Change is useless, how to solve? (1 Viewer)

[fantasycurse42]

Change is absolutely useless - Is there any solution outside of rounding up/down? When something costs $xx.27, I'll use my card specifically to avoid having the change.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to eliminate change?

 

[Cjw_55106]

Not a big enough issue for me to tackle.

 

[BowieMercs]

Send me all your change. TIA

 

[chet]

Put it in the tip/donate jar that most retail establishments have next to the register or drop it in your purse.

/thread

 

[Ministry of Pain]

When did we start using coins?

 

[Ned]

Rich people problems.

 

[lod01]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

So all coinstar's are 100%? I see 3 within driving distance. My freaking jar weighs a ton right now.

 

[fantasycurse42]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

So all coinstar's are 100%? I see 3 within driving distance. My freaking jar weighs a ton right now.

If I read it properly, getting an Amazon gift card is 100% (they prob have some type of deal in place with Amazon)... Straight cash has to have a fee, I would assume.

 

[Cjw_55106]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

So all coinstar's are 100%? I see 3 within driving distance. My freaking jar weighs a ton right now.

The one I saw was free if you banked at whatever bank was inside the grocery store where I saw it.

I take mine to my bank to get it counted, so its free.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Daughter's Brownie troop is having each girl collect change over the course of the school year and will be doing something charitable with the money that the troop collects in the spring.

Great activity for the little girls.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Semi-related question, when you go out to dinner (or delivery), do you make your tip have the amount of change so that when added to the subtotal your total is an even number?

example:

$55.43 - Subtotal

$11.57 - Tip

$67.00 - Total

 

[lod01]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

So all coinstar's are 100%? I see 3 within driving distance. My freaking jar weighs a ton right now.

The one I saw was free if you banked at whatever bank was inside the grocery store where I saw it.

I take mine to my bank to get it counted, so its free.

Coinstars are no-fee for giftcard options. They charge a percentage for straight cash.

Giftcard options include: Amazon, AMC, Applebees, Bass Pro Shops, Best Buy, Build-A-Bear, Chili's, ColdStone, Forever 21, GameStop, Home Depot, IHOP, iTunes, Lowes, Nike, Old Navy, Red Robin, Real Cinemas, Sears, Sephora, Sports Authority, Southwest Airlines, Staples, Starbucks, and Toys-R-Us.

Options vary at each machine, but at the coinstar website they'll tell you which machines offer which Ecards. The count receipt will have a code you type into the website. For Amazon you can just add the funds to your account and draw off later as you spend.

Ok, so those companies are footing the bill for the machine to sit there in the hopes they get picked for the gift card. Thanks. Lowe's it is.

 

[lod01]

Semi-related question, when you go out to dinner (or delivery), do you make your tip have the amount of change so that when added to the subtotal your total is an even number?

example:

$55.43 - Subtotal

$11.57 - Tip

$67.00 - Total

Yep.

 

[Sinn Fein]

The only constant is change.

 

[Kanil]

My 4yo gets a kick out of taking my change and putting it into his piggy bank. I rarely use cash but when I do I always give him my change. I bet he has $100 in that pig. Going to use it to teach him about saving and the value of $$$ once it gets full.

 

[tonydead]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

 

[hagmania]

Semi-related question, when you go out to dinner (or delivery), do you make your tip have the amount of change so that when added to the subtotal your total is an even number?

example:

$55.43 - Subtotal

$11.57 - Tip

$67.00 - Total

Nope, 20% of tab and then always rounded up.

 

[tonydead]

The only real argument I've heard for keeping change is rounding tax and price increase. Theory is that prices and the tax you pay will increase because everyone will round up. This wouldn't be an equal to everyone change as the cost increases will be felt more heavily by poor people.

 

[fantasycurse42]

So does everyone here like change?

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

When I first read this, I somehow skipped over the "Amazon" and had the impression you were cashing in your coins then completing all your Christmas shopping at the grocery store.

I found this idea rather appealing...

 

[tonydead]

If you're one of those people who like to roll their own change use a small digital scale and do it by weight.

 

[tjnc09]

Put it in the tip/donate jar that most retail establishments have next to the register or drop it in your purse.

/thread

That's what I always do. But when the bill is $9.96 and I give them a $10, I am

 

[fantasycurse42]

Put it in the tip/donate jar that most retail establishments have next to the register or drop it in your purse.

/thread

That's what I always do. But when the bill is $9.96 and I give them a $10, I am

I always leave an extra .74 to the cashier at Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, and the like... Typically I'll say "keep the change you filthy animal".

 

[RUSF18]

Semi-related question, when you go out to dinner (or delivery), do you make your tip have the amount of change so that when added to the subtotal your total is an even number?

example:

$55.43 - Subtotal

$11.57 - Tip

$67.00 - Total

No. That usually ends with them having to make their own change from the register.

 

[tjnc09]

Put it in the tip/donate jar that most retail establishments have next to the register or drop it in your purse.

/thread

That's what I always do. But when the bill is $9.96 and I give them a $10, I am

I always leave an extra .74 to the cashier at Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, and the like... Typically I'll say "keep the change you filthy animal".

Then before you go into a store where you plan on purchasing with cash, grab four pennies, two nickels, a dime and three quarters from your $100k pimpmobile.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Put it in the tip/donate jar that most retail establishments have next to the register or drop it in your purse.

/thread

That's what I always do. But when the bill is $9.96 and I give them a $10, I am

I always leave an extra .74 to the cashier at Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy's, and the like... Typically I'll say "keep the change you filthy animal".

Then before you go into a store where you plan on purchasing with cash, grab four pennies, two nickels, a dime and three quarters from your $100k pimpmobile.

I was simply illustrating that Chet's point was for very one dimensional situations. Grabbing / carrying that change defeats my point of hating change.

