Why do Tescos auto checkout machines always give change in (almost) the smallest amounts possible 5+5+5+5 = 20

Why are there so few 2 pound coins? I never get them, always lots of =A3=

-- =

Up until 1948 there was a gold medal for town planning in the Olympics.

Asda/Morrisons both offer it here.

I bet loads of people try to get rid of their coins by taking them in there.

On Sun, 05 Feb 2017 22:52:32 -0000, charles wr= ote:

te:

So utterly pointless. Small transactions only, and you need the PIN any= way!

-- =

While taking down the vitals for a soon-to-be mom, I asked how much she = weighed. "I really don't know," she said. "Well, more or less," I prompted. "More, I guess," she answered sadly.

What do you want a token for?

opr after a certain number of transactions or if they think it is out of ch arcter same with any purchase. Apparently petrol and trainiers are the key.

Yes but on my phone with Android Pay the higher limit can only be used when additional security is used to unlock the phone.

In newer phones this additional security can be a fingerprint reader. Fingerprint readers can be very easy to use. They appear to give the benefits of security without the effort of entering a pin code.

So a casual thief cannot take advantage of the limit above £30.

There is also an added security feature in that when you make a payment you do not reveal your card number to the retailer, the phone generates a one time use virtual token instead. This means a criminal retailer cannot use the card details given to him for additional payments or sell your card details to some one else.

MY main problem at the moment is understanding which shops accept contactless payments above £30. In both M&S and Sainsburys the checkout person incorrectly told me there was a £30 limit when there wasn't.

OMG! I hope there is counselling available for such trauma.

Right. Isn't it easier to just stuff a couple of 20 quid notes in the slot?

Up here Tescos give away their 5p bag money to a charity/good cause. You get a token and have a choice of 3 bins to deposit it - presumably one with most tokens gets the money.

Can't see how putting the notes in the wallet, getting the wallet out, pushing the notes into a machine and collecting the change is quicker than getting your phone out, putting it over a sensor and putting your finger on the back of the phone.

First, one has to acquire the phone. I'm guessing that a wallet comes in cheaper than a phone, YMMV.

Try watching someone using one in practice. Oh - fivers don't generally have flat batteries.

It's not winner takes all

it's apportioned by the number of tokens (I guess that they just estimate rather than count)

tim

Maybe they weigh the three piles?

So that's what the blue counters are for I used to see money in there.

if I was them I'd weigh the counters on the till scales. I've done that when 'counting' transistros for a lab.

well on a set of scale I didn;t go to a supermarket :-)

Mild steel plated is a lot cheaper. The face value of the coin and the material value of the cupronickel alloy used to make them crossed over a while back so all the new issue coin are cheap magnetic junk.

Pound coins have become too easy to forge as well which is why they are about to break all the coin handling mechanisms with the new 12 sided oversize threepenny bit thing in March. Should be lots of fun!

Lets hope the middle doesn't fall out in the early batches this time!

Hopefully they will still fit in supermarket trolley locks!!!

To simplify the mechanism. Avoids having to handle paying out 20p s. (just stuff some extra blocks of 5p in when needed)

It will be real fun when the new pound coins come in though!