4 ms·

I also remember the coin operated tellys. Yes, every 6 months or there abouts the coiny-telly man would come about to collect the coins. It was a real hassle, a

I also remember the coin operated tellys. Yes, every 6 months or there abouts the coiny-telly man would come about to collect the coins. It was a real hassle, as you had to be at your flat all that day. Otherwise, the coiny-telly man would just pass you up. Thing was, the little bin that the coins fell into would fill up every 9 months or so. So, if the coiny-telly man passed you up, you'd have to ration when you could watch TV. I remember the first time my mum made this mistake and the bin got filled. My pa was so angry that he didn't get to watch Emmerdale Farm and Whizz-Bizz that night as no more would fit in the machine. Well, we never made that mistake again.

gambiting 7y ago
I honestly can't tell if this is satire or not.
- celticninja 7y ago
  It sounds a bit four Yorkshire men but these TVs and this service did exist.
- dylan604 7y ago
  Black Mirror is amazing because of this. I absolutely love British humor or is it humour?
- soneil 7y ago
  I've never seen a coin-op TV, but "back when I were a lad" we had electricity on the same principle. IIRC (and this is dark & distant memory) it started off coin-op and transitioned to cards you had to buy from local stores.
- coldtea 7y ago
  Not sure about emptying them, but the TVs with coin slots where a thing in the UK: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fe1b0e302-960e-11e6-9cf8-8194c22ea509.jpg?crop=1470%2C827%2C15%2C8&resize=685 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes... Not for the BBC license though: it was when TVs where expensive (in the 60s and 70s) and so some people could just rent one. Probably sounds alien to US people, but UK was much poorer country, especially in workers areas...
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    They were originally a US innovation that were imported and duplicated in the UK! See my sibling link. First thought of by the US International Telemeter Corporation in the late 40s or very early 50s.
  - nmstoker 7y ago
    You're right to highlight the point about the UK's former lack of wealth (as it's not obvious), but I was amused by the reference to "workers areas" - presumably "working class areas" as people have worked in pretty much all populated areas of the country since time immemorial.
    - coldtea 7y ago
      Yes, working class, or worker as opposed to executive, office employee, etc...
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  It's real. The TV rental companies had a range of approaches, one of which was the very expensive option of a coin operated TV. Another common way to pay was by book and visit the TV rental shop weekly to pay a little. If you had one of the coin ops, chances are your electric and gas were on coin operated meters too - with the landlord of your flat or bedsit setting their own markup on that meter... https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/cointv/ https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/cointv/ Edit: To add some context: Don't forget it was still common for people to be paid in cash, weekly. For those on lower incomes paying a monthly rental was often difficult and many of those cash employees had no need of a bank account. So weekly payments at the shop, collection agents and other options like coin op were far more common. You might get a visit every year or two to pay premiums on something like a life assurance policy, and a little hand written book was your only record of payment.
  - YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
    >> If you had one of the coin ops, chances are your electric and gas were on coin operated meters too - with the landlord of your flat or bedsit setting their own markup on that meter... Some friends of mine who lived in London had an electricity meter that they had to recharge with cards they got from the corner shop. This was in 2005 or so. Do you know how common this is in London, or the rest of the UK, nowadays? At the time I had found it at the very least a huge hassle. It was one of those things when I first got to the UK that I just couldn't comprehend. Another one: when I got my first check from my job at the time (working at a warehouse) I went to the bank to collect it and the bank said I had to wait for a week to make sure the check wouldn't bounce and I think to ensure I wasn't money laundering. I couldn't believe what they were telling me, so I asked the people I worked with who confirmed it. Except, they said it wasn't a big deal: you just go to a shop, give them the check and they give you 80% of your salary. So you don't have to wait for a week. So wait, I work all week, then the bank will treat me as a potential criminal and some financial parasite will suck off 20% of my salary as a consequence? And the people I worked with just shrugged it off. It was considered just normal. I told people Back Home (in Greece) about all this and they just didn't believe me.
    - 7y ago

gambiting 7y ago

I honestly can't tell if this is satire or not.

celticninja 7y ago
It sounds a bit four Yorkshire men but these TVs and this service did exist.
dylan604 7y ago
Black Mirror is amazing because of this. I absolutely love British humor or is it humour?
soneil 7y ago
I've never seen a coin-op TV, but "back when I were a lad" we had electricity on the same principle. IIRC (and this is dark & distant memory) it started off coin-op and transitioned to cards you had to buy from local stores.
coldtea 7y ago
Not sure about emptying them, but the TVs with coin slots where a thing in the UK: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2Fe1b0e302-960e-11e6-9cf8-8194c22ea509.jpg?crop=1470%2C827%2C15%2C8&resize=685 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes... Not for the BBC license though: it was when TVs where expensive (in the 60s and 70s) and so some people could just rent one. Probably sounds alien to US people, but UK was much poorer country, especially in workers areas...
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  They were originally a US innovation that were imported and duplicated in the UK! See my sibling link. First thought of by the US International Telemeter Corporation in the late 40s or very early 50s.
- nmstoker 7y ago
  You're right to highlight the point about the UK's former lack of wealth (as it's not obvious), but I was amused by the reference to "workers areas" - presumably "working class areas" as people have worked in pretty much all populated areas of the country since time immemorial.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    Yes, working class, or worker as opposed to executive, office employee, etc...
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
It's real. The TV rental companies had a range of approaches, one of which was the very expensive option of a coin operated TV. Another common way to pay was by book and visit the TV rental shop weekly to pay a little. If you had one of the coin ops, chances are your electric and gas were on coin operated meters too - with the landlord of your flat or bedsit setting their own markup on that meter... https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/cointv/ https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/cointv/ Edit: To add some context: Don't forget it was still common for people to be paid in cash, weekly. For those on lower incomes paying a monthly rental was often difficult and many of those cash employees had no need of a bank account. So weekly payments at the shop, collection agents and other options like coin op were far more common. You might get a visit every year or two to pay premiums on something like a life assurance policy, and a little hand written book was your only record of payment.
- YeGoblynQueenne 7y ago
  >> If you had one of the coin ops, chances are your electric and gas were on coin operated meters too - with the landlord of your flat or bedsit setting their own markup on that meter... Some friends of mine who lived in London had an electricity meter that they had to recharge with cards they got from the corner shop. This was in 2005 or so. Do you know how common this is in London, or the rest of the UK, nowadays? At the time I had found it at the very least a huge hassle. It was one of those things when I first got to the UK that I just couldn't comprehend. Another one: when I got my first check from my job at the time (working at a warehouse) I went to the bank to collect it and the bank said I had to wait for a week to make sure the check wouldn't bounce and I think to ensure I wasn't money laundering. I couldn't believe what they were telling me, so I asked the people I worked with who confirmed it. Except, they said it wasn't a big deal: you just go to a shop, give them the check and they give you 80% of your salary. So you don't have to wait for a week. So wait, I work all week, then the bank will treat me as a potential criminal and some financial parasite will suck off 20% of my salary as a consequence? And the people I worked with just shrugged it off. It was considered just normal. I told people Back Home (in Greece) about all this and they just didn't believe me.
  - 7y ago