent. I can’t remember the last time I ever used a 1p or 2p coin to help me purchase an item. It irritates me when I see a price at £9.99. I understand the principle of psychological pricing, but why not charge £9.95? All they do is clog up your wallet or the tills of your business and you can’t even buy anything for a penny these days.

With contactless payments becoming ever more prevalent as well, some people reckon we can do away with cash altogether. I am not an advocate of this kind of thinking and I think there will always be a need for some sort of paper cash. But inflation over the year has pretty much rendered coppers redundant.

I remember when you could buy sweets when they really were penny sweets. I would imagine some people may hold some sort of nostalgia over the 1p and 2p coins and I would imagine this would operate on a sliding scale – the older you are the more you’ll remember being able to afford to buy things for a penny.

The Royal Mint is producing millions fewer copper coins as well, which is another indication that they’re on the way out.

One of the industries I can think this may affect however are amusement parks on our beloved coasts up and down the country. People will be a lot more reticent to gamble 5p or 10p for simple machines.

Another factor that has just popped to mind is the charity sector. I can’t think of the number of times I have given my 1p and 2p coins to charity when I’ve been to KFC or any other shop. Charities could be hit massively if people are keeping more of a hold on their change.

That gives you a couple of very good reasons why they should maybe be kept actually, although speaking purely selfishly, I say get rid of the coppers (1ps and 2ps I’m talking about here, not police officers!)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/22/bank-report-reopens-debate-on-scrapping-1p-and-2p-coins

 

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