Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Tesco has joined Poundland in pledging that it will accept round £1 coins for an extra week after they are taken out of circulation.
The new 12-sided £1 coin became legal tender on March 28. Since then the round coin and the new coin have been in circulation at the same time. But the round coin ceases to be legal tender at midnight on Sunday (October 15).
The Royal Mint states that from Monday (October 16), shops and businesses are under no obligation to accept round £1 coins from customers and should not distribute them. These coins can continue to be deposited at most high street banks and Post Offices though.
Tesco said: “Our tills and self-service machines are already accepting the new £1 coin. We’ve also been updating all 400,000 of our trolleys to take both the old and new £1 coins, to make sure there’s no disruption for our customers.
“However, with the Royal Mint estimating that there are still £500 million worth of old pound coins in circulation, many shoppers will be busy digging out old pound coins from bags, coats and the back of the sofa before the deadline.
“That’s why, to help customers who still have old coins after Sunday, we’ll continue to accept round pounds at our tills and self-service machines for an additional week. It will give people just a little extra help – and make shopping a little bit simpler for lots of our customers.”
