Saturday, March 19, 2011
Why do people use those coin-counting machines?
You've probably seen them in the grocery store. You dump your coins in and it gives you I think a ticket for the value of those coins minus about 10 percent. Now, these same grocery stores have registers where you can spend those coins for their full value. Alternately, they often have in-store bank branches that will take your coins for their face value. (They may require you to roll up those coins and count them yourself.) In any event, you don't have to pay a fee of 10 percent. So why do people willingly pay that fee?
5 comments:
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Two words - "legal tender".
ReplyDeleteCOINS:
Coins are legal tender throughout the United Kingdom for the following amount:
£5 (Crown) - for any amount
£2 - for any amount
£1 - for any amount
50p - for any amount not exceeding £10
25p (Crown) - for any amount not exceeding £10
20p - for any amount not exceeding £10
10p - for any amount not exceeding £5
5p - for any amount not exceeding £5
2p - for any amount not exceeding 20p
1p - for any amount not exceeding 20p
Source
ie you cannot pay for your weekly shopping with 1p coins
I have a very simple answer, sir: expediency. In the post, you acknowledge that tellers (or clerks, whichever the case may be) may require you to count it and roll it yourself. For some people, the ~10% loss is worth the time they didn't have to count 500 pennies only to end up with five bucks.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find particularly annoying is when those machines count your change with no charge, but instead require you to spend that money in the store (as is the case with Walmart).
Just my two cents (couldn't resist).
I do not think there are any similar restrictions on legal tender here in the U.S. For example: I believe you can settle a $1000 debt with a mass of nickels, though one would probably have to be rather miffed at a creditor to be motivated to do so.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, part of the reason behind my question is the fact that (again, in the U.S.) merchants do not make a habit of turning away large amounts of small change. If people had to pay the fee just to be able to spend their money, then I would understand why they did it.
Brazen:
I have never seen those machines. And I have never been in a WalMart. I do not wish even to darken their doors. But that's another tale.
For me that is for the time they save from counting instead of counting them all by yourself.
ReplyDeleteWhat make s it annoying here is that you are still required to count them again for checking in some stores.
coin counters
http://www.betterbusinesselectronics.com/Coin-Counters-c26/
There are people who’ve been storing a mass of coins and now, they've decided to spend them already. These coin counters will be a great help for them so that they can know how much they have. The 10% deducted by the coin counters is just as simple as the service fee that some tellers will charge you, especially if you’re going to go bulk. I guess it's better to use the coins in department stores that don't require a recount, since I know that these machines are checked and programmed for accuracy and high efficiency. :)
ReplyDeleteBankMartDirect.com