The Plastic Fiver

[trainmania100]

I don't like using 50s, I prefer 10s. I can't pay by debit card as the bank account I have is just a saver at the moment

 

[pdeaves]

What does the new polymer note feel like? Is it rather like the paper it replaces? Does it feel like a rectangle cut from a carrier bag?

Thanks

 

[Darandio]

What does the new polymer note feel like? Is it rather like the paper it replaces? Does it feel like a rectangle cut from a carrier bag?

Got one this afternoon, it feels like neither, but it's certainly not flimsy. I'll post again if I can think of anything it compares to.

I do like the window though, the kids are fascinated by looking at me through a note.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Got loads at work - had an entire drawer full earlier. Some seemed rather confused getting it as change.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

Anyone work in any TOC's ticket office? Do you see many passengers paying for tickets with fifties?

Used to get them presented on trains from Manchester Airport, mostly by visitors from the Far East for some reason. Provided I had sufficient change it didn't bother me.

 

[me123]

Anyone work in any TOC's ticket office? Do you see many passengers paying for tickets with fifties?

I used to use them quite frequently for buying season tickets comfortably in the £100+ range, no one thought twice about them. Probably wasn't the only one to do so, but I would expect many people to buy their season tickets on a debit/credit card.

 

[Tetchytyke]

1, a £5 coin does exist already, I saw one a few years ago. But fivers are best as notes.
2, the 1 penny coin is essential, if I'd purchased £10.01 how would I not get ripped off?

There are £5 coins, but they are usually collectors items issued by the Royal Mint. They are valid for the face value, but usually cost more than that to buy.

As for 1p and 2p coins, in Australia the smallest coin is now the 5c coin. In terms of being "ripped off" it works both ways; shops round the price up (i.e. you get no change for something costing $9.99) but it also means you can do the same at the fuel station (i.e. put $10.03 in the tank and only pay $10). It probably balances itself out. The big loser would be charity, I normally chuck the odd pence into the bucket at the till in a shop or cafe.

Polymer notes have an interesting history. They're more expensive to make and the claims about durability are barely substantiated. However the manufacturers of the polymer notes- Innovia and their subsidiary Securency- have a fascinating history of corruption in Australia (where reporting is banned), the Far East and in Africa.

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/l...ption-3fcb23f9-6335-4349-8f19-aa3e6f58612d-ds

http://www.asiasentinel.com/econ-bu...ote-scandal/#frameId=appnext_widget&height=64

I'm sure the decision to switch to plastic notes that nobody wants was made in the goodest of good faith though.

 

[me123]

There are £5 coins, but they are usually collectors items issued by the Royal Mint. They are valid for the face value, but usually cost more than that to buy.

They aren't always accepted though. Whilst the supermarket I worked in had no official policy (I assume that, since they are legal currency, we should accept them), unfortunately our cash handling company refused to process £5 coins which meant that we couldn't really accept them. Only know of one instance someone tried to use one, and I've never seen them in circulation myself.

As for 1p and 2p coins, in Australia the smallest coin is now the 5c coin. In terms of being "ripped off" it works both ways; shops round the price up (i.e. you get no change for something costing $9.99) but it also means you can do the same at the fuel station (i.e. put $10.03 in the tank and only pay $10). It probably balances itself out. The big loser would be charity, I normally chuck the odd pence into the bucket at the till in a shop or cafe.

"Penny for London" (or equivalent schemes for those of us not in London) seems like a sensible solution to this. For card payments, an extra penny is taken off and goes to charity. Seems like a good way to promote donation in a cashless society, however I've seen that it's already stopped. Not sure if it's to do with the change in mayor or if there's been more significant issues surrounding it.

Otherwise, 5p pieces (frustratingly small to handle) could well end up in charity tins - even if only half the people that would leave a penny leave a 5p piece instead, you've actually increased the take for charity.

 

[Tracked]

There were a couple being shown around in my local yesterday, a bit like the Canadian ones my mate had got the other week

 

[RichmondCommu]

I don't think the £50 note is needed, no one ever uses them, they are too high a value for anyone but criminals and the stinking rich most of the time anyway, I haven't seen one in ages.

A lot of people who get paid in cash are often paid in £50 notes and many of those are not "stinking rich". The problem is because they are relatively rare many businesses are reluctant to take them.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I'm sick to death of hearing reports about "The First British Polymer Note" :roll:

Been around up here for 18 months plus from Clydesdale Bank.

