Penny Saver(hackerfactor.com)
hackerfactor.com
Penny Saver
http://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/438-Penny-Saver.html
11 comments
To be completely honest, $10/year seems a perfectly reasonable price to avoid the nuisance of having pennies in my pocket, or bothering to collect them all up and cash in every six months.
I chuck 1p, 2p and 5p coins in a pot at home rather than ever carrying them around with me once they've got as far as home. There is a machine at my bank that you can poor any coins into and it will count them into your account with no charge. I do this once a year, it is only a ~10 minute detour on a trip when I was walking into town for something else anyway, and it usually works out at one 70cl bottle of Smirnoff Red plus a pound or so.
So I'm happy to keep the small change. I consider it to be a free drink or few, in exchange for some minutes of my time.
There are similar machines in supermarkets that give you a voucher to use at the till when paying for your shop, though they tend to charge (as much as 15%). They do usually have the option of giving the rest to charity though, if you are so inclined (but you could do the same at the bank and donate without some other entity lifting off up to 15%).
So I'm happy to keep the small change. I consider it to be a free drink or few, in exchange for some minutes of my time.
There are similar machines in supermarkets that give you a voucher to use at the till when paying for your shop, though they tend to charge (as much as 15%). They do usually have the option of giving the rest to charity though, if you are so inclined (but you could do the same at the bank and donate without some other entity lifting off up to 15%).
I have a motto that I think is useful to all:
"Fuck the pennies - look after the pounds""Right now, both the cent and nickle ($0.01 and $0.05 coins) cost more to make than their face values. If they kill pennies today, then nickles are certain to be next."
I guess the solution is to get away from physical currency altogether, with the cheap point of entry for things like Square now I should be able to use debit or my cell phone to pay for anything.
I guess the solution is to get away from physical currency altogether, with the cheap point of entry for things like Square now I should be able to use debit or my cell phone to pay for anything.
right, then EVERY transaction will be traceable. No anonymity for anything you buy.
While I was a student I didn't use my spare change. I spent cash and sometimes coins over £1. However I wasn't throwing it away, I was just emptying my pockets into a box. As time went on my change accumulated massively. After a couple of years I took it all to a bank: I had nearly £220.
That's not quite the same since it wasn't just pennies. But the point still stands: (1) I never had pockets full of change, (2) after a while it was worth me cashing in. This would be the case with even any high quantity of low value coins. I know people say that you shouldn't pinch pennies, but it didn't waste my time to do so. It's as easy as putting your keys down and in 5 years time it will be worth something to you.
...tell your kid that they are his if he can count them for you?
That's not quite the same since it wasn't just pennies. But the point still stands: (1) I never had pockets full of change, (2) after a while it was worth me cashing in. This would be the case with even any high quantity of low value coins. I know people say that you shouldn't pinch pennies, but it didn't waste my time to do so. It's as easy as putting your keys down and in 5 years time it will be worth something to you.
...tell your kid that they are his if he can count them for you?
I don't really care, but when I see these things I think about what would happen if the situation were reversed: how would the store react if the total came out to $19.38 and I decided I was only going to pay $19.35 because it's a nice even number.
In France, before the Euro, things would be priced at 99 centimes, but the smallest coin was a 3 centime coin (worth about half a cent). This meant that when paying cash, some form of rounding was often necessary to give the correct change, but the rounding (in my (childhood) experience) would always favour the customer.
I'm amazed that shops in the US can get away with rounding up.
I'm amazed that shops in the US can get away with rounding up.
In Canada (I'm following the trend!), I haven't made a paper/coin cash transaction in over 3 months. I'm afraid future generations won't be able to save pennies either way :(
The flaw with coin saving is that, from what I'm told at least in my country, that the banks charge a fee for processing coins.
CoinStar in the UK/USA does coin counting+cash out for free as long as you turn coins into a gift certificate. Perhaps there is something similar where you live, it may be an alternative to the bank?
Why not just use them for payments? It's still legal tender.
How is that legal? Do they also charge a fee for replacing torn/damaged bills?
Remember: Bill Gates actually loses money if he takes the time to pick up a $100 bill in the street.
Only in the hugely unrealistic scenario where doing such a thing suddenly pauses all of his cash-generating assets. Which it doesn't.
One could argue that if he'd spent all his life picking up 100 dollar bills, he wouldn't /have/ any other cash-generating assets.
Anyway, it was just an analogy: my point was that applying yourself to your normal day-to-day activities on the job is probably more productive than spending an hour a month scraping together pennies here and there. Even if we aren't all Bill Gateses.
Anyway, it was just an analogy: my point was that applying yourself to your normal day-to-day activities on the job is probably more productive than spending an hour a month scraping together pennies here and there. Even if we aren't all Bill Gateses.
In his heyday, but now his income might be lower than yours considering how much he's funnelling into his charity.
All stores round up or down the nearest five cents, evening the system out. You're only charged the precise amount if you pay electronically. Banks and some government transactions will result in a 1c or 2c coins, but it's pretty rare for them to end up in your pocket.
I suppose you could game the system if you paid in cash when the rounding was in your favor, and paid in debit when it wasn't. I doubt it would be worth the effort.