2p and £2 coin production suspended for ten years (2020) | Hacker News Reader

2p and £2 coin production suspended for ten years (2020)

accountingweb.co.uk

10 pointsmpsq11 comments

The interesting part for me was this:

> According to the NAO report, The Bank of England has estimated that 20-24% of UK notes in circulation are in use or being held for cash transactions, with a further 5% (£1-3.5bn) held by households in savings.

> “Little is known about the remainder (approximately £50 billion worth of notes)” said the report. Potential explanations include overseas holdings for transactions or savings and UK holdings of unreported domestic savings or for use in the shadow economy.

So over 70% of UK banknotes are just... missing? Apparently the UK's market for drugs is a bit under £10bn per year (a third of the entire EU, go us!) so it seems black market usage is unlikely to account for the entire £50bn.

https://www.russellwebster.com/carolblack5/

"Missing" seems to imply that they used to, or should, know where they are. It seems unsurprising that they don't have definitive location of most of their currency, it is traded by individuals with little to no tracking other than when it touches a bank.

It seems like all of these numbers are just estimations, so it's more like they can't guess, and get people to confirm, where the rest of these notes are or how they are being "used".

I understand that but they have estimations for known unknowns, this is claiming that the whereabouts of most banknotes are unknown unknowns. That's interesting because it very clearly shows how poorly trackable cash is.

The 2p coin should have gone a long time ago. It’s exactly the same weight as 2 1p coins. It’s huge though.

I also have a big problem with the pound coin... it’s far too heavy.

If anyone has fond memories of the 2p machine in Blackpool, it’s not big enough I say!

I've spent several hours happily playing those with my fiancee over the last few years, and probably still spent about as much as a single round in a pub in London.

Going to zero production for ten years seems foolish. Will they actually be able to turn the machines back on at that point? 1% or 10% would make more sense (unless they’re just planning to permanently discontinue the coins, but can’t publicly admit it)

Is a different machine actually required? Aren't the stamps for the coin separate parts and interchangable with the stamps for other coins?

Perhaps not completely interchangeable, but new coins are introduced often enough (think proof sets rather than new denominations) that it's just a regular day on the job to start producing these coins again.

No, I presume the coining press mentioned here accepts different sizes of blanks and reduction punches:

https://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/making-the-coins...

It seems likely that the cost of refurbishing the machines near the time they turn them back on (if they ever do) is very likely cheaper than maintaining them and running small amounts over 10 years. Even if they don't do production they can inspect and maintain the machines as necessary to ensure the most coat effective approach. Furthermore I would expect that these machines will be used for other coins so it is likely a non-issue anyways.

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