Having said that I have not yet come across one !!

They've been in existence in Aus since at least the mid 1990's.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

There were a couple being shown around in my local yesterday, a bit like the Canadian ones my mate had got the other week

Probably related to the fact that the Bank of England is run by a Canadian to some extent.

 

[WelshBluebird]

When I was working at the students union cafe at Bath uni, we'd get a lot of the international students handing over £50 notes at the start of each term time (as they'd obviously just changed a load of money). Bit of a pain when you are talking about £2.95 baguettes and the like!

 

[Tetchytyke]

And that's the real reason why most places won't accept fifties. They're a PITA to provide change for.

The most commonly forged money is the one pound coin.

 

[DarloRich]

Probably related to the fact that the Bank of England is run by a Canadian to some extent.

I doubt that. The decision to change styles may well have been made long before the current governors time in office.

 

[Calthrop]

A friend of mine has a collector's interest in banknotes, which causes him often to have £50 notes in his possession. He makes something of a game of using them to pay for purchases (costing more than just a very few pounds), largely in pubs / restaurants. On the great majority of occasions, they're accepted without demur; occasionally it's intimated that use of a "fifty" is found not very convenient, so not really appreciated.

When I was working at the students union cafe at Bath uni, we'd get a lot of the international students handing over £50 notes at the start of each term time (as they'd obviously just changed a load of money). Bit of a pain when you are talking about £2.95 baguettes and the like!

And that's the real reason why most places won't accept fifties. They're a PITA to provide change for.

With my friend, as per above-quoted post, who makes something of a hobby / sport out of this stuff: as said above, usually the service-person "at the sharp end" is fine with it, and doesn't demur or grumble (not to friend's face, anyway). Again as said, this is chiefly in pubs / restaurants / -- perhaps these establishments tend to be more fifty-friendly than many other places. And my friend exercises some consideration, in not proffering a fifty for things whose total price is just a very few pounds. Something which your international students, WelshBluebird, would do well to emulate ! Though maybe people from abroad should initially be "cut a bit of slack" -- it takes time to find your way around the more subtle ins-and-outs of cash in a foreign country.

 

[TheKnightWho]

And that's the real reason why most places won't accept fifties. They're a PITA to provide change for.

The most commonly forged money is the one pound coin.

Most places will accept them - it used to be that many smaller places didn't have the kit to check whether they're fake, so wouldn't accept them, but that isn't the case these days.

 

[thejuggler]

Had my first new fiver today, ironically in change after buying a rail ticket. The ticket seller hadn't noticed it was new.

It feels like a sheet of plastic used in laminators! Smaller than the old one too.

 

[me123]

Most places will accept them - it used to be that many smaller places didn't have the kit to check whether they're fake, so wouldn't accept them, but that isn't the case these days.

What "kit" do you need to check a fifty? Beyond a UV light (which was a useless test on the old fifties as they had no UV ink on them, so only relevant from late 2011 onwards), I can't really see what "kit" you need. A UV light costs as little as £5, so buying one is hardly going to break the bank and would be a worthwhile investment if you're concerned.

You look at the note (printing, watermark, security thread); you feel the note (paper quality and raised print), and you move the note (hologram/motion thread). It's really straightforward and requires absolutely no "kit". The UV check is useful too, but bear in mind that UV ink is available to counterfeiters.

 

[VauxhallandI]

What "kit" do you need to check a fifty? Beyond a UV light (which was a useless test on the old fifties as they had no UV ink on them, so only relevant from late 2011 onwards), I can't really see what "kit" you need. A UV light costs as little as £5, so buying one is hardly going to break the bank and would be a worthwhile investment if you're concerned.

You look at the note (printing, watermark, security thread); you feel the note (paper quality and raised print), and you move the note (hologram/motion thread). It's really straightforward and requires absolutely no "kit". The UV check is useful too, but bear in mind that UV ink is available to counterfeiters.

The Bank of England will also provide you with a free of charge retailers information pack on the publicly known security features of all notes.

 

[TheKnightWho]

What "kit" do you need to check a fifty? Beyond a UV light (which was a useless test on the old fifties as they had no UV ink on them, so only relevant from late 2011 onwards), I can't really see what "kit" you need. A UV light costs as little as £5, so buying one is hardly going to break the bank and would be a worthwhile investment if you're concerned.

