New £5 note launched on Tuesday 13th September

[john]

Felt one today and its a bit weird, cash machines in Liverpool Street have them now apparently

[rad]

My colleague withdraw from cash points yesterday... to get them all in sequence order.

 

If you get an AA01 ****** note, they are worth handing onto/selling for collectors!

[googlemad]

How much advance notice do they give cash handling equipment people so they can prepare their equipment? They'll have to accomodate the new notes (I assume it'll also cover the new plastic £10 / £20 though) and then the new shape £1 coins coming out soon too at quite an expense, the irony being more and more people now using contactless technology instead of cash anyway! (Many self service tills at supermarkets don't support that yet either!)

[SpuffMonkey]

I think we should have a "review" of currency - drop all the smaller coinage - its next to worthless and takes up pocket room, maybe start with a 10p pieve as the smallest and then reduce the smaller notes to coins. When decimalisation was introduced and the largest coin was a 50p - it would buy about 4 pints of beer - so nowadays for a similar value - you'd be looking at a £10 coin (and some!)

[Garacesh]

Would that really solve anything though? Removing anything lower than 10p would just make everything cost £9.90, not £9.99, and you'd end up with lots of 10p's instead of 1's and 2's. Okay, you'd only need 10 'leftover coins' to make a reasonable amount (rather than 50-100) but functionally would it be much different?

 

Then again, Canada have taken their smallest coin out of circulation (is it a penny over there? I think so.. But I'm not certain.) and it seems to be working out OK for them.. So maybe you're right.

[elsiegee40]

Over the years, the farthing became redundant and then the halfpenny. It's only a matter of time before the penny does too.

 

In Europe there are 1 and 2 cent coins, but they're miniscule and pretty much useless.

[DJ-1701]

I say bring back the Hap'ney and Thrup'ney bit!

 

Went to the local Co-op today and the guy in front of me asked if the had any new £5 notes. Unfortunately they did not, but it's only a week after they have been released. I have half a mind (well we all know that ) when I get one to pull the leg of the cashier by saying "Really?! These counterfeits are getting worse...".

[Pyroman]

Got one this morning from the co-op. They're like monopoly money, are they a bit smaller than the old fiver?

[korifugi]

Got one this morning from the co-op. They're like monopoly money, are they a bit smaller than the old fiver?

 

Yes - a few mm all the way round.

 

I do wish that everyone would stop trying to tear mine in half though - they're tear resistant, not tear proof.

[FN-GM]

I can't help but wonder why they didn't reintroduce the £1 note now they can use plastic. They got rid of them because of the wear and tear, now this won't be as much an issue anymore with plastic notes. If you had £1,000 worth of £1 coins compared to notes they take more room to store and much heavier to transport.

[Garacesh]

Got some new fivers today. They do certainly feel peculiar, but overall I like them.

 

I can't help but wonder why they didn't reintroduce the £1 note now they can use plastic. They got rid of them because of the wear and tear, now this won't be as much an issue anymore with plastic notes. If you had £1,000 worth of £1 coins compared to notes they take more room to store and much heavier to transport.

Probably because anybody that wants £1000 in notes wants it in twenties

For a denomination as low as a pound, I think coins are sufficient personally. Carrying £4 in my wallet isn't a bother.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Garacesh

[korifugi]

Probably because anybody that wants £1000 in notes wants it in twenties

 

Only so they can count notes off the roll and feel like a Mafia Don.

[FN-GM]

Probably because anybody that wants £1000 in notes wants it in twenties

For a denomination as low as a pound, I think coins are sufficient personally. Carrying £4 in my wallet isn't a bother.

 

I didn't mean individuals. Shops, banks etc will have that amount.

[Garacesh]

I didn't mean individuals. Shops, banks etc will have that amount.

 

Yeah, fair point actually. Didn't think of that.

Perhaps it's not due to the weight, but the space required to store them? You can fit a lot more pennies in a till than you can notes.

