Coins are totally passe

[vito]

Why do we still bother with coins? There is hardly anything you can buy that costs less than a dollar, and I have enough crap in my pockets to not need the weight of coins rattling around in the bowels of my pants. When I am in my car, and get coins from a drive up fast food restaurant, or even when shopping at a regular store, I just throw all the coins into the cupholder space in my car. The other day, this deep cupholder was overflowing, so I scooped out the coins and put them into a plastic bag, and while at the bank for something else told the teller to just add this to my deposit. To my surprise she told me that they no longer accept loose coins, since it takes too much time to sort and roll them. I asked why they no longer had the machine that did this chore and she just said she had no idea, but that bank policy is that they can only accept rolled coins. She offered to give me a stack of paper rolls if I wanted them.

But all of this made me think, why do we bother, especially with pennies? Back in the late 1970's, about 40 years ago, when I was stationed in Germany, we stopped using American pennies. Prices in the PX and other American places were rounded to the nearest nickel so that the Army did not to be shipping heavy crates of pennies to their overseas areas. Nowadays, it seems all coins have become nuisances, and we should just do away with them. It might be a challenge for some vending machines and for some parking meters, but most machines seem to already be able to take dollar bills, and most newer parking meters will only accept a credit card.

Am I alone in this? As to sales tax, merchants could start pricing everything in terms of even dollars, with the tax built in, and then they could handle getting the right amount to the government.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Many places are doing without cash all together and requiring electronic payments. One state has made it a law that businesses have to accept cash.
https://www.patriotsoftware.com/accounting/training/blog/can-business-refuse-cash-is-it-legal/
https://money.cnn.com/2017/07/14/news/companies/visa-no-cash-restaurant-initiative/index.html
https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/03/nj-bans-stores-and-restaurants-from-refusing-to-accept-cash-from-customers.html

 

[bogus bill]

Many years ago my dad walked out of the village grocery store and seen some pennies on the ground. As he was picking them up he wondered to a old neighbor guy standing there, why someone would throw away change. A teen was standing there and said "aww ya cant buy anything with em". The old neighbor told the kid, "Someday ya will be back here looking for them pennies!"
To me, it`s almost sacrilegious to see a penny on the ground and not stoop over and pick it up. Health nuts will exercise bends touching the ground and yet wont bend over to pick up a penny? A PI for a insurance company will put some coins on a victims door step and will wait to take a picture of them bending over to pick it up.
I am fat, old and have gout and arthritis and to me my "honor" raising or whatever you want to call it, will make me stoop over to pick up a penny and for me it is a effort.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

I will not bend over to pick up a penny. So I throw down a dime next to it then pick both of them up Yep I will bend over to pick up a dime. :wink:

Vito, Next time you are about to get change back, tell them to keep the change.

 

[vito]

"Vito, Next time you are about to get change back, tell them to keep the change.[/quote]

I can't quite get myself to do that just yet. In a restaurant, I always estimate the tip, usually 20%, then round the total with the tip to the next higher dollar if I am paying in cash, just to avoid getting change. If the change is just pennies, I always leave them in the "penny dish" for other customers. But I still accept my change if it includes nickels or higher coins, then I complain about all the coins!

 

[Dan in MI]

I have no issues with coins.

Vito give this a shot. I've been doing it for years. I do not spend quarters. When I get change the quarters go in a separate container. In my truck there is a cup for quarters in the console. All other change hits the cup holder. Next time I hit a drive through I use the change in the cup holder as much as possible to make exact change. If I can't I don't bother and keep refilling the cup holders. Although I do like making it come out to the even quarters so I get more quarters. Plus it's fun to watch the cashier freak out trying to do the math. :lol:

The quarters eventually end up in a mayonnaise jar. I don't remember the exact figure a jar holds but I generally cash it out at $150-175. Nice down payment on a Ruger for no real effort.

Then, I also separate copper pennies from zinc's. (as I call them) copper gets saved, zinc's go back out in circulation.

 

[bogus bill]

Got to say in the bible it tells about the last days where there wont be any cash used and in a way describes that we will have to have the back of our hand or forehead stamped with a (bar code ID 666!) ???
I was brought up as a fundamentalist christian by the most conservative father and some of it did rub off on me.

 

[Cholo]

Whenever they talk about eliminating pennies the people squall. Take 1969 for example. It takes 7¢ today to equal 1¢ in '69. I don't recall griping that we needed a 1/7th cent coin back then. I wish they'd do away with them, but good luck with that. Prices wouldn't be rounded to the nearest nickel. They would all be rounded up, so it's not likely to happen any time soon.

I've visited 6 Latin American countries, Mexico not one of them. I believe they all had the tax built in on things you'd buy in a store. If it said 10,000 Colombian pesos (about $5) you paid 10,000 pesos. I don't recall, but I think tax was added in restaurants and hotels.

I never leave my house with change, and $1 bills I stack in a drawer to use for tips when I go to a restaurant. They take up too much room in my wallet to be worth carrying around. I'm not willing for an item that costs $1.50 to be rounded up to $2 by eliminating all coins, even though 50¢ today was 7¢ in '69.

