Penny pitching: Your eight uses for 1p and 2p cash

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The Future of 1p and 2p cash could also be doubtful – but it surely seems their use is going approach past merely procuring issues.

Treasury officers are trying to find views on the future mixture of UK notes and coins as we more and more move against virtual and cell payments.

It conjures up the image of people throwing their smartphones, in place of coppers, into a fountain for good luck – although Downing Side Road has subsidized clear of a plan to scrap copper coins.

According to BBC News readers, audience and listeners there are many other uses for those cash, from house improvements to baking. here’s a selection.

1. Tulip fever

Many flower sellers and enthusiasts swear by the use of pennies in a vase to keep them from drooping.

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Reader Chris Stone says: “The query the federal government must in reality be asking is that if they end copper cash, what’s going to we put in our vases with tulips? is that this a part of their option to limit enlargement?”

they are saying the copper is very important, and it is not likely they’d want to dunk a fiver within the vase – despite the fact that the brand new polymer banknotes are waterproof.

2. Language matters

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From lovely penny to penny-sensible, there are dozens of phrases within the English language through which pennies play a part.

A number of people have stated this is a part of British culture.

If they are changed by means of virtual payments, will the language grow to be less sublime?

“A crypto-forex to your feelings” is not poetic.

THREE. Penny screws

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More Than A Few uses had been discovered for pennies amongst DIY enthusiasts.

Some have used thousands of pennies as floor or to tile walls, although it takes quite somewhat of patience and glue to achieve the required impact.

Others have found more effective makes use of.

On Twitter, DogKick says they are “nice as a standby screwdriver for slot-headed screws”.

4. Child’s play

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Lecturers swear by way of cash while it comes to helping children discover ways to depend and upload up. it’s easiest to begin with ones and twos, and considerably more challenging in the event that they may just simplest use fives and tens.

BBC News website readers have also expressed their issues over the future of video games the usage of pennies.

Paul Watts says: “I store 2p cash during the yr and my family use them to play the cardboard game Newmarket at Christmas.

“there may be so much of pleasure in everybody’s faces when the kitty builds up. but if it’s gained it, most effective quantities to around £2.40, but then it hasn’t cost somebody so much of cash if they lose!

“Consider no 2p coins and having to play with 5p coins. that will then be probably a pricey card game at Christmas -except you received.”

Others have spoken of switching coins to play the game variously referred to as penny up, or penny up the wall, or penny pitching – the place players attempt to rebound their cash onto the coins in their combatants.

5. Beach leisure

The recreational topic maintains with an attraction from one reader over the future of a standard game in the UNITED KINGDOM’s amusement arcades.

“Snooker Bob”, from Aylesbury, writes: “We Adore the 2p coin and keep them up annually for our go back and forth to the seaside. Those would not be the same and not using a discuss with to the arcades with their ‘penny falls’.

“a couple of pounds of these cash can provide pleasure to adults and youngsters alike. what’s the other? Five pence pieces are too small and 10 pence coins too pricey. Please don’t take this pleasure away and in addition jeopardise the jobs of those who paintings in them.”

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John White, chief government of the entertainment industry industry frame Bacta, is of the same opinion, announcing that other coins wouldn’t work in these machines.

“Generations of British families understand and love them. this will destroy the product and a number of seashore arcades in the UNITED KINGDOM,” he says.

there may be every other geographical concern, expressed by means of Linda Wooldridge on Twitter.

“Towns can paintings with contactless cards, rural and village shops not so – they paintings on real money,” she says.

6. Self-provider revenge

The phrase “sudden item in the bagging house” remains one in every of the most traumatic within the English language.

So, to get their revenge, or simply for good money control, many shoppers use their inventory of pennies to pay at a grocery store self-service checkout machine.

Mariama on Twitter says: “I only ever use the self-carrier checkout.”

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Others concern concerning the impact on costs.

BBC News website reader Denise Ellis says: “I Would be sorry to see the 1p and 2p go – it could be yet one more signal of inflation if all prices had been rounded as much as the nearest 5p or 10p. Having stated that regardless that, the pricing of a number of things at £x.99 is stressful.”

David Barber, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire. says: “We must not get rid of 1p and 2p cash. It can be another kick in enamel for the ones in our united states of america who have little or no source of revenue, be it pension or benefits. Price increases would want to be a minimum of 5p if there are not any lower denomination cash.”

But Gillian Crawley, from Kingswood in Surrey, says: “In Fact 1p and 2p cash must be discontinued – they are now unnecessary, crush purses and wallet, and their loss might discourage the ridiculous dependancy of pricing such a lot issues at, for example, £2.99 in place of £3. That fools nobody and has been occurring for much too lengthy.”

Mike Cherry, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, says: “It is very important for a correct impact overview to be carried out prior to any actions which might prohibit the provision of 1p and 2p coins.

“Even As rising numbers of transactions are paid for electronically, cash remains to be an essential part of the combination for many small businesses. A store wanting to fee 99p should have the option handy a penny modification to a purchaser who can pay with a £1 coin.”

7. Higher baking

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Sarah Fox, on Twitter, says pennies are “excellent for blind baking”.

BBC Just Right Meals explains that that is the method of pre-cooking a pastry base – a sure-hearth strategy to steer clear of the feared soggy bottom.

Apparently, the unbaked pie crust is covered with scrunched-up parchment, which is able to then be weighed down with pennies.

8. Charity donations

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Many readers have been considering the possible loss for charities, as many pop coins in a jar and donate when the jar is full.

Thomas says: “how many other folks also deposit this ‘shrapnel’ into charity tins and if we withdrew the coins, how so much could income could they lose?”

Andy, from Marlow, says: “I placed all my 1p and 2p items in charity jars. it is not so much, however everybody doing it would definitely make a distinction.”

Charities do face the cost of processing cash, so could no doubt desire donations by way of direct debit or in bigger denominations. The question is, whether this would make up for the money lost if there were no coppers to donate?