Can staff swap 'collectable' coins with their own change?

[cadoxton]

A 'Kew Gardens' 50p, as an example.

So, you are guard, train conductor or ticket clerk and a customer pays with a coin that is very obviously collectable hock:.

What is permissible? Can you just swap it out?

Often wondered what is acceptable in this scenario across the general retail environments.

 

[185143]

I don't theoretically see why not...

After all, I've had change swapped in places as I've needed a pee and the turnstile only takes a coin I don't have (for example)

 

[bb21]

Officially most employers' cash regulations require company cash and personal money to be kept separate at all times, but in practice as long as your money tallies up and no one sees you do it, I doubt anyone would care.

 

[Bishopstone]

Becoming known as 'that bloke/lass who swaps the float with the money in their bag' might be unhelpful the first time a pilfering or fraud case is uncovered by the cash office and an internal investigation commences.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

At my work in retail it wouldn't be an issue I'm sure, however we are not supposed to have any personal money on the shop floor, so it would need to be at lunch or end of day only. When I have done it, to get a rare £2 usually, I make sure someone else sees it, so it doesn't look odd if anyone walked in.

Some firms like Boots are very strict on the 'no personal money' and you can get put on a disciplinary for it.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Some firms like Boots are very strict on the 'no personal money' and you can get put on a disciplinary for it.

When I worked behind a bar at a nightclub many years ago having any personal money on you whilst working was an instant sacking.

 

[Gemz91]

When I worked behind a bar at a nightclub many years ago having any personal money on you whilst working was an instant sacking.

The railways are different to working in a bar though as quite often you'd have your break away from your home depot, so it may be likely that you have money on you in order to get food on your break. Whilst, when you work in a shop, you'd have access to your locker on your break.

People are often swapping money in our mess room from guards floats, either rare coins the guards have collected, or swapping change for the vending machine.

 

[LowLevel]

It's entirely impractical to not have your own cash with you as a member of train crew because you work remotely. However it is meant to remain seperate, that doesn't mean unofficially exchanges don't happen.

 

[Lrd]

There was one regular passenger on the ferries I used to work on who collected the Olympic 50p coins and if I had time I would look through the till to see if there were any he needed and swapped them, a few of the managers did this as well. As long as it all tallies up in the end then who cares or who will even know?

 

[Deafdoggie]

I've worked in retail, and it's strictly not allowed. I've worked as a bus driver, and whilst your money & company money are separate, as long as it tallies no one minds. Indeed, if you have a run of people needing change first thing, I've 'lent' the float my money to get through & taken it out again later. The other difference, is if the shop till is short, you are disaplined. If the bus takings were short, they were stopped out of your wages. Equally, if you were over, it was put in your wages!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I thought your float on a bus was your own money, you just had to pay in each day what the ticket machine showed as takings.

 

[Lrd]

I thought your float on a bus was your own money, you just had to pay in each day what the ticket machine showed as takings.

Some companies provide a float when you first join the company (about £15) and do regular check ups but most drivers don't take it and just use their own money as it saves some hassle. As long as you pay in what it says on your waybill by the end of the week then they don't care what you do with your money.

 

[Busaholic]

If you want an example of a job where to have cash on your person is an instantly dismissable offence, try being a croupier in a casino, as I was once for a very short time before I left of my own accord. You wore special pocketless trousers and lovely bri-nylon pocketless shirts, lest you felt tempted to accept a 'tip' under the combined gaze of 101 cameras and the inspectors and pit bosses. Glamour? More of it in an abattoir: still, it absolutely ensured I'd never enter a casino again under my own volition.

 

[GusB]

If you want an example of a job where to have cash on your person is an instantly dismissable offence, try being a croupier in a casino, as I was once for a very short time before I left of my own accord. You wore special pocketless trousers and lovely bri-nylon pocketless shirts, lest you felt tempted to accept a 'tip' under the combined gaze of 101 cameras and the inspectors and pit bosses. Glamour? More of it in an abattoir: still, it absolutely ensured I'd never enter a casino again under my own volition.

McDonald's uniforms were similar. There were fake pockets on the uniform, but nothing that allowed you to actually store anything. Having your own cash on the shop floor was strictly forbidden, and due to the "meal allowance", there was no need to have any cash either. If you wanted to "upgrade" to more than your allowance permitted, you had to go to your locker to get the cash, and the transaction had to be witnessed by a cashier or a manager.