It is odd how we somehow value a penny when it's worth next to nothing. In Peru they have a small silver 1¢ coin that's so worthless even the poor people only want them to use in making jewelry.

 

[GunnyGene]

Old silver quarters (1932-1964) are worth about $3.50 and up, depending on grade/rarity. Might be worth your time to check the dates on them before you hand them over at face value.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Vito, Next time you are about to get change back,
tell them to keep the change.

 

[bogus bill]

I guess I am living in the dark ages. I remember doing the hardest most miserable work of my life as a kid in the early 1950`s in the fields alongside the Bracero`s for like 35 to 50 cents a hour. You dont forget that. Maybe that`s why I think it a sin not to stoop over to pick up a penny.

 

[mike campbell]

... I just throw all the coins into the cupholder space in my car.... .

This is what I use to pay at drivethrus. Gives me something to do while in those long lines. No need to unbuckle, go digging for the wallet and probably wind up with more change. In fact, I get rolls of dollar coins at the bank to add to the cup in my door.

A cup of McDonald's coffee is $1.08 in my neck of the woods. It amuses me to see the cashiers struggle with the concept of a dollar coin. Had one young fella try to argue he wasn't allowed to accept them :!: He eventually learned he must accept valid American currency.

I also use them for the rare toll booth I go thru. Always a few in my pocket, too. Two or three of them takes care of the tip most times.

 

[RoninPA]

I empty the change in my pockets every night (sometimes even several times per day depending on circumstances). Before I started separating them, every thing but pennies went into quart mason jars. I probably have ten full ones. Then I started separating them by denominations. I have 2 or 3 quart jars individually filled with them. I have a vase - 8" diameter by 24" tall that is filled within 2 inches of the top with pennies only (no wheaties though, I look at the pennies before tossing them into that vase). I also look for unique looking old bottles and fill them with change (Jack Daniels bottles work great for dimes).

Then every so often I take the pennies to a local bank where they have a coin counter that bags the coins by denomination and gives you a receipt to take to the teller to convert to paper money or to deposit that amount in your account. My dad did this also and now gives the great grandkids (3) each a full quart jar (no pennies) at Christmas.

 

[vito]

You might want to check with your bank to see if they still have the change machine. Both banks I work with will not accept loose change. Jars full of coins could be a good amount of effort if you have to count and roll them yourself.

 

[RUFFBIRD]

Best thing canada ever done was get rid of the penny! They were a pain to carry in the pockets...
Nickels are next. I hope...

 

[SAJohn]

A dime today is worth what a penny was back in the 50's. I suggest we do away with the penny and nickel. Last year it cost us about $135 million over face value to mint these two coins.

 

[RoninPA]

I don't disagree with this ^^^^ at all. The military stopped using pennies overseas a long time ago due to shipping costs.

Although then the advertisers couldn't tout (in announcer voice) "less the 20 dollars" - yeah, right, it's $19.99

In fact, they probably should discontinue the $1 bill and make a concerted effort to get people to use the dollar coin. In savings the US would come out way ahead due to the wear out rate of the coin versus the bill.

 

[Selena]

I don't disagree with this ^^^^ at all. The military stopped using pennies overseas a long time ago due to shipping costs.

Although then the advertisers couldn't tout (in announcer voice) "less the 20 dollars" - yeah, right, it's $19.99

In fact, they probably should discontinue the $1 bill and make a concerted effort to get people to use the dollar coin. In savings the US would come out way ahead due to the wear out rate of the coin versus the bill.

Oh please don't tell me you advocate bringing back that god-awful Susan B Anthony dollar coin! They may be cheaper for the government but they are far more expensive for business.

 

[Dan in MI]

I empty the change in my pockets every night (sometimes even several times per day depending on circumstances). Before I started separating them, every thing but pennies went into quart mason jars. I probably have ten full ones. Then I started separating them by denominations. I have 2 or 3 quart jars individually filled with them. I have a vase - 8" diameter by 24" tall that is filled within 2 inches of the top with pennies only (no wheaties though, I look at the pennies before tossing them into that vase). I also look for unique looking old bottles and fill them with change (Jack Daniels bottles work great for dimes).

Then every so often I take the pennies to a local bank where they have a coin counter that bags the coins by denomination and gives you a receipt to take to the teller to convert to paper money or to deposit that amount in your account. My dad did this also and now gives the great grandkids (3) each a full quart jar (no pennies) at Christmas.

This reminded me of when we first married. My wife was a waitress so we have lots of change. Quarters were rolled and used immediately. Other coins were deposited in booze bottles. I can tell you that a fifth of dimes is $130 and fifth of nickels is $85. I don't remember pennies. They were such a pain that they just got transferred to 1/2 gallon bottles.

A tip for rolling coins if you don't have a change counter. Get some coin tubes from a coin collector shop. Count and fill the tube a couple times to make sure you know the fill line and then just start filling and a rolling.

