Streetlife

I doubt it is an April fool, more like we are the fools for accepting these changes that inconvenience us!

No its not a April fool i got a email from them saying the same thing so he will have to pay money into bank then use a card or cheque or you can buy them on the NS&I website.

It is time wasting,as the change would have to be counted out they say!!!
Isn't that what they are payed for or am I being cynical.

just put the lot into change machine in asda you get notes back

Carol W

Thanks for the comment.  You  have taken me literally, my husband doesn't actually take a load of change to the post office, he does change it into notes.  However  it is interesting toiknow that there is a change machine at Asda.

Helen S

Thanks for your comment.  My Husband does actually change the money into notes beforehand, however I agree that is what they are paid for.  Don't you think that more  and more organisations are cutting down on what service they supply to the general public.  One thing I won't do is check out my groceries on the self service bit in Tesco, because again that is what they are paid for.

Thats some pocket full of change, I believe the minimum purchase is 100??

Patricia K:  So what do you do about petrol? Not buy any because it is self-service? In a competitive market, such as petrol stations and supermarkets, they keep prices down by employing less staff. It may be that one day you will have no choice about going to a self-service supermarket or paying higher prices at the corner shop. 

Hey Patricia, I have had an email about it too, although it doesn't really apply to me as I have always bought my bonds online. Also be warned about the asda change machine, they take a percentage of your money for the service and also some of them will only change your money into asda vouchers, so make sure you read it first!

Healthy competition is good and it should benefit us, but in some situations there is no real competition so is not good. The post office used to be a good service by being local to people and providing services at reasonable cost. It is now not such a good service and unfortunatley has no real competition. So it can now refuse cash payments, which is good for them financially, but for us there is nowhere else to go if you wanted to purchase with cash, as mentioned above!

Grand dad Patrick

You are quite right it is a minimum of £100.     Our change is converted into notes before going to P.O. to get a bond.   It takes quite a long time to accumulate  enough to do this.   We used to have a couple of pounds on the lottery, but decided the odds were not great at ever winning, so this is put aside as well.
At least with the premium bonds you are in with a chance and you still have your money.
Do you not remember when people used to have  an old whiskey bottle or similar and put sixpences into it.
I remember as a child my Uncles and Aunts doing this.   My Mother also used to darn Dads pockets where the loose change used to wear a hole in it.

Steve L

I was pacifically talking about checking out a trolley load of groceries at Tesco etc.  It's also not a bad idea to support your local shop, which we also do.  You buy far more than you need anyway in the supermarkets.  The local shops also have offers on as well, which in some instances are cheaper.
Of course petrol is self service. Gone are the days when an attendant used to fill up for you, although this rarity does still happen in rural parts of the country.  I am lucky I still do have a man to fill the car with petrol, he is called Hubbie!!

dont ever be worried about things going completely self service especially in supermarkets, i work in one and i can assure you that the name self scan is a joke , they go wrong so many times you have to have an assistant on them at all times to keep them working.

as for the premium bonds its just another way that big brother can spy on what you are spending your money on, if you pay cash for them no one ever need know if you have a bank accont or not, where as if yo have to pay by card they can get your bank details, typical of this country ,you cant even make a phone call without big brother knowing where you are on the map.

Bluebell A

That's a good point. Hadn't thought of that.  Regarding phone calls, how many other people are fed up with these unsolicited phone calls ranging from mis sold PPI's down to various surveys, unclaimed refunds on fictitious loans, etc. mostly seem to be foreign sounding people who give an English sounding Christian name.  Then there are the ones where there isn't anyone there..  As we are ex directory where do they get the number from.  Some days there are three or four calls.  It is very annoying especially if you are doing other things and answer the phone only to find it is one of these calls!  Something should be done about it.

The question surely with premium bonds is, is there any point?  Someone mentioned the futility of buying lottery tickets, but you have more of a chance of winning, even if it's ten quid, than you do of winning anything on premium bonds.  People have them for decades, sometimes with large investments, and win nothing.  We had a modest investment in them for many years, won nothing at all, and finally cashed them in.  Interest rates were fairly good at that time, and we'd have been far better off investing them in a savings account.  Even with today's interest rates, you'd generally gain more in savings or Isa accounts over a period of time.  We've got two remaining bonds, each worth £1, bought 30-odd years ago.  And the original certificate we received has been framed and hanging on the wall for decades, a monument to the sheer pointlessness of this form of 'investment'.  Neither bond has won a sausage.

If you have that much money to waste, then why not do a bit of good and give it to a charity?
I`m not exactly a saint but my loose change always goes to a charity.

It is not a waste if someone wants to do it, as £100 invested now will be £100 returned next year. There is always some chance of winning.

Yes it may not be good odds to win, but that is not the point, if someone wants to enjoy using their money that way.

I would normally say that Premium Bonds are a waste of money, but with such low interest rates from savings accounts (which is intentional Government policy) I think that £100 'invested' as a risk is not a big financial loss as it is about £2 a year in lost interest (or the cost of one EuroMillions ticket (and soon to be the cost of one lotto ticket ... that is until they find that millions of people will stop buying lotto tickets and have to do a volte face)).