Rant: Vending machines don't take pennies

[cards2468]

It's more of a travesty that they don't take fives.

1%er...

[cardinalkarp]

it's one of the reasons i always use the self checkout. i just dump every bit of change, especially pennies, into the change insertion area. I don't want change. I seem to always have several dollars worth in my purse. so I don't even count it, I just give it to the self checkout machine.

And how long does that hold up the line!!

[docellis]

Luckily, I rarely grocery shop during peak times. But my local store has a funnel system for accepting change. So I literally just dump handfuls of change in the funnel. I probably wouldn't bother if I had to literally put one coin in a slot, at a time.

[Maclowery]

Pennies are a joke. Every business in the country that uses cash transactions should just round up or down and not worry about the dollar or so max that the difference would cause. I work with cash constantly, using an old fashioned mechanical cash register for every purchase, and I don't even bother with dimes or nickels. It works at a bar, it should work everywhere else too. If I go to a Walgreens and buy some crap and pay with cash, I truly wish they never gave me a single penny, nickel, or even dime. It just makes my coin jug fill up too fast.

If every fast food joint in the country had an "Impatient? Give your non-quarters to Charity X" sign, I would be happy.

[cardinalkarp]

Luckily, I rarely grocery shop during peak times. But my local store has a funnel system for accepting change. So I literally just dump handfuls of change in the funnel. I probably wouldn't bother if I had to literally put one coin in a slot, at a time.

Wow, I haven't seen one of those yet. I've just seen the ones where it's coin by coin.

[doe_boy]

Here's a vending machine that takes pennies!



You even get the penny back!

[AdmiralKird]

You think Obama is going to remove the penny after campaigning for more change?

[KyCardinalFan]

Coinstar doesn't charge a fee if you put your change into an eCard or gift card.

Green Coinstar machines are ubiquitous in grocery and big discount stores around the country; for a nearly 10% fee, they'll sort your change for you and give you bills in return. We'll be the first to admit that rolling coins is tedious work (especially since many banks make you put your name and address on every single roll), but that 9.8% fee that the company charges seems steep for something your kid could do in his or her spare time.

Now comes the news that Coinstar has begun expanding on a little-known program that eliminates that fee as long as the customer is willing to have their pennies converted into retailer gift cards rather than cash.Coinstar still gets its cut; the fee is subsidized by the merchants whose cards are purchased. According to media reports, big retail names like Starbucks, The Gap, iTunes and Amazon are all participating in the program.