Old silver quarters (1932-1964) are worth about $3.50 and up, depending on grade/rarity. Might be worth your time to check the dates on them before you hand them over at face value.

Gunny, I haven't found silver in my change in about 10 years now, but I always look. Learned that from my paper route as a kid.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Old silver quarters (1932-1964) are worth about $3.50 and up, depending on grade/rarity. Might be worth your time to check the dates on them before you hand them over at face value.

Silver dimes (pre-1965) are worth something, too. And both them and silver quarters are worth more than face value from silver content alone.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Oh please don't tell me you advocate bringing back that god-awful Susan B Anthony dollar coin! They may be cheaper for the government but they are far more expensive for business.

Hi,

Kiosks at the train stations out here give all the change in dollar coins. I didn't realize that when it first started, as I don't ride the trains, but noticed more Susan Bs circulating around. A client who does ride the trains told me about the machines...

As for taking loose change, that seems to be more and more a policy at banks and credit unions here. Dunno what my credit union does with change, but when, faced with taking a rather large deposit, all cash, they told me my branch doesn't even have a bill counting machine, I was astonished. I didn't bother them with deposit.

Rick C

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I used to always keep change in my pocket when I left the house so I could make or almost make the exact change when I bought something. Now-a-days I don't keep any change in my pockets because I always use plastic, except sometimes I take a couple of quarters with me just in case. Any change I pick up during the day gets put in a tub for the bank.

 

[Cholo]

My middle daughter used to work at convenience stores. She's got a pile of silver coins. A cholo, I mean redneck, would raid his grandparents silver coins to buy beer and smokes. She had a box full. I had many I've collected over the years and they were just sitting in a drawer. I gave them to her along with my silver certificates. She'll enjoy them a lot more than I would have.

Rick, it's baffling that your CU didn't have a bill counting machine. Do they have computers? :mrgreen:

 

[RoninPA]

Oh please don't tell me you advocate bringing back that god-awful Susan B Anthony dollar coin! They may be cheaper for the government but they are far more expensive for business.

Selena, Oh heavens NO, the mint made a huge mistake when they made those the size that they are. I would go with something larger than a quarter, maybe a little bigger than a half dollar, but it could also be a little smaller than a half dollar as you really don't see them (half dollars) in circulation (at least I haven't for a good many years now and I traveled all over the US in my past job), but definitely bigger than what they are now, too much confusion.

I was at a store one time and the cashier was giving me my change and apologized that she didn't have any quarters and would I mind getting dimes. I didn't care. She was counting them out and one fell hitting the counter and gave off an odd sound. I knew it was a silver dime. All of the dimes she gave me were silver. I asked here if she wanted to get rid of the dimes in her drawer (the dime compartment was full). She said gladly, otherwise she would have to count all of them at the end of shift, which was coming up. She emptied the drawer and we counted $10 plus a few in dimes. I gave her a $10 bill and checked the leftovers, they were not silver so she got them back. She said some old guy came in and paid for his stuff with the dimes. Later at home I checked them all out and ended up with 89 silver dimes, which I still have.

Dan in MI, I got 2 silver quarters in change about a month ago from a restaurant. I always look my change over before it goes into the jars/vases/bottles to see if there is any silver or wheat (or Indian head) pennies. And yes I have gotten Indian head pennies in change, last one was about a year ago.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Those who like to collect circulated coins really need to pay attention to nickels. They are the only denomination other than pennies that allows you to easily find older coins because since they were never silver, except for a very few WWII years, nobody pays any attention to them in their pocket change. It's not at all surprising to find Jefferson nickels clear back to the first year of issue 1938, and even the older "buffalo" coins. They may be pretty worn, but they're still of interest. Everybody looks for the "wheat" and "Indian head" pennies, so they're tougher to find.

 

[pete44ru]

.

My wife & I take ALL our pocket change/coins and insert them into rolls, which we cash in @ a bank for paper money.


(home coin sorter @ WallyWorld for $8)

 

[GRAMPS 51]

Hi back in the 90s when I was delivering gas to gas stations I would pick up coins around pay phones well in one year I picked up $106 dollars just in pennies and almost that much in other coins I am retired now but I still pick them up

Gramps

 

[Dan in MI]

Those who like to collect circulated coins really need to pay attention to nickels.

Stop giving away my secrets! :lol:

War nickels are the only silver coins I have found lately.

I hear about the guys that hit a store right after some miscreant that swiped Grandpa's change jug was there, but haven't been lucky enough to be there myself. My brother got four ten dollar silver certificates when the cashier balked at the counterfit money he was given.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

We had a store nearby that had one of those machines you dump your change into and it gives you paper currency - but it takes a percentage off the top, I think it was about 7-8%, IIRC. Not sure if it's still there, I rarely ever go to that grocery store.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Hi back in the 90s when I was delivering gas to gas stations I would pick up coins around pay phones . . . Gramps

Just trying to recall the last time I saw a pay 'phone.

:wink: