Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Spare Change

I keep a box next to the bed, and at the end of the day, should I have any change in my pocket, I toss it in the box.  We've been here for about a year now, and the box was halfway full.

On Sunday I went for a nice ride to clear my head.  Nothing like some canyons and fresh air to improve your mental state.


Anyways, I stopped in to a local gas station to grab a drink before I rode home, and the people were lamenting the lack of change.  As in, actual hard cash.  Apparently, the banks are out.  The Loomis truck that showed up with their daily cash in the morning had brought them a single roll of quarters.  They had nothing. 

So I went home, rolled up that box of change, and brought it back to the gas station on Monday.  $69 worth of quarters, dimes, nickles and pennies.  The manager almost cried when I plonked that stash down on the counter.  And I walked away with $69 to put in the safe.  Even better, I didn't have to pay CoinStar's 11% fee, which meant I actually got back everything I had.

Anyways, if you have a change jar, now might be a good time to cash it in.  Or take $20 in change to buy your beer tonight.

5 comments:

Bigus Macus said...

I was at the Food Lion here in Chesapeake and the Clerk told me to bring my Change to them and not the Coinstar.

p2 said...

Same issue up here. I've got a change jar as well, same process as you have (maybe a GI thing? My dad did it too); think I'll start rolling it up and spreading it around town. There's gotta be a couple hundred in change in there. It's been a few years.

Ragin' Dave said...

Might as well use it instead of letting it sit around.

Francis W. Porretto said...

Well done, Dave. It's the small acts of consideration, so frequently overlooked, that really make this country what it is.

Ragin' Dave said...

Fran - Sometimes it really is that simple. And when you eventually make it up to Northern Idaho, please let me know. I'd love to buy you a drink. Or a steak dinner.