 

Edit: @korifugi

Hand to hand over around £1,500 in cash when I signed the tenancy for my current house (A month's rent deposit, a month's rent in advance, plus letting agent fees.).. I have to admit it did feel spectacular to have that kind of wad in my hand

Edited September 22, 2016 by Garacesh

[FN-GM]

Yeah, fair point actually. Didn't think of that.

Perhaps it's not due to the weight, but the space required to store them? You can fit a lot more pennies in a till than you can notes.

 

You will be able to fit more notes than £1 coins. Plastic notes take a fraction of the space the old ones do. They are thinner and don't crumple. When I was in Australia it felt like my wallet was aways empty

[korifugi]

When I was in Australia it felt like my wallet was aways empty

 

I don't need to be in Australia (or be using plastic banknotes) for that - I just thought it was the economy going to pot.

[Garacesh]

Realistically, I figure it's more likely to be a combination of "Effort, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."* and the massive infrastructure overhaul required to change it. It does make sense that if they were going to do it, they could do it now, but there's still the £10 and the £20 to redesign, so there's still time.

 

* Different people have different opinions of if it's broke or not, so they'll be arguing about that til the cows come home.

[FN-GM]

and the massive infrastructure overhaul required to change it.

 

That will be happening anyway with the new £1 coin, £5 & £10 notes.

[Garacesh]

That will be happening anyway with the new £1 coin, £5 & £10 notes.

 

I know. See the sentence I wrote directly after that one

[elsiegee40]

Speaking as a former employee of Woolworth's - record counter doncha know - coins are much easier in tills.

 

Used notes are not completely flat and when it's busy it's hard to keep them under control.

 

I wouldn't welcome the return of the £1 note. I can shove a pound coin in my pocket and know it's there

[googlemad]

Talking of tills isn't that the reason the penny still exists, so you can end your items in £x.99 rather than a round number so the cashier has to process the transaction through the till for your penny change rather than the risk of the cashier just pocketing the dosh?

[DJ-1701]

Talking of tills isn't that the reason the penny still exists, so you can end your items in £x.99 rather than a round number so the cashier has to process the transaction through the till for your penny change rather than the risk of the cashier just pocketing the dosh?

 

Na, you are thinking of security cameras.

[Arthur]

so you can end your items in £x.99 rather than a round number so the cashier has to process the transaction through the till for your penny change rather than the risk of the cashier just pocketing the dosh?

Why would prices ending in round numbers not go through the till?

 

If I bought a tin of sweets that cost £5.00 surely that would still go through?

[Arthur]

Breaking news...

 

'I sold three new fivers for £460' on eBay

 

A collector who sold three new plastic £5 notes for £460 on the Ebay internet auction site says he will reinvest the money in his hobby.

 

Alan Scrase said finding the polymer fivers with consecutive AA01 serial numbers was "the luck of the draw".

 

The 52-year-old struck the jackpot after visiting a bank branch shortly after a delivery of new fivers - on the day after the launch date.

 

He had failed to get any of collector value on the first day of issue.

 

"I did not get them on 13 September - the first day - but it was just by sheer chance that I went to the bank the next day and they had just got them in," he said.

 

"You just go in your bank and ask for them. I got a few."

[Garacesh]

Why would prices ending in round numbers not go through the till?

 

If I bought a tin of sweets that cost £5.00 surely that would still go through?

 

The idea of making things cost £x.99 means the vast majority of people pay with £(x+1). Tills cannot open unless a transaction is authorised, therefore the checkout clerk must authorise the transaction in order to open the till in order to give you your penny change. Ergo, every transaction goes through the till and is logged.

 

If somethings costs £x, and I pay with £x, the checkout clerk can simply void the transaction and pocket the money, as they aren't required to open the till to give me change.

 

Of course, this is a little bit outdated with the concept of receipts, but most people don't care for them, so I figure it still sticks around to be safe.