Britain in consultation to drop the 1 and 2 penny coin
The British government has made public its plans to abolish the one and two penny coin and £50 note as the UK moves a step closer to a cashless society. Due to inflation, the 1p coin is now worth less than the half penny coin or ha'penny was when it was abolished in 1984.
The cost of producing these low value coins is outweighing the demand as the British public tends to use a 1 or 2 penny coin only once before sticking it in a whisky jar or down the back of the sofa to collect dust. This coupled with the fact that more and more people are paying with debit cards means that the UK will look to follow Australia, Brazil and Sweden's lead in scrapping low value coins. It costs the Royal Mint £500 Million per year to mint these new coins and take older coins out of circulation - a cost which isn't worth bearing when they are of little benefit to the economy. The government argues that the £50 Sterling note is used more of a store of value than a well used denomination and so have put the note on notice.
Personally, I don't think the one and two penny coin will be missed, as people more often than not threw them in the bin rather than risked holing the pockets in their jeans or trousers!!! One more disturbing aspect though is Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney suggesting that Crypto needs regulating, but that the Central bankers recognise the value of blockchain technology and not to rule out the Bank of England bringing out a Central Bank issued cryptocurrency in the near future. For good or bad, the move towards a cashless society gathers pace. Watch this space!
I can see a cashless society coming, heard about possible scrapping of 1p and 2p coins in the news on two days ago. Of course, it will all be a bit tough for our elderly people to get used to the new regime of paying things only by card, not to mention using crypto currencies.
Hi @hghartoflife. I can see why they want to do away with the 1p and 2p because they are no longer economically viable. I make you right about cryptocurrencies being difficult for the elderly. For example: your average 50 to 70 year old would be able to use Facebook but I doubt they'd be able to get their head round how Steemit works, as well as using the wallet, powering up, exchanging Steem for Steem Power through Steem Connect and blocktrades etc It's this sort of thing that is not helping everyone get in on cryptocurrency. It needs simplifying and making more user friendly and easier to understand if it is to secure mainstream adoption by the masses. Thanks for your comment.