It’s one of those evergreen sayings that seems to pass from generation to generation; if you are in need of a bit of cash pretty sharpish, then you might be wise to look down the back of the sofa. Invariably this is where loose coins often end up, along with discarded wrappers, tissues and something unspeakable the dog was chewing but decided to leave……several months ago.
Acting upon this in reality can sometimes bring a reward, and sometimes a nasty shock, but it might be worth a quick look anyway, because the Royal Mint has reported that a staggering 169 million old, round pound coins have yet to be returned, over a year since they went out of circulation.
The new 12-sided £1 coin was introduced in March 2017, and the original round version stopped being legal tender in October last year. Since then, if you still have some old coins in your possession you are able to deposit them in most high street banks, plus the post office, and the amount will be credited to your account balance. In total, 138 million have been returned and melted down to help with the cost of producing the new coins, but 169 million are still unaccounted for, and all eyes are turning to that perennial coin trap; the sofa.
Sofa maintenance from Nabru
Of course, at Nabru we recommend that you pick up your sofa cushions on a regular basis, to give them a squeeze and revive them a little, to fluff them up or to turn them over periodically. This should give you an opportunity to search for those stray items that seem to confound all logic, but if you haven’t done this for a while, then it might be worth a look without delay.
With such a vast amount of £1 coins still in circulation, of course there are other places people might look for them. The sofa is in the top five most likely places, but you can also check gym bags or supermarket bags, where a £1 coin is used for lockers or a trolley. You can also check coat pockets, and it is thought that many will have been retained by coin collectors in the belief they will be worth considerably more than £1 in a few years. But this still doesn’t seem to account for 169 million.
Check your sofa today
It is also thought that many businesses will still be giving the old coins out in change, whether knowingly or not. But if you do find a few down the back of the sofa, it’s not too late to cash them in. In the past there has been a defined period of 12 months in which you could return the coins and receive a credit for them, but in the case of the £1 coin, with such a vast amount still outstanding, it seems likely that the return scheme will remain open indefinitely, and certainly with 169 million still out there, it’s not going to end any time soon.
So, take a deep breath and fish your hand down the back of the sofa without delay. You are sure to find some surprises down there, and while there might not be 169 million of them, it might certainly be worth the effort.
