Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

This may be true: But you can't hack cash!!!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's true. No one has ever tried to produce phony dollar bills.

My uncle was a great inventor, and whenever I went to his house as a kid, I'd rush downstairs to see what he was working one. He came very close to success with two ideas.

He was the first to develop a tablet that you would put into the toilet tank to keep the bowl clean. It worked perfectly, but it never caught on. I kept telling him that yellow was not a good color.

Embittered by that, he turned to counterfeiting, and he turned out an absolutely perfect product. He used these phonies when shopping at all kinds of stores, and he was never caught. He didn't continue with that very long because the cost of the copper he had to buy to make the pennies didn't allow for any profit.

Bison Bud

Not so much anymore, but I used to like getting change back as it was just like making a deposit in a personal savings account for me. I always disliked it when a cashier would take a couple pennies out of their jar to round off the bill, as I'd rather have the change back. Anyway, I would always empty the coins out my pockets into a jar on the dresser when I got home and periodically roll up the coins. I saved a heck of a lot of money this way over the years and this was also funds that the wife didn't make claim to and control. I always considered these funds as disposable income for my hobbies, etc. and bought several cameras with these funds. Unknown to my wife, I also used to save quarters in a large container in my locker at work and managed to save enough after 7 or 8 years to buy her 10th anniversary diamond ring without her even knowing that the money existed. Man, was she surprised!

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Interesting.
I put some coins in a machine for a Coke.
Kept rejecting a quarter, I got peeved and looked at the quarter in some light.
It was silver and the machine rejected it due to weight difference.

Second, went with some staff to evaluate a school and all the buildings.
They were all in their 20's and we went to get lunch a a store that was Amish.
No debit or credit cards accepted and they found this out after the food was prepared.
I was the only person with cash and wound up buying all the meals and they had to pay me back afterwards.
It was amazing, not one had any cash at all.

Red6

When my son was in high school, I was a member of the booster club and we had to run a concession stand at the football games. We ran into the same problem you discussed. Our solution was to adjust all our prices to an even 25 cents and when possible to an even dollar. This way the only change we needed was quarters and paper money. We started off having all kinds of change with pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters but that was so inefficient, cumbersome and slow that it just became unmanageable. At half time when you have several hundred people lined up to get refreshments, counting out pennies, nickels and dimes in change was very frustrating for everyone.

Many cheaper items such as certain candy items etc, that were usually under 25 cents we just offered 2 or more per quarter. This also made counting at the end of business much easier since all we had were quarters and paper money.

When it comes to using coins personally, I have mostly stopped using coins, and even cash for that matter, since March of this year after the virus took hold. I can hardly imagine taking and handling money of any kind now. I think I have had the same $15 or $20 in my billfold for several months now. We use credit cards just about everywhere including drive-thru's, delivery, online ordering and grocery shopping. Even the utility and cable companies take credit cards.

I really do not miss using cash or coins as there are some real benefits to using plastic. I have better records now through my credit card statements on where my money is being spent and I have accumulated a lot of reward dollars and credits on the cards for some future use. And just to let you know, I pay these cards off, in full, each month so my benefits are not offset by high interest rates.

andesbill

Way back in the early 90’s, I had a 5 gallon water bottle filled with coins an some bills I periodically stuffed in it. I traded that money for a cross country ski machine and stand alone multi- exercise weight machine. I still had enough money left over for barbells and dumbbells. Over $1200.00. Best money I ever spent.

ddgm Loc: Hamilton, Ontario & Fort Myers, FL

Bit of a conspiracy theory but I believe all governments are apposed to cash and are trying to promote plastic to discourage the underground markets that operate on cash under the table. No receipts generated to apply to sales taxes, income taxes, etc. Here in Canada, we did away with the penny a few years ago, it cost more to make than it was worth. Same with the one and two dollar bills, they wore out too fast for their liking, replaced with coins. The new 5, 10, 20, 50 and one hundred dollar bills are pretty near impossible to counterfeit. I don't like them as they don't fold properly to fit in your pocket, but they sure are pretty! My rant of the day.

Red6

I think there is some truth in your beliefs. There are many illegal transactions that are made possible through cash only use. The drug trade is almost completely operated on cash transactions as well as under the table, off the record work arrangements.

I personally know two people who work for cash only. Neither has a bank account and will agree to work only if you pay them cash. One of them just works as a landscape or yard care guy at minimum wage level. But the other one is very well off and brags that he has not filed his income tax forms for over 20 years. He installs alarm and video monitoring equipment on a cash basis only. He has no bank account and no credit cards. If he needs to purchase items online, he uses cash cards he purchases at Walmart or grocery stores. He also uses those by the minute burner cell phones that can be purchased anonymously with no records of who is using it.

However, even if cash were eliminated something else would spring up to replace it. Some type of barter system with gold, silver or something else with value would replace it. Some say that digital currency like bitcoin was created for this purpose.

jiminnee

In the bank the other day, I asked the teller about coin shortage. She didn't talk like there was one, yet my local Walmart is usually "cards only" on the self-check machines. They say they can't get change enough for the machines. I generally use cash, but they may only have 2 manned checkouts open & most everything is self-check. So, it seems a lot of customers don't like the self-check so that means long lines & waiting if you are using cash. I would sure like to know what the problem is here. By the way, I always go early morning weekdays when it is not so busy. Guess I need to wander in there on a Sat. afternoon sometime & see what goes on.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

Do they charge you to "count" it? I just love those machines at supermarkets. They charge like 10%. So if you're too damn lazy to count and roll it yourself it will cost you 10 bucks.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

last time I cashed in coins at our Credit Union, 3 years ago, i had to make two trips in to carry my coins....and it took about 10 min for that machine to spin.... but it spit out a receipt for $650 plus... my coins saving jug is about half full now...so I figure at least another year and Ill go again...

Believe it or not Loc: West Virginia

If people used cash they wouldn'n get over their head in dept so easily.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

My credit union charges 0 for CU members.... for others I think it is 7%

Red6

Nope, most credit unions now have the coin machines in their lobby. If you are a credit union member, use is free. Membership requires only opening a savings account and a deposit of $5.

Just bring in your bags, cans, buckets of money and pour it into the machine. It prints out a receipt that you take to the counter and they either deposit it into your account or give you the cash.

I dropped banks and all their fees years ago. Credit unions have all the same benefits (and more) and few if any fees.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Back a few years ago I was collecting coins in a very nice 5 gal. jar. It was heavy glass with a slight blue tint. I would put every single coin I got my hands on in it. Some days only a quarter, but other days 10.00. That usually happened when I went into the city (NYC) and rode the subway. They give change in 1.00 coins. After a few months I decided the pennies were taking up space without adding much value so I put them into a separate jar. About 4 years later the jar must have weighed around 80# and was full. I decided to empty it and take the coins to a bank. I began trying to coax the coins back out of the jar only to find they were a lot harder to get out than to put in! As I tapped the jar on the floor to dislodge coins, it broke and coins went everywhere. It took a good half hour to round them all up. I hated that the jar broke because I really liked it. At the bank I cashed in over 2800.00. Since then I started another jar. This one is plastic and only a gallon. So far it is about half full and with staying home more because of retirement and covid, it's not filling up very fast. Unless your jar is filled with a lot of pennies, at 24# don't be surprised if you have 4-500.00.