Editing Decimal Day (section)

===After Decimal Day===
Because of extensive preparations and the publicity campaigns organised by the British government, Decimal Day itself went smoothly. Some criticism – such as the fact that the [[British half penny coin|new halfpenny coin]] was relatively small, and that some traders had taken advantage of the transition to raise their prices – were levelled, despite the fact that in the latter case, overall price adjustments slightly favoured the consumer.{{Cn|date=November 2019}} Some used new pennies as sixpences in vending machines.<ref name=autogenerated1>''All Change'', p. 23</ref> After 15 February, shops continued to accept payment in old coins but always issued change in new coins. The old coins were then returned to banks, and so most of them were quickly taken out of circulation.

The new [[halfpenny (British decimal coin)|halfpenny]], [[penny (British decimal coin)|penny]], and [[two pence (British decimal coin)|twopence]] coins were introduced on 15 February 1971. Within two weeks of Decimal Day, the [[penny (British pre-decimal coin)|old penny]] (1d) and [[threepence (British coin)|old threepence]] (3d) coins had left circulation, and [[sixpence (British coin)|old sixpences]] had become somewhat rare.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> On 31 August 1971, the 1d and 3d were officially withdrawn from circulation, ending the transition period to decimal currency.<ref>''All Change'', p. 9, 20</ref>

The government intended that in speech, the new units would be called "new pence"; however, the British public quickly began to refer to pennies as "pee" when shortened, with "10p" pronounced as "ten pee" instead of "ten new pence". Other shortenings previously common, such as "tuppence", were now rarely heard, and terms such as "tanner" (used for the silver [[sixpence (British coin)|sixpence]]), which previously designated amounts of money, were no longer used.{{Cn|date=April 2020}} However, some [[Slang terms for money#United Kingdom|slang terms]], such as "quid" and "bob", previously used for pounds and shillings respectively, survived from predecimal times. Amounts denominated in [[guinea (British coin)|guinea]]s (21s or £1.05) were reserved still for specialist transactions, and continued to be used in the sale of horses and at some auctions, amongst others.

[[File:Decimal adder.jpg|thumb|A "Decimal Adder"]]

The public information campaign over the preceding two years helped, as well as the trick of getting a rough conversion of new pence into old shillings and pence by simply doubling the number of new pence and placing a [[solidus (punctuation)|solidus]], or slash, between the digits: 17p multiplied by 2&nbsp;=&nbsp;34, – approximately equal to 3/4 ("three and four", or three shillings and four pence), with a similar process for the reverse conversion.{{cn|date=December 2020}} The willingness of Britain's younger population to embrace decimalisation also helped, with elderly people having greater difficulty in adapting; the phrase "How much is that in old money?", or even "How much is that in real money?" became associated with those who struggled with the change, before in the following decades coming to refer to conversions between metric and imperial weights and measures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/old-money|title=old-money noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes|website=Oxford Learner's Dictionaries|access-date=23 November 2017|archive-date=20 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120084804/http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/old-money|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.downthelane.net/extras/2012/08/23/whats-that-in-old-money/|title=Extra's – What's that in old Money?|website=downthelane.net|access-date=23 November 2017|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805141530/http://www.downthelane.net/extras/2012/08/23/whats-that-in-old-money/|url-status=live}}</ref> In shops from Decimal Day onwards, new stock would be universally priced in 'new money', though in smaller shops such as newsagents, it was still possible to find stock priced in £sd for several years after 1971; however, remaining stock priced in £sd would still be charged in its equivalent in decimal currency.

Around Decimal Day, "Decimal Adders" and other converters were available to help people convert between the old and new coins. The following is a table showing conversions between the decimal and pre-decimal systems.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan = 2 | Pre-decimal !! rowspan=2 | Decimal
|-
!Common name !! Amount<br/>(shillings/pence)
|-
| '''(new) pence''' || || 1p = £0.01
|-
| Farthing || <small>{{sfrac|1|4}}</small>d. || <small>{{sfrac|1|48}}</small>s ≈ 0.104p
|-
| Halfpenny || <small>{{sfrac|1|2}}</small>d. || <small>{{sfrac|1|24}}</small>s ≈ 0.208p
|-
| Penny || 1d. || <small>{{sfrac|1|12}}</small>s ≈ 0.417p
|-
| Threepence || 3d. || 1<small>{{sfrac|1|4}}</small>p
|-
| Sixpence || 6d. || 2<small>{{sfrac|1|2}}</small>p
|-
| Shilling || 1/- || 5p
|-
| Florin/Two shillings || 2/- || 10p
|-
| Half crown || 2/6d. || 12<small>{{sfrac|1|2}}</small>p
|-
| Crown || 5/- || 25p
|-
| '''Pound''' || 20/- || £1 = 100p
|-
| Guinea || 21/- || £1.05 = 105p
|}