GBP 720m in unused foreign currency brought back to UK

The Post Office is offering returning holidaymakers the chance to donate their leftover foreign coins to national charity Help the Hospices.

Collection boxes are now on the counters of 600 Post Office branches across the UK – allowing holidaymakers to get rid of unused foreign coins and raise funds for charity at the same time.

New figures out today from Post Office®Travel Services reveal that over GBP 720 million was brought back to the UK last year in leftover foreign currency.* When asked what they did with the cash, less than three in ten holidaymakers (29 per cent) actually changed it back into pounds sterling and just under a quarter (23 per cent) said they put it to good use on their next holiday.

Of the rest, nearly a third of people (30 per cent) simply stashed leftover foreign currency at home unused. One in 50 said they planned to use the money on a next holiday but could not find it when the time came. Just three per cent said they had donated the leftover cash to charity.

The foreign coin collection is the latest initiative in the three-year partnership between Royal Mail Group and Help the Hospices, which has raised over GBP 1.1 million since it began in March 2005.

The Post Office is the largest bureau de change provider in the UK with a 25 per cent market share. Customers can buy euros over the counter at over 7,000 “on demand” branches and a selection of other currencies at 1,400 branches. All 14,000 Post Offices offer a next-day currency collection service.