21 tips to complete your Great One Pound Coin Race
The Race is on…
You’ve only got until 15 October to find all 24 circulating £1 coin designs. And after the new 12-sided £1 Coin is released on 28 March, it will get harder as banks start to replace the £1 coins they receive with the new 12-sided £1 coin.
So that’s why we’ve put our heads together to give you 21 Top Tips to complete your Great One Pound Coin Race in time.
- Check your change drawer / change pot
- Ask friends and family
- Go to the bank and change notes to £1 coins
- Swap with the Change Checker web app – changechecker.org
- Befriend the local corner shop / launderette owner and ask them for their £1 coins
- Arcade / bingo change machines
- Pay with a note and round up with loose change to maximise your £1 coin change
- Look for Facebook swap groups
- Raid your children’s piggy banks (and replace them with notes!)
- Look for abandoned supermarket trolleys
- Check down the back of the sofa
- Check old handbags
- Set up a lottery syndicate and collect the payments in round £1 coins
- Have a bake sale – everything a round £1 coin
- Offer to count up any collections and swap out the £1 coins for notes
- Car boot sale – everything is “One Round Pound”
- Pay car park charges in notes and receive the change in coins
- Check any tips your friends might be leaving at restaurants
- Always carry some £1 coins with you so you can swap any time you see a good one
- Check gym lockers
- Try to build a collection as a group – e.g. a school class – 30 Change Checkers are better than 1!
Win a Gold-plated Participant’s Medal
Do you have any more tips?
We’ll be giving away some special 24-Carat Gold Plated Great One Pound Coin Participant’s Medals to the best ideas. Simply comment below with your top tip.
How to enter the Great One Pound Coin Race
If you haven’t started your Great One Pound Coin Race yet, it’s not too late. Simply click here to enter today and you too could own a complete collection of £1 coins direct from your change before they’re gone for ever.
Make sure you’re the last one in your local pub and when it is just you and the landlord ask if you can check all the pound coins in the till it’s a win-win situation because if you don’t find any pound coins that you need you have spent longer in the pub ?
If you go to school, college or work somewhere in which there is a cafeteria, ask if they can look out for unusual £1 designs when people pay or keep them back for you to look through.
I always ask family and friends if I can check any loose change from their purses, they are a treasure trove of great of great finds, it has started many of my friends and family collecting as well so has turned out to be very competitive and nothing like a go brag when you get a rare beauty.
Do a sponsored walk / event for a charity, make all donations £1 then swoop out for notes
If you are buying more than one item at the likes of Poundland pay for one at a time with notes, not only do you get loads of pound coins but the look on the cashiers face is priceless ?
Pay at a self service till with a twenty pound note if you have only bought something cheap. In major super markets you rarely get small change and normally get pound coins
If you put a £1 in a vending machine it will usually put it in a stack and if you do not purchase anything it will give you one from the bottom of the stack so you can effectively cycle them also works with other coins aswell it has been very productive for me 🙂 good luck all and hope all entrants complete the challenge.
Set up a raffle for your favourite charity at £1 a ticket and then you can change up for notes, you get to collect and also help those in need. Everyone’s a winner!
Befriend a taxi driver and ask for a swap, have a stash of coins you don’t need ready though as they won’t appreciate losing all their change.
Swap notes for coins with local post office 🙂
Have a swear jar at work/home – one round pound per swear word!
If you know someone in a post office then this makes finding your coins very easy.
go to shops with 50p coins and 20p etc bc they often need them and ask in exchange for £1 coins, or ask shops if u can look through their tills
I have already collected all the £1 coins and seeing that they are all in a circulated condition they will be worth no more than face value and not worth keeping.So I might just as well spend them or put to premium bonds and hope to win.
Go out 7 Days a week and every Pint you have pay the Bar Person with a Note, You`ll get loads of change but you will be drunk so be careful not to loose it !!
stand near coinstar (ask security)in supermarkets loads of old coins go into that also when they do sponsored bagpacking change the coins for notes giving them a donation for them helping you with your coin collection
Hold a charity fundraiser, and only accept round pounds as donations – then swap the coins for notes before giving the charity the money raised. 🙂 It’s a win-win!
change notes for coins at post offices also give a list of what you need to relatives who work in shops
Sit near the fruit machine/Bandit at your local pub…
If anyone wins, offer them notes in exchange for their winnings!
