£2 coins
Posted by: Dungassin on 24 July 2010
Got 2 £2 coins in change this morning. Got me thinking ...
What is the point of the £2 coin? It's bulky, weighs about the same as 2 £1 coins, and a lot of coin operated machines (e.g. Sainsbury's Car Park) are very iffy about accepting them.
I suspect they probably cost more to make than £1 coins as well - after all they are 2 colour.
What is the point of the £2 coin? It's bulky, weighs about the same as 2 £1 coins, and a lot of coin operated machines (e.g. Sainsbury's Car Park) are very iffy about accepting them.
I suspect they probably cost more to make than £1 coins as well - after all they are 2 colour.
quote:Originally posted by Dungassin:
Got 2 £2 coins in change this morning. Got me thinking ...
What is the point of the £2 coin? It's bulky, weighs about the same as 2 £1 coins, and a lot of coin operated machines (e.g. Sainsbury's Car Park) are very iffy about accepting them.
I suspect they probably cost more to make than £1 coins as well - after all they are 2 colour.
About twice as much so i hear.
quote:They were introduced at the specific request of the coin op industry, who wanted a higher denomination coin than the £1 coin for higher value items (cigarettes being a case in point).
The irony was that the first coins due to be released differed in spec from the proof coins struck, and given to the coin op industry, six months ahead of the intended introduction date to allow the industry to recalibrate the machines. As a result, the coins didn't work in the machines! I (in my former capacity as a City solicitor instructed by the UK's largest coin op manufacturer) led discussions with The Royal Mint to have the introductory coins brought back to the original spec. The upshot was that the Mint had to melt down coins with a face value of £20million, and the new coin was introduced almost six months later than planned.
(One semi-serious proposal by my clients, which I never actually put to the Mint, was to issue all the non-compliant coins in Liverpool, so that the natives couldn't get out of the Mersey Tunnel!)
Now that inflation has kicked in even more, the argument for them in cigarette machines has disappeared. They perhaps ought to be looking at replacing their antiquated machines to take notes and give change, now that the price of a packet of 20 seems to be about £5. (I'm a non-smoker, so forgive me if this detail is not quite right)
If they were really introduced for slot machines, how come so many of them don't "like" £2 coins?