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Coin Shortages??

Started by clean, July 11, 2020, 12:46:35 PM

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clean

My parents were in the habit, especially my dad, of emptying his pocket change into a jar.  From the jar it went into one of the 3 or 4 piggy banks that i had given my parents.  Every now and again, when the piggies were well fed, my parents would 'gut the pig', sort the change and then wrap what they had.  From there, the different denominations went into shoe boxes.  My parents told me that the shoe boxes in that closet were not shoes!!

The worst part of this is that my mom was a bank executive!  It is not like she didnt go to the bank every damn day!  But she would not take the coins! 

My father would say, "That's our Vacation Money!"  But after one vacation, I asked how much they had taken to the bank, the answer was , "Well, we didnt take it to the bank.

They FINALLY DID go to the bank when they moved!! 

The coin saga didnt end, though. Old habits are ingrained habits! Even after the move, the coins piled up.  After my mother retired, and my niece and I had rolled the coins from 2 piggies, she brought out some more shoe boxes and I took several hundred dollars, and many many pounds of coins to the bank!  (She had to call to make an appointment for me to take it, as coins take vault space and vault space is not unlimited! I think that it was a day that the Brink's truck was making a cash run anyway)

So it seems that coin hoarding is inherited.  However, I am not guilty of storing them!  Generally, when I get a full tube of coins I roll them and put them in my pocket.  Carrying around a 1/2 pound ($10 worth) of quarters is an incentive to use the rolled coins at the next purchase!!

From an economics argument, though, IF everyone would take their coin stashes and go to the store and just buy things, GDP would improve!  People may be rehired with all of the increased economic activity!  And it doesnt matter what you buy!  Give the money to kids/nieces/nephews and take them to the toy or candy store (especially nieces and nephews when you dont have to spend the night with them!  Let mom and dad deal with sugared up rug rats for the night!!  YOU can be the FUN uncle/aunt that takes them to the CANDY  STORE!!!)  Then sit back and watch the GDP numbers roll in!
"The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am"  Darth Vader

evil_physics_witchcraft

Wow, Clean! My grandfather also kept money at home. Apparently, he hid money in odd places that nobody knew about until they cleaned out the house.

Interesting, I also do the shoe box thing, but I only have ONE (but, it's a super big one). I think we saved up around $200 once. Not sure what's in there now. Maybe I should check?

clean

Not to divert from coins, but I will note a small tangent about 'hiding' money.

My uncle was an avid reader. He would buy these paperback books and read and read.  I guess that if he didnt like the book he just stopped reading, or if he got busy he would stop.  But his habit was to use $1 bills as book marks!  After he died the kids took boxes of books to goodwill, but after the first trip, they were boxing another round, dropped a book and out popped some paper money. After checking several there was a small sum of 'bookmarks', and they had already given away A Lot! 

So IF you are going to hide money, I suppose that you should let someone know!  (but that may defeat the purpose of hiding it in the first place!!)

Like I said, I dont store it, I put rolled coins in my pocket to encourage me to spend it!!  7-11 will be glad to take a roll of quarters in exchange for a Slurpee!!  And with a roll of quarters you can take a lot of kids out for Slurpees!! 

SO dont hide it!!  Get that money out of the closet, and out of those shoe boxes and help jump start this economy - even if it is just one roll at a time!!
"The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am"  Darth Vader

mamselle

I doubt if the various Euros, old French and Belgian francs, and sundry British coins in my jars are going to help the US economy much, though.

I never have them ready when the "DonateChange for Change" envelopes go around in the plane, or the bins show up as you're going by on the conveyor belt at JFK....

M.
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Reprove not a scorner, lest they hate thee: rebuke the wise, and they will love thee.

Give instruction to the wise, and they will be yet wiser: teach the just, and they will increase in learning.

pigou

I've had the same $20 bill in my wallet since January. Lots of stores in my area have now started accepting Apple/Google Pay, so I don't even need my credit card anymore. COVID rather abruptly dragged us into the 21st century.

Vkw10

I use cash regularly, since that keeps me within my budget for incidental expenses like lunches out and movie tickets. My credit union prefers unrolled coins, since they have a coin sorting machine. My change jar is nearly full, so I'll take it by this week.

