How The New £1 Coin Affected Coin Counting Scales
Updated: April 2021
Since the changes to the £1 coin in March 2017 and its removal from circulation in October 2017, many businesses have had to change equipment to be compatible with the 12-sided £1 coin.
Whilst there appears to be no further changes to UK currency at this time, it is vital for businesses to be aware of how using an adaptable coin counting scale can help your business prepare for changes yet to come.
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How the new £1 Coin affected businesses
Businesses that owned a coin counting scale were already familiar with the benefits though convenience and the scales ability to detect counterfeit coins as well as stolen or otherwise missing coins. However, most coin counting scales at the time were pre-configured by weight and could not be changed manually due to initial hard-wiring. This effectively rendered these machines un-useable for counting, as the new £1 coin is lighter than the old £1 coin and would not register within the counting machine.
Several problems that occurred in retail stores or businesses without a re-configured counting scales:
- Firstly, time management would have become a concern, the business would have needed to have dedicated more staff time to counting new currency outside usual working hours. This would have potentially resulted in further setbacks on the shop floor and negative staff morale.
- Secondly, in line with the first point, employment costs would have increased as employers would either have needed to pay staff for the increased time needed to sort the coins into new and old or employed more staff to fill in for other tasks that would have been left unfinished as a result.
- Finally, profit may have been lost through human counting errors as well as through counterfeit currency in circulation.
Whilst these issues may seem troubling for individual businesses working to a tight financial budget, global retail chains would have seen the expansion of these issues over all stores with financial impact.
What was the overall result?
Increased business expense through employment costs and replacement coin counting scales. Decreases in staff morale as tasks would have required them to stay behind or work longer hours to combat this. Increased risk of counterfeit coin circulation within the business, as well as delays whilst a new coin counting scale was ordered, shipped and configured for use.
Why does this matter now?
Whilst the new £1 coin is no longer new, currency denominations are being changed, added or removed all the time. As recently as April 2019, it has been suggested that 1p and 2p coins may be removed due to the rise in contact-less and card payments, which is expected to severely impact amusement arcades and retail stores across the country who will have to adapt to the possible changes. Should the coins be replaced or the design changed (therefore impacting weight), it will once again be necessary to weigh out coins to detect counterfeits and perform tedious till counts.
Businesses that rely on small change denominations such as arcades, retail stores and currency exchanges need to be prepared for the ever-changing currency landscape, and buying a coin counting scale or coin sorter now is a great way to streamline manual counting procedures when the time comes.
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