The Blog of Diminishing Returns: When 109 pennies = $1

Thursday, August 12, 2010

When 109 pennies = $1

Two years ago I blogged about the last time I tried to convert a few hundred dollars worth of change into money (link). I pointed out how at a local bank it costs 7-10 cents on the dollar to trade in pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters for paper money. On recommendation of my friend Lowell this time I tried coinstar. Which chargers 9.8 cents on the dollar for the change to paper conversion. As Lowell pointed out you could also get a gift certificate for the full amount.

My guess is that Coinstar can buy gift certificates for 90-95 cents on the dollar, since they are willing to offer the 1 to 1 conversion. As websites like GiftCardRescue.com a gift card can often be had for 90 cents on the dollar.

So I got the gift certificate through Amazon, since we've been buying a lot more stuff there lately for Sylvia or to avoid going shopping with a baby along.

Final thought with a new crawling baby who likes to put objects in her mouth I'm changing my stance on saving the penny.

1 comment:

John Aerni said...: Seth, South Africa (and all the southern African countries that are pegged to the rand...Lesotho, Swazi, Namibia) phased out their 1 and 2 cent coins a few years ago. This hasn't actually changed prices which, at grocery stores, for example, are still priced at 1.99 and such. The cash register, however, will round your bill up or down by a couple of cents to make it add up to a 5 or 10. It seems to work, just food for thought on getting rid of the penny.; August 12, 2010 at 5:06 PM