You look at the note (printing, watermark, security thread); you feel the note (paper quality and raised print), and you move the note (hologram/motion thread). It's really straightforward and requires absolutely no "kit". The UV check is useful too, but bear in mind that UV ink is available to counterfeiters.

Detector pens, which I know several shops mandate the use of. They're becoming obsolete now, but not so several years ago.

They're hardly expensive, but they're the kind of thing that smaller shops simply wouldn't bother to get because it was easier to just discourage the use of the note.

 

[VauxhallandI]

The Bank also has a free app that shows the security features and has images of notes as they should appear under UV light

 

[me123]

Detector pens, which I know several shops mandate the use of. They're becoming obsolete now, but not so several years ago.

They're hardly expensive, but they're the kind of thing that smaller shops simply wouldn't bother to get because it was easier to just discourage the use of the note.

Detector pens are absolutely useless. They are iodine based pens that detect starch in notes - the theory being that counterfeiters will use starchy paper (causing a black mark to appear on a fake note), whilst the genuine note remains unmarked. However, starch free paper is readily available and will be sourced by any serious counterfeiters, so the test is pointless. To make matters worse, some genuine notes will fail this test because of various chemicals picked up on the note or pen. So you have a test that is neither sensitive nor specific.

With polymer notes, they will be even more useless. Throw them in the bin.

DO NOT RELY ON THE PENS. At best they achieve little. At their worst, they stop you actually looking at the notes so a false negative will slip through the net. The banks tell you not to rely on one security feature, and I've never seen the pens advocated by an issuing bank. If you actually look the security features on the note that are visible to the naked eye, you will be able to detect a counterfeit note very easily. In reality, even the high quality ones are reasonably easy to tell apart from a genuine note.

If I owned a shop, I would prohibit the use of detector pens. They are useless and encourage complacency (the pen said it was OK).

 

[chris89]

For the new Fiver, i have had quite a few so far at the Coop i work at. Including many customers wanting them as well. Sadly the shop won't be getting them till at least next week maybe.

I find them a lot nicer to handle and at the moment then don't crease and fold all together and easier to just slide out of the till draws. Just come on the new 10's and 20's.

Sadly though, only seen one of the Clydesdale polymer fivers. So haven't seen the reaction that would get at local shop and so on if tried to use one. (Coop i work on, we accept Scottish notes anyway, just straight into countercash)

 

[Kite159]

One complaint I've heard from the till ladies where I work is that the notes 'stick' together.

I wonder if G4S will be kind enough to send me another £200s worth tomorrow

They feel strange to the touch, but I've previously handed Canadian notes so they have a touch which brings back memories of my Canadian holiday a few years ago.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I've managed to crease one already; folded it yesterday to fit it into my wallet properly; this morning the newsagent was muttering as he tried to flatten it out to get it to stay flat in his till drawer...

 

[cjmillsnun]

Most places will accept them - it used to be that many smaller places didn't have the kit to check whether they're fake, so wouldn't accept them, but that isn't the case these days.

Kit to check them? The best kit to detect fake notes is the Mk1 eyeball and Mk1 Brain.

The BoE has a downloadable leaflet that details the security features of all of their current notes, including the new plastic fiver at http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Documents/kyb_lo_res.pdf

The only other piece of kit that is useful is a UV light as detailed in another post. Fifties are not the notes that are the problem as regards forgery as everyone checks them. Tenners on the other hand...

 

[bb21]

The only other piece of kit that is useful is a UV light as detailed in another post. Fifties are not the notes that are the problem as regards forgery as everyone checks them. Tenners on the other hand...

I thought £20s were the most widely forged notes, which partly explained the frequent nature of their replacements.

 

[Crossover]

Once stuff I'm buying gets towards £50 in value I prefer to always pay by card, i never keep much money on me. I wish that cash machines could dish out all tenners when getting anything £50 or less out. Maybe even a couple of fivers instead of one of the tenners.

Anyone work in any TOC's ticket office? Do you see many passengers paying for tickets with fifties?

Quite a few ATM's now dispense only £5 and £10 notes - certainly the ones at my local Sainsburys and HSBC too - needless to say, I usually opt for these ATM's where possible. I don't like £20's generally

 

[talltim]

Were the plastic £1 notes in the Isle of Man polymer? I can remember them in the late 80s/early 90s along with their 50p notes

 

[Dent]

Were the plastic £1 notes in the Isle of Man polymer?

Given that "plastic" and "polymer" mean the same thing, obviously they were by definition.