They also had a strict +/- 99p tolerance when it came to cashing up tills at the end of your shift. If you were unlucky enough to have had a few customers paying with Luncheon Vouchers (no change given), you were screwed. I moved to a large supermarket chain shortly after I told the burger emporium where to shove their job, and they had a similar policy.

I don't see a problem with swapping collectable coins, but I would suggest having a witness present when you do so.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

The Royal Mint aren't all that keen on people taking money there, for obvious reasons

I think in terms of swapping a coin as the OP says, then there is a difference between, what is the policy/rules/regulations of the employer and what might pass the reasonable person test.

I guess it could be argued that if the coin is worth more than it's face value then you may have stolen from your employer, but of course what if you had no awareness that the coin was worth more than the face value and handed the coin to another passenger as change later on. I guess this is where intent would come into play.

Personally, I don't see the problem with swapping one coin for the same value coin of a different design, but if I was the TM/Guard/Ticket Clerk then I would want to make sure what the employer policy/rules were.

 

[GusB]

The Royal Mint aren't all that keen on people taking money there, for obvious reasons

I think in terms of swapping a coin as the OP says, then there is a difference between, what is the policy/rules/regulations of the employer and what might pass the reasonable person test.

I guess it could be argued that if the coin is worth more than it's face value then you may have stolen from your employer, but of course what if you had no awareness that the coin was worth more than the face value and handed the coin to another passenger as change later on. I guess this is where intent would come into play.

Personally, I don't see the problem with swapping one coin for the same value coin of a different design, but if I was the TM/Guard/Ticket Clerk then I would want to make sure what the employer policy/rules were.

If the coin is still in general circulation, it's still a coin with whatever face-value is printed on it, regardless of what collectors may pay for it.

 

[rdeez]

McDonald's uniforms were similar. There were fake pockets on the uniform, but nothing that allowed you to actually store anything. Having your own cash on the shop floor was strictly forbidden, and due to the "meal allowance", there was no need to have any cash either. If you wanted to "upgrade" to more than your allowance permitted, you had to go to your locker to get the cash, and the transaction had to be witnessed by a cashier or a manager.

They also had a strict +/- 99p tolerance when it came to cashing up tills at the end of your shift. If you were unlucky enough to have had a few customers paying with Luncheon Vouchers (no change given), you were screwed. I moved to a large supermarket chain shortly after I told the burger emporium where to shove their job, and they had a similar policy.

I don't see a problem with swapping collectable coins, but I would suggest having a witness present when you do so.

Oh, my goodness. Not so fond memories from my own two year stretch there as well!

In our store, there was a table that recorded your variances. The first two of £1 or more entailed 'retraining', the third a verbal warning, the fourth a written warning and you can guess what the next step was...

On the flip side (no pun intended) certain managers had quite a laid back attitude - I was left to cash up my own float on more than one occasion, and with a certain manager, often asked to count the safe when he was otherwise engaged (which usually happened when there was a good looking girl at the counter...)

 

[GusB]

Oh, my goodness. Not so fond memories from my own two year stretch there as well!

In our store, there was a table that recorded your variances. The first two of £1 or more entailed 'retraining', the third a verbal warning, the fourth a written warning and you can guess what the next step was...

On the flip side (no pun intended) certain managers had quite a laid back attitude - I was left to cash up my own float on more than one occasion, and with a certain manager, often asked to count the safe when he was otherwise engaged (which usually happened when there was a good looking girl at the counter...)

By replying to this I'm risking going wildly off-topic, but 7 months was a "stretch" that was long enough for me. I do remember the "re-training" too. My experiences were nearly 25 years ago. PM me for further discussion, or start another thread

 

[Geeves]

Certainly no problems swapping coins around in the booking offices and you have plenty go around seeing as you cash your own till, count your own float and look after the safe in some places. As has been said so long as you and the safe balance at the end of your shift no one will ever know, and unless you are seriously down thankfully there is no McDonald's scenarios either. That sounds terrible!

 

[gray1404]

Provided everything tallys up I don't see a problem.

