£5 Notes in Cash Machines, Yay!
Aug2
The BBC is carrying an article today about how HSBC is putting more £5 notes in its cash machines. Claire and I noticed this at the HSBC in Lincoln a couple of days ago, which dispensed two fivers when we asked for £10 (to much excitement). As a student, a £5 note or the ability to withdraw only £5 at a time is far more useful than £10, given that things over £5 tend to be put straight on plastic anyway.
There’s an interesting paragraph in the post, which could do with more discussion.
However, owing to the regularity of use, a £5 note only lasts in circulation for a year before being too damaged to use. The lifespan of a £50 note is usually five years or more.
Easy solution – the next time the £5 note is redesigned, replace it with a polymer banknote such as those used in Australia. They’re harder to tear, resistant to fold damage, waterproof, washproof and generally all-round tougher. Same with the £10, £20 and £50 when they’re replaced.
Either that or finally do away with the archaic notion of physical money and just enforce cheap, efficient and universal cashless economy based around debit or prepay smart cards.
Losing Money
Feb0
Today HBOS published their annual report. They lost £10.8bn. That’s £29,589,041 a day. How do you lose that much money without somebody spotting the warning signs and going “hang on a second, that ain’t right”?
Even more pressing an issue is why can’t I get some of that £29.5m a day which went missing channelled into my bank account?
A Chemistry Breakthrough
Feb0
I’ve finally worked out why doing my laundry at the Junxion costs so much – the machines use cutting-edge chemistry and advanced physics to transform the base metals in pound coins into a precise blend of heat, detergent and little soapy bubbles.
You see, the Junxion has very efficient industrial washers and driers which are designed to cost the minimum amount possible per wash. I’m therefore uncertain as to why it costs £2 to send a load of washing around for 40 minutes (£2.20 for a ’super wash), and a whole shiny £1 for a mere 50 minutes of drying. My only solution is that the machines in some way use the physical coins in their process.
Broke & Broken
Oct0
If you’re a student you’ll know first-hand that student finance sucks. If you know a student, you’ll almost certainly have heard them complaining. So why not support the NUS campaign trying to fix the broken financing system for higher education? I certainly will