What the hell is the point of coppers?

[CoughLaughFart]

No, it's not an anti-police thread - I'm talking about the useless low value coins that clutter up the house/my bag/the universe.

I've just bagged up tons of the bloody things to take to the Coinstar at Sainsbury's, and I can't remember the last time that that wasn't what I did with them. Does anyone actually pay for things with them? They cost more to produce than they're worth, I don't know anyone who actually uses them - what's the point?

I know some people worry it would drive prices up, but even if you bought 100 items that used to cost £1.72 and now cost £1.75, you've still only spent an extra £3. I'd be a damn sight more worried about how a post-Brexit pound slump will affect things.

Who agrees with me that it's time to consign coppers to history?

I love having the exact amount of change to pay for something but I expect it pisses off the cashier especially as I put the coins in order of size in my hand to give to them.

Nope; cashiers love change. Especially so when they're organised so we can just put them straight into the correct boxes in the till.

The only thing that pisses us off about change is when people don't have it ready and stand at the counter slowly counting it out, while there is a queue behind them that they seem oblivious to getting bigger and bigger.

i hate the fiddly 5p coins. i like the 1ps and the 2 ps, i put them in the self service machines.

why shoudl shops round up? why should we lose money.
i remember when they ditched the half p, rounded evrything up to the nearest penny. who profited,? not the customers

My DH bought me a coin sorter. All the change goes in it. £2, £1 and 50ps don't stay in long! The rest gets bagged up (and weighed now as I wrote the weights down....as it saves counting them every time.)
I trudge off to the bank a couple of times a year with a heavy bag and deposit in my account.
I almost never use anything lower than a 20p to pay for anything.
Prob should be phased out but I'd miss them.

My best friends Dad used to bin them. I dread to think how much he literally threw away over the years

I heard that £1.99 means that the cashier has to open the till to give you a penny. If it was £2 they could smile, say thank you and then pop it in their pocket as you walked away.

There's too many problems with this. First of all, £1.99 is done because it's psychological pacing.

Second, too many voids flags up, so if they were ringing it through the till but then pocketing the money and voiding after, it would flag up.

Third, the majority of cashiers are either not allowed pockets or if they are, pocket searches are taken place at the end of each shift.

Lastly, majority of shops have CCTV so this wouldn't be possible without being seen.

It's simply not true.

i never had my pocket searched i dont believe it

I always spend my small change. I don't pay for things with a load of coins, but I always try to give 'the right money' using change. Cashiers/checkouts usually appreciate it, if say, the total is £9.05 and you give them £10.05 and they give you a pound back.
Twice I've been in the bank recently and the person in front has been a small business owner taking out £200-300 of coins to top up their tills.

Norma - in Australia they round up OR down, depending.
So if your bill = $19.78, you'd pay $19.80, whereas if it was $19.77, you'd pay $19.75 (cash, obviously. If card then you pay the exact amount).

Yes Norma they round up and down so it all evens out. We gain in some transactions, they gain in others

Yabu.

How am I meant to avoid spending £££ at the amusement arcades we go to once a summer, if I can't get away with filling the dc's pockets full of coppers for the 2p machines?

We save all our change and take it once a year to the bank. It's usually around five or six hundred quid. Mad really but very satisfying.

Yeah, they do seem a bit useless. But I think there are still items where a few pennies matters in percentage terms. Suppose a supermarket drops an item from £1.99 to £1.95, that's a 2% loss in revenue, well supermarket profit margins are usually only about 1 or 2 percent. Whereas if they increase the price to £2 they lose the 'psychological pricing' advantage.

And yes there's the rounding option for people paying cash, but I'm a bit sceptical, it's worked for Australia but I reckon it might struggle to become accepted in Britain.

What's the current price of copper? Are they worth more if you melt them down and sell it to a scrap yard?

Oh yes it's illigal but doesn't mean people won't do it

We drill holes through our coppers(also illegal- defacing currency) and use them as washers. Because they tend to be stronger and better quality than copper washers you have to buy from B&Q and are loads cheaper also(costing 1-2 pence... clearly).

AztecHero

Great idea

tiggy they cost more to produce than they are worth

This is insane! So, in Aztec's example - you could go into a DIY store and hand over a bunch of copper (coins) in exchange for less copper (washers).

I use them. i'm too poor not to use them!

followign this thread i have just been shopping and instead of totally paying by card, i used up my coppers and the nasty nasty 5 ps, before paying the rest by card

I give the coppers to DC to put into the self checkout at the supermarket. They love it. Also like the charity collection pots with the whisky patterns. Perfect for small change

I love coopers I get about £200 a year from our jar I save 20p's and less value coins with the odd 50p but the 50p's are for when the ice-cream van comes and I have no cash on me. I bag it up to take to the bank 4 times a year and the kids get the money to spend on stuff.

I may still holes through some as washers now AztecHero

i never had my pocket searched shock i dont believe it

I've worked in lots of different retail shops and all but one did pocket searches. My current one doesn't simply because we aren't allowed pockets.