Brits lose out by being careless with their coins
A new study by the UK’s leading discount website has revealed there could be around £57 million in lost change around the UK, whilst the back of the sofa is the most likely place to find loose change.
There is a potential total of £57 million in lost change throughout the UK each year, new figures released from MyVoucherCodes.co.uk suggest. The study aimed to find out how much British adults were missing out on by being careless with their coins.
A total of 1,952 respondents took part in the poll and they were each asked how often they found loose change that they didn’t know about around their house. The majority, 67%, of the people who took part said they found loose change ‘at least 10 times a year’.
When asked to estimate how much each finding was worth, the average total of lost coins per year amounted to £1.43 per respondent. With around 40 million adults in the UK today, these findings suggest there could be as much as £57,200,000 worth of change lost each year in Britain.
The study revealed the top five most careless cities, based on the places that found the most amount of money, on average;
Bournemouth - £4.60 per year
Southampton - £3.20 per year
Winchester - £3.15 per year
Cheltenham - £2.85 per year
Oxford - £2.70 per year
The cities that are most careful with their cash, based on the places who found the least amount of money, along with the average amounts found are;
Newcastle - £0.45 per year
Birmingham - £0.50 per year
Hull - £0.65 per year
Glasgow - £0.70 per year
Cork - £0.75 per year
MyVoucherCodes.co.uk further questioned respondents on the whereabouts of their lost coins and the most likely place to find loose change was down the back of the sofa, something which 52% of people agreed on. The next most likely place for lost change was old purses or wallets, with 31% agreeing.
When asked, ‘if you see a coin in the street, do you pick it up?’ less than 1 in 5, 19%, said that they would. When asked why, 36% said they thought it looked ‘desperate’. Similarly, 11% of respondents said they wouldn’t bother picking up coins that they personally had dropped, with 42% saying they would only pick it up if it was more than 50p.
However, more than half, 51%, of Brits admitted that they would pick up a note if they thought they'd get away with it.
The poll also looked into people’s attitudes towards handing money in and 1 in 5 of the respondents said they wouldn’t give a purse or wallet in if they found it in the street.
Farhad Farhadi, personal finance expert at MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, said;
“It’s astounding when you think about how much money is potentially waiting to be found. People take out loans and get credit cards every day, but perhaps they should start looking down the back of their sofa, in old coat pockets and under the bed for a bit of extra cash!”
He continued, “It’s not every day you find a wallet or purse on the street, but I’d like to think more people would hand the item in if they did. As for picking up coins off the street, has no one ever heard of ‘find a penny, pick it up...’? There’s a lot of luck being missed out on!”