WELL MINTED
If you are going to put money into a parking meter, a
coin-operated telephone, or a vending machine this year it might be worth taking
a magnet with you. No, not to try to defeat the mechanism! But to check if your
coins will work before you put them in
From April new 5p and 10p coins may not work in all slot
machines
From this year all new 5p and 10p coins will be made from
steel rather than the traditional cupro-nickel. The move will save the Treasury
up to £8 million a year as steel is a lot cheaper than the mix of copper and
nickel used previously.
Steel weighs slightly less for the same volume than cupro-nickel.
So to keep the new steel coins the same weight and diameter as the old ones they
have to be slightly thicker – 1.9mm rather than 1.7mm for a 5p. That extra 0.2mm
does not sound much but it will be enough to make many coin slot mechanisms
reject the coin.
Lower value coins, 1p and 2p, changed from bronze to steel
in 1992 and the price of copper has risen so much those older coins are now
worth more for scrap than the face value (though it is illegal to melt them down
or export them).
It will be many years before the metal in older 5p and 10p
coins are worth more than 5p or 10p for their metal. But steel is much cheaper
to buy and lasts longer. A nickel plating will ensure the coins look the same.
The move to steel was announced in the Government’s
spending review in autumn 2010. The change was delayed until the start of this
year, partly to give the vending machine industry longer to make the necessary
changes. The Treasury admits that the costs to the machine operators will
probably be £80 million but could be as high as £124 million.
The new coins are being minted now but the Royal Mint says it will be April before they start appearing in our change and the autumn before they become common. Only then will any problems become apparent. So when you pull a handful of change from your pocket to put in a coin slot machine a quick sort with a magnet will pull out the new steels and leave the old cupro-nickel coins that will definitely work.
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