Why is M&S unpatriotic?

Friday 20th May 2011, 3:00PM BST.

From Sylvia de Gruchy.
WHY is Marks and Spencer so unpatriotic towards Jersey’s economy? Whenever one shops at their stores and pays in cash one never receives one pound notes in return, always it is in English one pound coins.

Surely they know like the rest of us that it is beneficial to Jersey to use Jersey money. Wake up M&S, one pound notes are popular and lighter and the local people appear to prefer them and they boost the Jersey economy. Unless, of course, Marks and Spencer have a good reason to support the UK economy above ours.

Nick Steel, managing director Marks and Spencer Jersey, replies:
AS a business that has been trading in Jersey for more than 45 years, employing more than 400 people across six shops, it would be slightly unfair to say we’re not patriotic.

I’m sure your correspondent will understand we give out many thousands of pounds of change each week. If we have Jersey £1 notes in our tills they tend to be given out first, then we have to rely on the change we buy in from local banks which is received in bags of £20 and contains a mixture of Jersey and UK £1 coins.

To date, it has been difficult to buy in £1 notes in the volume we require. However, as a result of your correspondent’s letter and more effort being made by our banks and our staff, Jersey’s unique £1 notes will be readily available in all of our shops from early June.
PO Box 4, 54/58 King Street, St Helier.

1
Islander

May 20, 2011 at 4:02 pm

It was nice to see a positive response to the comment. I must say that I do not like those coins and much prefer the notes.

I had not noticed that problem when shopping at M&S as I always use plastic there.

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2
Spring Heeled Jack

May 20, 2011 at 4:21 pm

Thank goodness for that.
In these times of economic uncertainty, falling house prices and job insecurity, worldwide political instability, ill thought out foreign conflicts and not forgetting rising crime, I for one am relieved that Ms de Gruchy has managed to reduce the weight of her purse.

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3
Andy

May 20, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Is this letter a wind-up? Seriously, have people got nothing better to moan about?

£1 is a £1 – I don’t care if it’s a coin or a note.

All I can say is that this woman is a very lucky lady, a very lucky lady indeed, if this is all she has to worry about.

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4
A

May 20, 2011 at 5:43 pm

Wow – this is a really BIG problem?

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5
jerseygirlcapetown

May 21, 2011 at 9:18 am

On the flip side of the coin!

I go there to change my Jersey note/coins for english ones when I go overseas!
I usually ask for GBP10 worth , the girls are very helpful when i do this BUT Shhhhhhhh don’t tell anyone !

Just out of interest did you know exchange places overseas charge you more to change Jersey money than English!!!!!!!!!!

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6
Flymo

May 21, 2011 at 3:42 pm

@5 JGCP

Went to the Bureau de Change in Gatwick who gladly swapped a Jersey £10 for a Sterling note. No fee.

One of us must have been (un)lucky.

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7
sniffydog

May 23, 2011 at 11:13 pm

who cares. Jersey money stinks anyway, I would prefer UK money in my pocket any day of the week

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8
nigel

May 24, 2011 at 8:44 pm

Sniffydog 7
Don’t forget, Jersey actually has money in the bank to back it’s currency up. The UK has a big deficit therefore nothing to back its currency, it’s only paper, worthless.

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9
Pip Clement

May 25, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Jersey’s currency is guaranteed by the Bank of England and Jersey has to hold a deposit with the Bank of England equal to the amount of currency in circulation.
Also the island cannot borrow without the agreement of the Bank but this would probably be given if the request was reasonable.
Ultimately the pound sterling is a fiduciary currency, it has value because the government says that it does and we accept it as a medium of exchange, it has no intrinsic value.

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10
Goldie Yawn

May 25, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Nigel 8

Paper money is simply a receipt for Gold and, as far as I can gather, you are saying that Jersey has a sufficient gold reserve available to back its currency, right?

I wish I could be so sure. However, one thing I know for sure is that if everyone in the world tried to exchange their paper money for gold at the same time, only a fifth of the requests could be satisfied. This is because there’s over five times as much paper money in circulation as there is gold to back it…

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11
Pip Clement

May 25, 2011 at 11:28 pm

As far as I know the States of Jersey do not hold any significant gold reserves.
The Jersey pound is a fiduciary currency that is ultimately backed by the UK government and the Bank of England.
There is no gold to back GBP or any other major currency.
Jersey is full of bankers and smart financial people and we are still labouring over the long ago abandoned Gold Standard.

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