How will the new £1 coin affect your lockers?

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28th March 2017 is just around the corner and if you haven’t already, you need to ensure your coin lockers are ready for the new £1!

The change will affect those businesses using coin retain or coin return lockers. The old coin lockers are not designed to accept the new £1 and this could have an impact on your business.

Preparing for the new coin

From 28th March –15th October 2017 there will be a co-circulation period where both coins will be accepted. During this time a business can accept both coins; if your lockers only accept the old coin, you will have to notify customers of this.

From 16th October Coin Lockon wards all businesses coin handling equipment should be able to accept the new £1 coin. All lockers will have to be updated by this date.

As a customer, the old pound coin can still be deposited into your personal bank account after October 16th, but businesses do not have to accept the old coin and should not be distributing this back to customers.

How can we help?

Replacing the locks

Many of the coin locks currently fitted to your lockers can simply be replaced, rather than purchasing new locker units. If you would just like the locks replaced, we will need to check who manufactured your current lockers to ensure the locks we supply are compatible.

Please give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to help you.

Replacing your lockers

If your lockers need upgrading along with the locks, now may be the perfect time to invest in some new units. We offer lockers for all environments and everything can be fitted with coin return/retain locks as requested (excluding the Manutan lockers) :

Browse our wider range of lockers here or contact our sales team if you require different locks.

New pound coin 2017
Source: thisismoney.co.uk

You might also want to consider a different lock option altogether, depending on your business it may be more convenient to move to a hasp, cylinder or transponder locking system.

If you’re not sure which locking system is right for you, contact our friendly team who will talk you through your options.

Why is the pound coin changing?

The current coin has been in circulation since 1983 and has become susceptible to counterfeiting. The new £1 coin will have additional a ‘high security’ feature which will make it hard for fakes to be made.

The new coin is 12-sided, thinner and lighter than the current version and is a little more like the current £2 coin. It will feature a new design combining the English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh leek and Northern Irish shamrock.

What can you do with your old pound coins?

If you haven’t spent them all by October 2017 you can try and get them changed in post office or deposit them into your bank. Make sure you keep an eye out for the ‘Edinburgh’  ‘Cardiff’ or ‘Thistle’ pound coins as these fetch a more than £1 on EBay!

Victoria Vaughan