Betrayal, intrigue, rage. Money, inflation, a dead monarch. This is the story of the Woolworths Vegemite coins.
On May 17, the Royal Australian Mint announced that it had collabed with both Woolworths and Vegemite to create a new $2.00 coin set. One coin starred a jar of Vegemite, one featured toast, and one depicted a happy kid. All of these Woolworths’ coins were incredibly wholesome and received a warm public reception.
As one dude wrote on the Mint’s Facebook announcement, “Love the design, Royal Australian Mint. I can’t get enough of these.”
What’s more, these Woolworths Vegemite coins feature Queen Elizabeth II on the back of them. This is after the Royal Australian Mint claimed that this tradition was now in the bin.
However, the Vegemite hype wasn’t meant to last. Some Woolworth stores were allegedly not provided with enough coins and you couldn’t buy them online. The only way you were supposed to get a Woolworths Vegemite coin is by randomly winning one in your change at a till.
This led to some coin collectors not getting the shrapnel that they dreamed of.
“Woolworths Riverton in WA continues to advise they don’t have any every week,” claimed one collector on Facebook. “Like they don’t even know they exist.”
Plus, to add insult to injury, scalpers are selling these Vegemite coins for a killing. One person on Gumtree is even selling two bags of them for $400.
How did a person get so lucky to score so many Vegemite coins from a Woolworths? After all, these coins are supposed to be provided randomly. This behaviour is suspect as heck.
In a statement about this matter, Woolworth said, “The coins are a celebration of Vegemite’s centenary, and we do not encourage the resale of these items.”
“It is clearly unacceptable and does not meet our expectations, and those of the wider community. We would also like customers to be respectful to our team members.”
Woolworths Vegemite Coins: Should You Buy One Now?
If you’re besotted with these $2.00 Vegemite coins, please don’t buy them from a Gumtree scalper. Wait until they drop in value, which will most likely happen quite soon.
As per the Perth Numismatist* Joel Kandiah, not all of these coins are in circulation yet. This means that the resell price of this series is currently artificially inflated.
“Overall, it seems that a lot of people are missing out on a certain coin to complete the set,” explained Kandiah. “So, prices are currently pushing $5 a coin because people are desperate to complete their collection.”
“What people forget is, overall, there is a very low usage of cash, and there will probably be a decent amount of stock left over once the promotion finishes, then they’ll all be put into circulation through the security companies in the next month or so. It’s happened with every Woolworths release.”
*A numismatist is the official term for a coin expert.
Related: Woolies Vegemite Coins — How to Score One
Related: Asking For Money — Heaps of Aussies Are Doing It
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.