Hi Adam, thanks for your tip! We want to send you a gold-plated medal as a prize so check your email!
Look every where and also ask the nice people in ur local shops if u can check what they have in the till
Rob a bank
We sell eggs at the gate and get plenty of change in the honesty box. Also another idea is at horse or dog shows pay for your entries with cash and ask for the change in £1’s. They always have change! Vending machines are pretty good too for change and car park meters that do give you change.
Get a coin swapper team going in your local pub ask bar staff to look out for special coins
Can you supply a list / pictures of the different coins to collect
here is list from 1p’s to £5 coins
http://www.royalmint.com/discover/uk-coins/coin-design-and-specifications
Exchange all your unwanted pennies in a change checker machine available in some supermarkets… Exchange your voucher for cash, if you get enough notes you can also exchange them for £1 coins in stores Change machines! A lot of stores do have them!
Do you have a picture of all the 24 designs to check what we have so far?
You can check them with the change checker app! I have it in my phone!
Why not ask your local bus drivers as they tend to get lots of £1 coins and they are sometimes more than willing to change them for notes
Local Air training corps, bag packing at local supermarket to raise funds then ask supermarket to swop all coins into GOLD!
Ask for your birthday money the old fashioned way…Coins…But gold ones of course
start charging your Granny a £1 coin every time you collect her newspaper and stop giving your Grandchildren pocket money when you see them, tell your family No more Birthday and Christmas presents and swap the money you would have spent for £1 coins at the Bank!!.. works for me …. what 2008 Lion 10p is that then?
Create a fun ‘Lost’ or ‘Wanted’ poster for your works information bored. This way a wider range of people will be looking and is a fun and novel way of looking for help 🙂
Swap notes for coins with local window cleaner,they hate loads of change
I would ask people I knew, or businesses I had a good standing with to look out for the certain coins I’m missing. Either print out the ones I’m missing or explain what the design is.
This would stop them from collecting lots of coins I already had, and stop me from having lots of change lying around.
Exploit the power of Facebook, change your status to ‘£1 coin search’ pin the post so its always at the top of your feed. Ask everyone to notify you of finding any coins you’re searching for, post pics of the ones you need. Have loads of eyes searching for you at the same time.
If you work in a school volunteer to help count the money on non uniform day
Ask at the local churches for the vicar or his.her assistant to check the collection box for any one pound coins and exchange for notes.
I have a friend in the post office who keep her eyes on what coins are in there safe.Had a bag full of battle of hastings 50p and squirrel nutkin 50p.
Try at your local bank, they will have lots of £1 coins coming in and if you pick a quiet time the bank will help you find those missing coins……………..just be nice when you go into the branch………It works
Bingo halls are great for change mostly one pound coins?????
You normally pay to enter car boot sales,ask to check their coins in bucket.
Sell old junk items for pound ranges
If you put £1 coins in machine such has hot drinks etc then eject the money – most machines will give you a different coin back.
Use the self service in supermarkets and pay so you get pound coins, I have got a lot of rare ones that way.
I have sent a group email to the whole company asking for any £1 with the designs I need. Have had a great response and only need five to complete my collection.
Valentines is just around the corner, why not hint that instead of a big bag of love you would prefer a big bag of £1 coins this year!
If you live near ie an arcade go to the change machines
and taxi drivers like to get rid of the heavy change.
We have been selling off items we no longer need in the house on eBay, and then going to the bank and withdrawing notes and changing all of the money into coins to maximise finding every coin we need.
Ask friends and family to give £1.00 coins for a birthday or other celebrations
Or you could do as I did and “volunteer” to help a family member sort and count a bucket full of loose change collected over a number of years. In just over £1000 of £1 coins, I pulled out one of every design and every year. As a bonus, I also found a Triathlon coin which was almost mint!! However, I still did not find one 2008 Lion 10p which I am still looking for!!!
Can you explain what the 10p is about please?
Check tills where you work I do so collecting for my 5 year old son he loves coins