Change, it gets everywhere. Literally, everywhere. I bet you probably have a handful of the stuff in at least one pocket right now. But what you might not realise is the reasons why it builds up or what you could be doing with it.
As society becomes more focussed on contactless and cashless options, for part a necessity over the past year but even heading out of the concept of spare change is becoming something of a lost art. And that’s a shame, especially because kids might not even understand that no change means no slot machines and that means no Tipping Point. Could you even imagine?
With that in mind, here’s our guide for how to sort those loose coppers that line your coffer:
https://www.twinkl.com.ng/resource/t-n-5378-addition-with-money-differentiated-activity-sheet
Where does change come from?
The obvious answer to this question is that every time you make a purchase with cash, unless you are able to provide exact change, then the difference between how much you handed over in currency and the cost of the items will generate spare change. I say this to clarify two things: 1. Contrary to popular belief, change does not just appear down the back of the settee 2. There’s less purpose than you might think to save up that spare change.
In the UK, shopkeepers can refuse payment if it exceeds:
● 20p worth of 1 & 2p coins
● £5 worth of 5 & 10p coins
● £10 worth of 20 & 50p coins
So after a certain while, collecting too much change is just going to be weighing you down. According to a study by Psychology Today, some people can end up spending less when they use cash money. Because they can physically feel the cost of what they’re purchasing with cash, when they use a card, the process is almost made so seamless, it is almost like no money has changed hands. Having an amount of change on you can be a useful reminder of both the cost and weight of money.
https://www.twinkl.co.za/resource/t-n-5385-counting-mixed-coins-activity-shee
Piggy Banks: A potted history
There are some everyday items that you don’t even think of as ever having not been there: cuneiform tablets record that the first icehouse for refrigeration was constructed for an ancient Mesopotamian king in the year 1780 BC, Greek scholar Heron of Alexandria is thought to have constructed the first automatic door in the first century AD, Alan McMasters built the first toaster in Scotland in 1893. Yet you don’t consider that in some form, piggy banks have been in the home for millennia.
As far back as the 2nd Century, we can find evidence of money boxes being used to store coinage but the first pig-shaped edition of this can be traced back to around 14th-15th century Indonesia. It’s not a surprise that pigs would become the animal associated with storage and savings as in the Zodiac, the pig is meant to represent wealth, honesty and good fortune. And you wouldn’t want to trust your hard-earned money with a dishonest animal, would you?
While the term ‘pig bank’ has been recorded as in use since the early 1900s, it is not till the 1940s/50s that we really see their use in the household being commonplace. While they have remained part of the home ever since, finding new forms from New York taxi cabs to politicians made into porcelain storage units, they would have a major renaissance to come in the year 1997, thanks to the movie, Toy Story.
We know that equivalent characters such as the dog ‘slinky’, the etch-a-sketch and Mr. Potato Head had increases of up to 800% in sales. So the next time you go to put your change to the side, know that there is more history to that little piggy bank it goes in than you might think.
https://www.twinkl.com.ng/resource/can-i-afford-it-game-cfe-t-256721
How £6.10 of change can make any purchase
It’s possible to work out exact change for any purchase with just eleven coins (obviously, this is in addition to notes for anything over a fiver). These eleven coins are:
● 1x1p
● 2x2p
● 1x5p
● 1x10p
● 2x20p
● 1x50p
● 1x£1
● 2x£2.
That’s 66g of coins or the approximate equivalent of having 3 AA batteries in your pocket. It doesn’t seem much as a safety blanket but the problem is less to do with having it, more to do with whether change is that useful any more.
https://www.twinkl.co.za/resource/currencies-around-the-world-display-photos-au-n-86
The Most Expensive Penny in the World
In 1932, the Royal Mint over-produced on coinage so the following year, it is believed that only seven coins were produced, purely for ceremonial purposes. In 2019, one of these coins, the 1933 Lavrillier Pattern Penny sold at auction for £72,000 which was not only a record for the worth of a single penny but also broke records for bronze or copper sold at auction. With the current UK National living wage coming in at £8.72 per hour. That means someone could live off that penny for almost 4 years. Not bad for 3.56g of Copper.
https://www.twinkl.com.ng/resource/pizza-night-budget-activity-sheets-t2-m-480
But who has change any more?
An interesting point is thinking that exact change is less of an issue as contactless and general cash-free pay becomes more prominent. Obviously, under current circumstances, most shops are only accepting cashless payment but, in 2019, 51% of all payments were made via card. Cash dropped into a firm second going from 38 to 23% over 2018-19 and it’s estimated that, by 2028, cash payments could make up only 9% of payments.
With services like Apple Pay allowing you to pay up to £10,000 in a single transaction, that small change is becoming less relevant.
Of course, cash is never going to completely go away, or at least not in our lifetime. For some people, nothing will quite replace having physical spending money and the immediacy of a transaction over waiting a few days for payment to go through. So checking down the side of the sofa for pennies, might not be such a waste of time in the long run.
https://www.twinkl.co.za/resource/cfe-n-336-check-your-change-from-1-activity-sheet