 

[philthetube]

I have dipped in my pocket more than once to provide change, nobody knows or cares as long as the money is right at the end of the day.

 

[paddington]

Do First drivers in Scotland (with the exact fare policy and no change given) also own the money that is paid into their fare boxes?


All buses in Hong Kong have a similar setup where there is a drop-box and the driver doesn't handle the cash during the trip. But once a driver forgot to change the fare on the smartcard reader, and I didn't check it before beeping my card. The driver refunded me the difference from his personal wallet, which surprised me.

I guess it could be argued that if the coin is worth more than it's face value then you may have stolen from your employer

It could also be argued that you have saved your employer the cost of setting up a new position to search through all their cash before banking it plus setting up an ebay account to sell any collectable coins.


Another story: I paid in some commemorative coins into a bank in Australia and the teller wanted one for herself, so she got out her purse and bought that one off me.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I have dipped in my pocket more than once to provide change, nobody knows or cares as long as the money is right at the end of the day.

This is probably the easiest way to handle it for staff who will be carrying their own money and not swapping it with others - guards, bus drivers etc - you should have £X, if you don't it's your problem to make it up.

Supermarkets are a bit different because staff don't necessarily carry their own cash drawer.

But this is yet another example of why cash is a nuisance - if it could be removed, the problem would disappear.

 

[calopez]

When I joined the railway, one of my colleagues had worked at the Regent Street travel centre in the 1950s. Apparently, one day a lady bought a ticket and insisted on paying for it with gold sovereigns. Needless to say none of them got banked!

 

[Deepgreen]

A 'Kew Gardens' 50p, as an example.

So, you are guard, train conductor or ticket clerk and a customer pays with a coin that is very obviously collectable hock:.

What is permissible? Can you just swap it out?

Often wondered what is acceptable in this scenario across the general retail environments.

An interesting thread - as a coin collector and railway employee, the issue of swapping coins had never occurred to me. My take would be that the face value is all anyone in the industry will be concerned with, so if you find a dateless 20p - go for it!

 

[Deepgreen]

If the coin is still in general circulation, it's still a coin with whatever face-value is printed on it, regardless of what collectors may pay for it.

Quite so.

 

[A0]

Officially most employers' cash regulations require company cash and personal money to be kept separate at all times, but in practice as long as your money tallies up and no one sees you do it, I doubt anyone would care.

Not always the case - for example some bus drivers prefer to carry their own float rather than use the company one, so the line can get blurry.

I suspect providing the amount banked is the amount the ticket machines reckons should be banked, nobody would be particularly vexed about an individual swapping out certain coins.

 

[route101]

McDonald's uniforms were similar. There were fake pockets on the uniform, but nothing that allowed you to actually store anything. Having your own cash on the shop floor was strictly forbidden, and due to the "meal allowance", there was no need to have any cash either. If you wanted to "upgrade" to more than your allowance permitted, you had to go to your locker to get the cash, and the transaction had to be witnessed by a cashier or a manager.

They also had a strict +/- 99p tolerance when it came to cashing up tills at the end of your shift. If you were unlucky enough to have had a few customers paying with Luncheon Vouchers (no change given), you were screwed. I moved to a large supermarket chain shortly after I told the burger emporium where to shove their job, and they had a similar policy.

I don't see a problem with swapping collectable coins, but I would suggest having a witness present when you do so.

Worked at a supermarket and they used to do till investigations if the till was down or up , made you feelvery guilty .

 

[northwichcat]

I thought your float on a bus was your own money, you just had to pay in each day what the ticket machine showed as takings.

On one local bus company to me the drivers always empty out the money at the end of their shift and the replacement driver then puts in change they've brought with them. It doesn't seem very secure considering the buses have CCTV and at the end of the shift the driver might return to the depot by a company car, which the replacement driver has arrived in.

 

[A0]

Worked at a supermarket and they used to do till investigations if the till was down or up , made you feelvery guilty .

From my knowledge a few years back, the security departments of large retailers tended to be more suspicious if the tills tallied 100% all of the time.

It was expected / understood that a store might run out of 1p pieces on a busy day and give 2p change - or somebody miscounted or inadvertently gave the wrong change - natural human error. Whereas a till which was always bang on to the penny would prompt questions about what was being done to ensure that happened.