The new pound coin has been in circulation for a little over month now and it seems to have caught many organisations off-guard. Businesses and public authorities up and down the country have been scrambling to update machines and lockers in order to accept the new 12-sided tender, leaving many customers frustrated.
Tesco recently announced that it will unlock 100,000 trolleys that have not yet been converted to accept the coin. Many local councils have spent tens of thousands of pounds modifying their ticket machines.
Even the Bank of England, an organisation that had plenty of warning that a new pound coin was on the way, failed to update its lockers in its staff gym. According to the Telegraph, the gym has been forced to put signs up telling members to carry on using the old coins.
Customers are growing increasingly frustrated with the need to carry the correct change around with them. This frustration is only compounded by the new pound coin. That's why forward-thinking organisations have said that enough is enough.
Instead of spending many thousands of pounds jumping through hoops in order to keep existing equipment ticking over, an increasing number of businesses are taking advantage of new technologies and ditching the dodecagon for good. Codelocks has helped countless organisations across the education, healthcare, hospitality, retail and leisure industries upgrade their lockers from coin mechanisms.
Codelocks offers a variety of innovative coinless, keyless, and codeless locks that are suited to a wide range of applications. The KitLock KL1050, for example, is a multi-purpose smart card lock suited to almost any locker, cabinet or enclosure. It incorporates advanced programming capabilities and provides flexible access for end users.
A growing number of businesses are now enjoying the benefits that coinless solutions can offer. AirHop in Guildford is the first indoor trampoline park in the UK. The company was looking for a keyless lock solution to ensure the safety of its bouncing customers and found KitLock to be the perfect solution.
Similarly, the Hyatt Regency in Birmingham installed Codelocks KitLock on all of the lockers in its Amala Spa and leisure club.
"It's such a vast improvement on what we had before. It's so much more convenient and practical," explained Kerry Bond, assistant spa manager. "We've also had many comments on how smart the locks look; much more in keeping with the quality and service expected from our hotel."
Despite there being nearly 29 billion coins - of all denominations - in circulation in the UK, the days of coin-operated machines are numbered. We are moving to an increasingly cashless society and customers expect convenience every step of the way. If you're in the process of upgrading your equipment to accommodate the new pound coin and you are looking for a better way of doing things, get in touch with Codelocks for a solution that works best for your business, staff and customers.
26, May 2017