Pimpmobile now has a backseat with two carseats in it, no longer a pimpmobile

 

[fantasycurse42]

We can start small...

Can everyone agree pennies are completely useless?

 

[NREC34]

We can start small...

Can everyone agree pennies are completely useless?

If I can't at least use it to buy out of a vending machine it's useless.

 

[Ilov80s]

I'm at the point where I just put quarters in the "leave-penny-take-penny" thing in the rare times I use money. It's just not worth it.

 

[Rove!]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

So all coinstar's are 100%? I see 3 within driving distance. My freaking jar weighs a ton right now.

If I read it properly, getting an Amazon gift card is 100% (they prob have some type of deal in place with Amazon)... Straight cash has to have a fee, I would assume.

Wow. I did not know this...excellent

 

[Rove!]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

 

[ChiefD]

My kids and I cash out our change a couple times of year and go buy groceries for our local food bank. Plenty of hungry kids around here to feed.

 

[nirad3]

My 4yo gets a kick out of taking my change and putting it into his piggy bank. I rarely use cash but when I do I always give him my change. I bet he has $100 in that pig. Going to use it to teach him about saving and the value of $$$ once it gets full.

+1.... I use coins of various denominations as "good girl coins". If I come home and her mom says she's been good all day I let her pick a couple and drop them into one of her THREE banks

 

[FUBAR]

I don't use cash often enough to care about change. But my kids love earning it when I have some.

 

[sports_fan]

If you hate it that much just use your card for everything

 

[Mors Venit]

If you hate it that much just use your card for everything

Most places have a minimum. They add up.

 

[The General]

My bank has a thing that allows you to round up all purchases puts the change into a savings account.

 

[DallasDMac]

If you hate it that much just use your card for everything

I simply never use cash. Never even carry any. Then again, I'm not an impulse buyer, so never have those $2-$3 purchases.

 

[tonydead]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

It's 6 cents of cost they paid when the employee could have been doing something else, like helping the next customer. It is a loss.

 

[Christo]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

It's 6 cents of cost they paid when the employee could have been doing something else, like helping the next customer. It is a loss.

WTF?

 

[skol asylum]

Semi-related question, when you go out to dinner (or delivery), do you make your tip have the amount of change so that when added to the subtotal your total is an even number?

example:

$55.43 - Subtotal

$11.57 - Tip

$67.00 - Total

Yep.

Nope. Round up on the tip.

 

[parasaurolophus]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

It's 6 cents of cost they paid when the employee could have been doing something else, like helping the next customer. It is a loss.

You would have to prove that customers are walking out of the store because lines are too long.

Delays in lines are far more likely to be caused by people being confused about the price of something, somebody's credit card won't work, a computer froze, or tons of other situations, not because the cashier has to hand out a dime, a nickel, and two pennies.

Otherwise a cashier is a fixed cost. When they aren't ringing people up, they aren't cleaning the bathroom. They are waiting for the next person to come to the checkout. So if you eliminate the few seconds it takes to count out change at an expense, you will not get an ROI on that expense.

 

[Peyton Marino]

I love change. I empty my pockets every day into a tupperware container in my sock drawer. Then, in December, I take it to the Coinstar at the grocery store and turn all that useless change into an Amazon giftcard. No counting fee, I get the full value. Load up the card then do all my Christmas shopping at once. Everyone's taken care of in one day, with leftover money from elsewhere. Done.

you broke the ####### game bro!

 

[tonydead]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

It's 6 cents of cost they paid when the employee could have been doing something else, like helping the next customer. It is a loss.

You would have to prove that customers are walking out of the store because lines are too long.Delays in lines are far more likely to be caused by people being confused about the price of something, somebody's credit card won't work, a computer froze, or tons of other situations, not because the cashier has to hand out a dime, a nickel, and two pennies.

Otherwise a cashier is a fixed cost. When they aren't ringing people up, they aren't cleaning the bathroom. They are waiting for the next person to come to the checkout. So if you eliminate the few seconds it takes to count out change at an expense, you will not get an ROI on that expense.

FAIL

Take it from someone who manages people for a living if you're people are standing around "waiting" for the next thing to do, you are losing money. If you don't have a plan to keep your people busy every second they are on the clock you won't be as profitable as someone who does. It's not a fixed cost. Never has been.

 

[Christo]

You used to be able to take all your coins to the casino to get counted.

I made a purchase that came to a total of $30.01. All I had was twenties so I gave the clerk two and she counted my change of $9.99. Assuming that the clerk makes $10.00 per hour and that it would have taken her 5 seconds to just hand me back a $10 versus 25 seconds to count out $9.99 the store just spent 6 cents to make 1 cent. Also, it costs more than a penny to even make a penny. The penny is useless and wasteful. I'd prefer we at least round to the nearest quarter.

The store didn't spend any differently for giving you a ten v counting out 9.99. The employee wage is a fixed cost.

It's 6 cents of cost they paid when the employee could have been doing something else, like helping the next customer. It is a loss.

You would have to prove that customers are walking out of the store because lines are too long.Delays in lines are far more likely to be caused by people being confused about the price of something, somebody's credit card won't work, a computer froze, or tons of other situations, not because the cashier has to hand out a dime, a nickel, and two pennies.

Otherwise a cashier is a fixed cost. When they aren't ringing people up, they aren't cleaning the bathroom. They are waiting for the next person to come to the checkout. So if you eliminate the few seconds it takes to count out change at an expense, you will not get an ROI on that expense.

FAIL

Take it from someone who manages people for a living if you're people are standing around "waiting" for the next thing to do, you are losing money. If you don't have a plan to keep your people busy every second they are on the clock you won't be as profitable as someone who does. It's not a fixed cost. Never has been.