Retailers need to prepare for real work of currency switch
After introduction of new £5 polymer note and 12-sided £1 coin, businesses have to be ready for phasing out old currency or face confused consumers.
In the wake of the successful introduction of the new £5 polymer note last year, businesses now face the most complex part of the biggest upheaval of UK currency in decades, says Cummins Allison, the leading innovator and provider of coin and currency processing solutions. While the new one pound coin was introduced smoothly earlier this year, the greater challenge to retailers and consumers alike will be the withdrawal of the old pound coins on October 15th. While part of a dramatic strategy for improving the UK’s counterfeit resilience, the withdrawal has significant potential to confuse consumers, who may be left with large amounts of out-of-date currency if they aren’t given the right advice.
“Confused consumers are an open opportunity for counterfeiters: the harder it is for consumers to recognise legitimate currency, or to know what will be accepted at any particular time, the easier it will be for counterfeiters to pass off their own efforts as real and disseminate them among the population,” said Andrew Crowson, managing director of Cummins Allison UK. Avoiding this means more than relying on natural churn, such as consumers spending or paying in their cash, to remove currency from circulation. Instead, consumers need to be encouraged to exchange their old for new. Businesses need to ensure that they are training their staff to inform customers on the upcoming expiry dates”. One way of using up old coins, before October, is via the Money Machine 2 from Cummins Allison. The Money Machine 2 is a self-service coin machine which converts loose change and coins into cash. These are located across the country in certain Tesco, Morrisons and independent grocery stores.
There are currently 1.671 billion one pound coins in circulation , with approximately 2.55% of these being counterfeit . The new coin’s 12-sided shape, milled edges and many other high security features are designed to make it the most secure coin in the world and greatly reduce the amount of fake coins in circulation. Along with the new polymer ten and twenty pound notes, due to be introduced in September this year and by 2020 respectively, the new coins will reduce the risk of counterfeiting and extend the lifespan of the UK’s physical currency.
To combat counterfeiters and maintain public confidence in their countries’ currency, treasury departments around the world are issuing new series of banknotes and coins on a more frequent basis, so these changes are not just affecting the UK. With any change in currency design, businesses that handle cash must prepare and plan. That includes awareness of the new changes—what to look for—as well as an understanding of how these changes may impact cash handling and processing equipment. Cummins Allison’s extensive JetSort® range of coin counting and sorting machines can process both the old, round £1 coin and the new coin, so you can increase efficiency and accuracy whilst the two coins are in circulation together. Likewise, the JetScan® range of note counting and sorting machines can process both paper and polymer notes.
Ensuring that staff are trained to both recognise new currency and help customers understand the differences, and that machines designed to accept cash are updated to recognise the different properties of the new currency, will keep businesses operating in an economy where cash is still king, accounting for 45 percent of all payments.
“With the new pound coin, we have entered the most serious phase of the roll-out of new currency: from here, the process becomes more complex and there are more variables in play,” continued Crowson. “If businesses have the staff, the skills and the technology to help themselves and consumers deal with the switch, then the economy will quickly see the new benefits that this new currency can bring, from reduced counterfeits to a longer lifetime for cash. They will also reduce the chance of consumers becoming confused and disgruntled with the process, and prevent themselves being the target of misplaced anger from any members of the public who find out in the autumn that their collected currency has been removed from circulation.”
Whatever the currency sorting and counting requirements of your business, Cummins Allison can provide a fast, accurate and reliable solution combined with excellent customer service and support.
Change doesn’t have to be hard – contact Cummins Allison today.
Visit www.cumminsallison.co.uk
Call us on 0800 0186484
e-mail sales@cummins-allison.co.uk
