MetaChat - Walk into the store with a pocket full of nickels...

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04 May 2006

Walk into the store with a pocket full of nickels... I just bought a block of cheese using only .50 SEK coins (50 öre). The cheese went for 40 SEK (that's 5.45452 USD according to xe.com), so there was a whole lot of counting going on. In my defence: The store was practically empty, they had two registers open and I counted the money beforehand.
How are you with coins? Do you, like me, let your small change pile up in a jar?

post by: soundofsuburbia at: 15:55 | 16 comments

I was actually planning to hit one of those special Coinstar machines today where they don't charge you a counting fee if you take your money in the form of an Amazon.com gift certificate. The only stores those are in around here are nowhere near my house, but there's one on my way home from work, and it's the same place that my car accident guy has agreed to wire my money.

My coins are overflowing a cube-type Fossil watch box, and I suspect I've got anywhere from $20-$40 US in there.

posted by matildaben 04 May | 15:58

I have a piggy bank. I painted it myself at one of those pottery painting places. It's green with little money signs on it. Her name is Momma Greed. I like to fill her up and then take her to Commerce to count in the machines.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 04 May | 16:10

LOL. Oh god, I wish I could have seen that. In my experience with Swedish supermarkets, the cashiers didn't really like anything out of the ordinary.

At the end of my summer in Sweden, I had a whole bunch of öre coins, which I just left behind in the apartment because I didn't want to deal with them.

posted by luneray 04 May | 16:24

I have a glass bear (used to have peanut butter in it) where I save all my Loonies and Toonies.

posted by deborah 04 May | 16:35

luneray: Haha! It's true. But swedish supermarkets are a walk in the park compared to greek supermarkets. I think taz would agree. :)

Where in Sweden did you stay? We may be backwards when it comes to supermarkets and Coinstar machines, but we sure do have nice summers!

posted by soundofsuburbia 04 May | 16:40

SoS, I spent the summer in Uppsala studying your beautiful language. :)

Unfortunately, that particular summer had bad weather. I remember a news headline on August first, "July weather forecast wrong 91 times out of 93!"*

*the national forecast is given for the three major cities = 93 forecasts.

Now I'm starting to miss all the things I liked about Sweden. (sniff) Pear cider. Ice cream with lakrits sprinkles. The street food with mashed potatoes and a hot dog wrapped up in thin bread. Sunshine all day. Flowers, so many flowers. Rune stones. Streets paved in pink granite cobblestones.

posted by luneray 04 May | 16:51

Woo, tunnbrödsrullar! Gotta love 'em. I wouldn't want to buy one of those late at night using only 50 öre coins, though. :)

Uppsala is a great town. The Boston of Sweden, I think. :)

posted by soundofsuburbia 04 May | 17:02

I'll stop derailing this thread now. But clearly, a piggy bank is what I need. Much more sophisticated than a glass jar.

posted by soundofsuburbia 04 May | 17:06

I hate having change in my pockets so I always put it somewhere else (coin tray in car, jars, etc.) the first chance I get. So after a year and a half of saving, I recently took 3 jars and 2 full Ziploc bags to my local Coinstar and received $273.89 in an Amazon gift card- without the counting fee, which was than promptly spent. I usually don't wait that long but with my move the jars and bags got put in a closet to be dealt with later.

posted by miles 04 May | 17:13

I've got two large jars of pennies and a large jar of quarters, dimes, and nickels just waiting for me to cash them in. Ever since I got my own washer and dryer and switched to I-Pass for tolls the silver just keeps piling up. I can only use so many parking peters and I don't play poker. I forgot all about the CoinStar/Amazon thing.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 04 May | 18:17

Commerce bank, along the east coast in the U.S. has free coin counting machines. If you guess your total within $1 you get a free T-shirt.

I am in no way affiliated with them, but I must say they are the best banking service I've ever used. Can't wait till they go national.

posted by StickyCarpet 04 May | 18:23

[ME: ]I suspect I've got anywhere from $20-$40 US in there.

My Coinstar haul today: $36.83.

posted by matildaben 04 May | 19:18

Plastic.upside.down.DVD.spindle.cover, though mostly pesos (us$ 1/500th), 10 pesos and few 50s and 100s, so not a lot.
Back when I lived in the US, though, I would rake in between 50-80 US$ at the coin counting machines.

posted by signal 04 May | 21:06

I'm currently stacking my pennies on each other. I have about four squiggles, each a few inches high.

posted by halonine 04 May | 22:52

Are there any counting machines in Sweden? I don't recall seeing any in banks ... And I have coins pile up too.

posted by dabitch 05 May | 02:49

dabitch: I've seen one! They do exist! :)

I must say that I love the idea of those CoinStar machines. Amazon gift certificates! Lovely!

posted by soundofsuburbia 05 May | 03:34

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