I also hoard dollar bills and fives. I transfer them from wallet to basket at end of day, then deposit them in holiday club savings when I take in coins. Given how little I've been out since March, holiday gifts will be modest this year.
Enthusiasm is not a skill set. (MH)

apl68

At our library we have a coin-operated patron photocopy machine, and handle a lot of coins when patrons print small numbers of pages.  We've been handling less money since we reopened, but have still accumulated quite a few coins.  I've always taken them to the bank and run them through the coin changer.  BUT the bank has been drive-through only for months now!  So we're contributing slightly to the coin shortage. 

I understand that you can now use the bank's coin machine if you make an appointment, hand over the coins, and wait outside for them to process them.  I need to do that sometime this week.
All we like sheep have gone astray
We have each turned to his own way
And the Lord has laid upon him the guilt of us all

apl68

Quote from: clean on July 11, 2020, 09:42:32 PM
Not to divert from coins, but I will note a small tangent about 'hiding' money.

My uncle was an avid reader. He would buy these paperback books and read and read.  I guess that if he didnt like the book he just stopped reading, or if he got busy he would stop.  But his habit was to use $1 bills as book marks!  After he died the kids took boxes of books to goodwill, but after the first trip, they were boxing another round, dropped a book and out popped some paper money. After checking several there was a small sum of 'bookmarks', and they had already given away A Lot! 

So IF you are going to hide money, I suppose that you should let someone know!  (but that may defeat the purpose of hiding it in the first place!!)

Like I said, I dont store it, I put rolled coins in my pocket to encourage me to spend it!!  7-11 will be glad to take a roll of quarters in exchange for a Slurpee!!  And with a roll of quarters you can take a lot of kids out for Slurpees!! 

SO dont hide it!!  Get that money out of the closet, and out of those shoe boxes and help jump start this economy - even if it is just one roll at a time!!

Lots of librarians can tell stories about finding money used as bookmarks in returned library books.  It's happened here--and on rare occasions it has been a good deal more than just a single buck.  We've seen all manner of other things used as bookmarks too, including things you REALLY don't want to see in a book.

The story is told about a book chain in the 1990s that saw a great spike in sales for a certain novel whose author had just won the Nobel Prize.  The book was notoriously hard to read.  This led to speculation that many purchasers only wanted to be seen with the latest Nobel winner on their shelves.  A major book store is said to have tested this hypothesis by hiding $20 gift certificates in the middle of each copy they sold.  It's said that they never had to redeem a single one of them....
All we like sheep have gone astray
We have each turned to his own way
And the Lord has laid upon him the guilt of us all

hmaria1609

We had coin operated copy machines in our library up until several years ago.  When I first started working, it was us staff who were responsible for emptying and counting the money from the coin box. Later, outside contractors did that work. Nowadays, we have newer multi-function Xerox machines and no coin machines. When patrons need to print, our reservation software system tracks how much is printed/copied, with a set page limit a day.

Economizer

Ahh...Michelle Pfiiefer singing "10 Cents A Dance" in the  movie THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS . OK, y'all go on now.
So, I tried to straighten everything out and guess what I got for it.  No, really, just guess!

dismalist

Quote from: Economizer on July 13, 2020, 02:22:34 PM
Ahh...Michelle Pfiiefer singing "10 Cents A Dance" in the  movie THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS . OK, y'all go on now.

The song was written in 1930. Since then the Consumer Price Index has increased 15 fold. Thus, today the song would have to say "A Dollar Fifty a Dance". :-)
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli

mahagonny

I'm old enough to remember Oliver North being considered insolent when he was asked under oath, where did you get the money for this and he said just collecting change I had saved from emptying my pants pockets' or some such.

I have a stash of British pounds that I was paid while working around London in, probably 2002 or 2003. Yes, I feel stupid and guilty.

dismalist

Quote from: dismalist on July 13, 2020, 02:52:18 PM
Quote from: Economizer on July 13, 2020, 02:22:34 PM
Ahh...Michelle Pfiiefer singing "10 Cents A Dance" in the  movie THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS . OK, y'all go on now.

The song was written in 1930. Since then the Consumer Price Index has increased 15 fold. Thus, today the song would have to say "A Dollar Fifty a Dance". :-)

And there was "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", which would have to turn into "Brother, Can You Spare a Dollar Fifty?"
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli


dismalist

This I picked up on another discussion board, and it is all wrong, but amusing nonetheless:

Where have all the quarters gone?
Long time de-basing
Where have all the quarters gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the quarters gone?
The Fed has pulled the, every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?
That's not even wrong!
--Wolfgang Pauli