Is it okay to pay with change?

[2moretrees]

I have one grocery store that won't accept rolled coins and another that will. I no longer shop at the one that doesn't accept rolled coins. Isn't money, money?

Do you think it is okay to pay for things you buy with change? Do your stores take rolled coins?

[akaivyleaf]

Money is money. If the business didn't want to accept the rolled coins, I would have unrolled them and let them count the coins while I waited. (I probably would have been wishing the purchase was 20.00 and I had all pennies that would fix them.) Where do they get off not accepting currency? After all the money was rolled for their convience as much as for yours.

[cicy33]

Yes, they must accept it. it is money and is "legal tender" Call for a manager and if that doesn't work, call the corporate office.

[CRFSaver]

Cicy33 is right. It is legal tender. Maybe you cant pay with a roll of coins but you can certainly count them out and pay for them that way.

[Bluezy]

Count me in. Money is money, legal tender. Perhaps it was that the clerk did not want to count the change or have take time rolling the coin into a wrap.

I agree that management should be called if the clerk will not accept the change, but I also feel the clerk should actually SEE the change to identify it as legal US coin. I wouldn't want to be held liable to my employer for accepting a roll of fake coins.

[Fern]

I disagree. Yes, money is money but it's unreasonable to expect the cashier will inconveience all the others waiting behind you while they count out your change. I would certainly be annoyed if someone in front of me did that. We're all very busy, let's be considerate of others.

If the money is already rolled, there's no way of knowing whether you've shorted them a few coins in doing so and are trying to get away with paying a few cents less.

If you have lots of change collected, bring it to a bank.

[akaivyleaf]

Then the cashier/establishment should trust that the consumer hasn't filled the rolls with rocks... If you don't believe me when I say I have 10.00 in quarters, I don't mind showing you.

I don't like standing in line when someone is paying with a check and so I know I would probably have a fit if someone was paying in coin and was forced to unroll them and have them recounted, but I understand that coins are more "legal tender" to me than a check is. This is a microwave society, we want everything yesterday, and patience is more and more becoming a virtue.

What happened to an honest consumer? Do we no longer exist? What is wrong with writing your phone number on the wrapper or your DL Information? You would do it for a check...

Not everybody has a checking account, or has the convenience of going to the bank when they need diapers right now and all they have is change they've carefully rolled.

[Fern]

Businesses can't operate based on "trusting" the customer, and as you know, many customers are not trustworthy. Writing a check takes a lot less time than counting out a roll of quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies.

I really don''t see how anyone can live in today's society without a checking account. How do you pay your bills?

[akaivyleaf]

Thus the problem with society... We no longer trust anyone.

as far as people not having checking accounts, not quite sure how they manage, but they do. If you have bad credit or have had a bank account before and didn't manage it well, you are often prohibited from even opening a bank account. These people generally pay for everything with cash, including their bills. There are plenty of people who buy money orders, or actually go to their utility company payment center with cash and ride public trasportation to do so. We aren't a cashless society yet...

Older people still aren't trusting of banks, I know plenty of them in my own church. Now they aren't spending coins, but they don't have their social security check direct deposited, they still get a paper check, go and cash it and pay their bills. Little ole ladies are always getting robbed around the first of the month, they are a prime target. But then I live in the big city, and even honest people know they are a target.

[cicy33]

Sometimes change is all I have. Once we were so broke and we needed food, I emptied the change jar, counted out $10.00 in change and it wasn't all quarters either! I went to the store and bought a fair amount for just under $9 and the cashier was just fine with me paying with change, she even said that sometimes she has to do that too. Not everyone is flush with money. And this happened to me about 2 months ago, so it wasn't when I was a kid! We were just in a spot between paychecks and I wasn't about to write a bad check. I do have a checking account.

[Max'sMommy]

Personally there IS no issue- Money is MONEY!

There has been times in our Poor days- where if we did not use change our son would be diaperless, we would be hungry, ect.

If there is a trust issue- you can unroll them and let THEM do the task of counting, sorting ect.

When I worked at Strawbridge's in high school a man came in 15 minutes before closing and bought his girlfriend a Coach bag- $315 and a key fob for $60- and payed in ALL change- was I annoyed- you bet- did I care- nope- money was money and the security guard waited with me (since the store was closed and I was still counting the rolls)

My ex fiance workd at a car wash and detail shop in high school / college- he sometimes had to do the vacumming and as you can imagine losse change was always being sucked up. His boss said he could empty them each week and keep it along with his tips. This was a VERY rich area mind you and in 7 months he was able to buy a used BMW for $3000- ALL with the change he got from the vacs (By the way- we rolled it all and got cash fromt he bank for it)

As far as checking accounts- my husband and I went over 2 years without one just fine!

[cercis]

If you belong to a credit union (and really, everyone should) they will often take loose change for deposit with no charge (I've noticed that most banks anymore charge 3-5% to count change).

This saves you time and money (because you have to buy the wrappers).

[cicy33]

My bank does not charge to count change and they give away the wrappers for free to account holders. I have an actual bank not a credit union. I have seen no advantage one way or the other.

[cercis]

Cicy, I don't know where you live but here's the advantages I've had:

1) Lower charges, less paperwork for loans

2) No fees/less fees for checking accounts (one cu I belong to does require $200 in the checking acct at all times, another one charges for having a debit card)

3) Higher dividends (this is interest).

I bank shopped a lot when I first started working and couldn't believe the fees they wanted to charge. That was the first time I joined a CU (still have that account, but I'm about to close it out). As we moved around, I've looked at banks and read their fine print and still have never found a bank which offered the minimum level of service I expect from a CU. I currently belong to 5 CUs (I'm closing out 2 this month) and all have been exceptional.

2 (the 2 out of state I am leaving open) are ones that the car dealerships say "wow, you belong to ____________, well I won't even tell you about our finance options because I know you can do better through them".

You could be lucky though and have a bank that is good. I've just never come across one. And at this point I've quit looking. It's just easier to check out the CUs, find one that is close and that we fit the membership qualifications.

[cicy33]

to be honest I have never checked. my bank does not charge a fee. I do have to pay for my own checks. dont' know about the loan info. we do have a CD through our bank and I will check to see what it earns. the loan we took out against the cd though is at 4%

[PRICEPLUS]

Money is money. Period!

[2moretrees]

I'm glad I'm not the onlt one that feels that way. When I tried to used the rolled coins, they told me to use the coinstar machine, but that machine charges like 6% just to count your coins. There was no way I was going to do that.

[marglo]

I see nothing wrong with it. I have taken change my piggy bank to pay for groceries at times myself. I have never tried to pay with rolls of coins but don't see why you couldn't.