saving loose change (merged)

moggins

Decisions, decisions! I have £15 change now do I take a trip into town and spend £1.20 on parking or do I go to Asda (free parking) and change it in the machine which will cost me £1.12?

I can't remember when I worried about 8p so much

quoia

moggins wrote:

Decisions, decisions! I have £15 change now do I take a trip into town and spend £1.20 on parking or do I go to Asda (free parking) and change it in the machine which will cost me £1.12?

I can't remember when I worried about 8p so much

How about just using it to buy something ?
Next time your ASDA bill comes to £23.87, (or whatever's similar) why not pay the £3.87 using these coins ?

NO NO, Whatever can I be thinkiing? That's a stupid idea.
Fancy using them for that purpose!

moggins

Yep, like I can really see the queue and the checkout person being happy about me counting out £3.87 in pennies.

Obviously irony is an unrecognisable element. It's going to cost me £1.20 to go into town to change my penny bottle into something that isn't going to get turned away at the till. Legally a person need only accept up to 20p in copper coinage. It's going to take a long time for me to use up £15 at 20p at time. Whereas I shop in Asda anyway, I get a voucher to use for my shopping and I have the chance to use what is normally 'lost money' ie bits of small change that have been dumped all over the house.

Savvy_Sue

Luis wrote:

Men end up with masses of change - I think they think if it isn't foldy or gold coloured, it's not proper money. Plus also wallets usually only have a paper section, if they have a coin bit, it's only big enough to get 2 x 5ps in. So he either slings it in his tin, or ends up with bulging pockets, laying 20ps down the side of the sofa cushions

Not the men I know! My DH takes great pride in always giving the right money: holds queues up for ages while he scrapes around for all his pennies, turns to me and asks if I've got 2p, etc etc etc. He has a little coin purse as well as his wallet, and other men I know keep one of those plastic film containers in their pocket for their loose change.

Savvy_Sue

Magentasue wrote:

This seems like an ideal opportunity for charities to make money. I'm sure people would be happier having their coins counted and bagged if it was going to their favourite charity. Or maybe a school/club fundraiser?

I can't say I'd welcome too many of these 5p jars!

But I used to organise the money for the school PTA, and spent the weeks before the event working out what floats I'd need, then cashing cheques at the PO and asking for loose change. Then I'd spend the week afterwards paying in lots more loose change! I would have been quite happy to receive bags of copper etc either as a gift or in exchange for folding money before the event. Gift would be better, then I'd have had less counting to do!

(BTW, I refused to let any stallholders charge 25p for their attraction, because I HATED counting 5s so much. We had some stalls at 20p and some at 30p to balance it all out.)

quoia

moggins wrote:

Yep, like I can really see the queue and the checkout person being happy about me counting out £3.87 in pennies.

Obviously irony is an unrecognisable element. It's going to cost me £1.20 to go into town to change my penny bottle into something that isn't going to get turned away at the till. Legally a person need only accept up to 20p in copper coinage. It's going to take a long time for me to use up £15 at 20p at time. Whereas I shop in Asda anyway, I get a voucher to use for my shopping and I have the chance to use what is normally 'lost money' ie bits of small change that have been dumped all over the house.

Firstly I'm aware of the "20p limit". I posted the earlier "legal tender" issue when someone suggested handing in quantities of bagged up coins at the checkout.

Secondly you said you'd got £15 in change. Not that you had got £15 in 1p pieces. The "penny" bottle is new information.
Given a general mix of change, using 1p & 2p pieces to 20p, 5p & 10p coins to £5, 20p and 50p to £10, in order to pay £3.87 or £13.87 is hardly a problem.

Thirdly re your first statement "Yep, like I can really see the queue and the checkout person being happy about me counting out £3.87 in pennies"
It seems there is no recognised problem in creating, or being part of, the biggest queue possible and probably annoying the hell out of the checkout operator (and then a supervisor AND THEN a customer services representitive) whilst handing in loads of coupons and vouchers for products that are not in their trolley, or are either NOT from Tesco or Sainsburys, or are of the wrong type, when they are shopping in ASDA.
I can't see that it is not a problem in one case but is in the other.

ReductionQueen

quoia wrote:

Firstly I'm aware of the "20p limit". I posted the earlier "legal tender" issue when someone suggested handing in quantities of bagged up coins at the checkout.

Secondly you said you'd got £15 in change. Not that you had got £15 in 1p pieces. The "penny" bottle is new information.
Given a general mix of change, using 1p & 2p pieces to 20p, 5p & 10p coins to £5, 20p and 50p to £10, in order to pay £3.87 or £13.87 is hardly a problem.

Thirdly re your first statement "Yep, like I can really see the queue and the checkout person being happy about me counting out £3.87 in pennies"
It seems there is no recognised problem in creating, or being part of, the biggest queue possible and probably annoying the hell out of the checkout operator (and then a supervisor AND THEN a customer services representitive) whilst handing in loads of coupons and vouchers for products that are not in their trolley, or are either NOT from Tesco or Sainsburys, or are of the wrong type, when they are shopping in ASDA.
I can't see that it is not a problem in one case but is in the other.

Go quoia! I am with you all the way on this one! I just don't understand why anybody would want to waste thier money in one of these machines!

tonyivb

I have no problem with people using these machines... provided that the charge is clearly displayed (and it appears from some of the posts that this is not the case).

This is similar to the ATM fee debate... again, as long as the charges are clearly presented before you use the service you can then decide if it is worth your while to find a (preferably) cheaper alternative.

As for the dabate about the amount they charge... I imagine that these machines cost a few quid & they need people to service/empty them.
One aspect that has not been mentioned so far is:- what happens to all the change?

I expect that the machines are serviced & emptied by the store staff and the change is used in the checkouts. By doing this the store does not have to get it's change from the bank, who would charge for this service.

So it looks like the stores are raking it in... they take a 7.5% fee and then save on their banking bill!

quoia

tonyivb wrote:

I expect that the machines are serviced & emptied by the store staff and the change is used in the checkouts.

Don't think this is the case.
I saw one emptied a while ago and the guy in question was not in an ASDA uniform of any sort, and went straight out the main entrance with a large cash box, climbed into a van in the car park and drove off.

quoia

Those that went yesterday to use this machine at my local ASDA would have been disappointed.

The display said.

Unable to accept coins at this time. FULL !

Talk about highway robbery being successful.
Wouldn't be surprised if the company had been created by someone called !!!!!! TURPIN