On 18 Jun, 12:58, MIG  wrote:
> On 18 Jun, 07:59, James Farrar  wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:55:59 퍝,  wrote:
> > >"James Farrar"  wrote in message
> > >news:slrf54tnqi4a33p20m0d1r69uajfjviepv@4ax.com...
>
> > >>>Todays 5p IMHO clashes with the lower threshold where coins are too
> > >>>small to be convenient to handle.
>
> > >> They're almost impossible to pick up when dropped on a hard floor
> > >> without long fingernails. I've taken to hoarding them, along with
> > >> pennies and tuppences, and exchanging them at the bank when I have a
> > >> bagful.
>
> > >Is there any estimate on how much in coins people are hoarding?
>
> > If you believe this American eco-nut, somewhere in the order of £400
> > million.
>
> >http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/134/1/Coin-hoarding-and-the-e...
>
> > "According to the research I was able to do, in Ireland, approximately
> > $60 million of coins are being hoarded. In the UK it's somewhere in
> > the region of three quarters of a billion dollars worth!"
>
> > Sounds reasonable. Right now I've got about £6 not counting the "in
> > use" ones.
>
> A few years ago I had got into the habit of chucking all my brown
> money into a box.
>
> I didn't know what to do with it till Sainsburys provided a machine to
> count it and give you a receipt that you could take to the till for
> the equivalent in sensible denominations (minus an outrageous 7%).
>
> The problem was that I could barely pick up the money and had to put
> it in a large rucksack to get it there.  I got over £80 even with the
> ripoff.
>
> But it would require about 9 million people to do something similar to
> add up to the three quarters of a (presumably American) billion
> suggested.  I am not one of them any more.

Oops I meant American billion (ie nine zeros instead of twelve), but
not American currency.  That would make it a few less people needed.