Royal Mint to stop minting coins for other countries thanks to decline in cash use – what a shame, says LEE BOYCE

Seven years ago, I visited the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Wales, to see how coins are created.

This included: the beginning, when a design is developed; the middle, when they are pickled; and ends, when the coins are spit out through enormous machines in a perfect and satisfying unit.

It is a precise art and the Mint is a major employer in this part of the Welsh Valleys, having moved to its current location from London in the 1960s.

While I was there, the Mint was proud to point out that it had produced coins for 60 different countries over the decades, from Jamaica to Iceland, from Suriname to Thailand.

That’s a tradition that goes back almost 700 years, to 1325. That’s when Edward II was king, England had a population of just over 4 million, and coins were minted in the Tower of London.

In 1325, coins were sent to Bordeaux for use in the king’s territories in southwestern France.

The Royal Mint itself has its origins dating back to the year 886. There are quite a few generations of experience in the art of manufacturing uniform coins of all kinds of shapes and sizes, for countries large and small.

It says on its website: ‘For many years, the Royal Mint has been the world’s leading export mint.

“In a typical year, coins may be produced for 60 or more different countries, some of which do not have their own mint, while others may have a mint that temporarily cannot cope with demand.”

In 1922, a “new and energetic” deputy manager caused a huge increase in its export business, the Mint says.

Now, 102 years later, This is Money revealed that the Royal Mint will no longer manufacture coins overseas.

As a bit of a coin fanatic (I’m not a collector, but I enjoy the beauty of coins), I find this a huge shame.

Instead, the Royal Mint will focus its attention on recovering gold from electronics (it is looking to mine it from old laptops and mobile phones) by taking advantage of rising precious metal prices.

In fact, it has become a major player in the world of gold with its bullion division, where buyers can purchase games worth over £200,000 with a few mouse clicks.

The measure comes down to two things. First of all, profitability. Its currency division loses money and in 2022/23 these losses increased by 191 per cent to £13.1 million.

Second, demand for physical currency globally is declining. Simply put, people around the world are more connected than ever to payment systems that are not as “archaic” as exchanging currencies for goods and services, a system used for millennia.

The Royal Mint told us it will no longer bid for contracts to make coins in international circulation and will stop production when it fulfills its existing orders in December.

A spokesperson added: “The decline in the use of cash globally has been a catalyst for change at the Royal Mint.”

The shift towards card and contactless technology over the last decade has been rapid, not just in Britain, but in all sorts of remote areas of the world. This is one more sign of it.

It says there will be no job losses and affected staff will be offered positions at its upgraded recycling centre.

But Pontypridd Labor MP Alex Davies-Jones said of our story in a tweet: “The Royal Mint plays a crucial role in our local economy – there are currently no jobs at risk but it raises concerns about long-term safety and could also decrease.” our role in the circulation of currencies and damage our global soft power.

“I will be monitoring this closely.”

I may be a little old school: I like to carry physical money in my wallet and when I travel abroad, I always carry money with me.

I don’t exclusively use cash and card payments have their place, but physical money is still crucial in my opinion.

Technology can fail, the signal is often irregular when making payments, it is more difficult to budget, and cash gives me the ability to make purchases without my bank knowing what I am spending it on. A small victory in a world where we are increasingly tracked and our information is a commodity.

A while ago I went to my daughter’s elementary school to learn how they teach math, to help with matching at home.

There was a section on learning to count coins, and one teacher said something like, “although that doesn’t seem so relevant anymore.” Now, when children play shop, most pretend to touch a card, learned behavior…’

I left a note on the feedback form that said, ‘Please continue teaching children about coins and banknotes. It’s of vital importance.

The Mint is keen to emphasize that it will continue to make UK currency, but as its use is also declining here, it will be up to buyers to maintain demand and therefore supply, and up to parents to teach their children about the physical cash.

For example, for my daughter’s fifth birthday, I took her to a toy shop with £100 in cash and taught her how to budget, showing her what she could afford to buy, and she was fascinated.

But all of the above fuels the fear in me that physical money is going to go the way of the dodo, and then we will all be in a bind.