Giving to Charity.

We have always had some sort of charity box in the house into which we put all small change and I have always put those odd coins found in the washing or anywhere else around the house in the box. If my men were careless enough to leave it lying around I decided they didn't really need it!

When we went over to decimal money, the powers that were expected us to be confused by the new coinage and put out the message to 'tender high'. So, for example, we handed over a pound note for a 55p purchase. I suspect that many of us just got into this habit and although the change was 44 years ago, still continue to 'tender high' and the stores expect us to do it too. Hence, the coppers weighing down our purses.

This really has made me very cross and in my annoyance forgot to mention the Parable of the Widow's Mite- supposing she said this to someone who could afford no more think how mortified they would be.

I shall continue to put my shrapnel in the tins and my folding money goes via Direct debits to my chosen charities- I reserve the right to do what I want with my money shrapnel or no. If that lady said that to me grannyknot I would put precisely nothing in her tin and complain to her charity of harassment. Sheer rudeness

The shops here are delighted to get change, either to pay for what you buy, or in some cases, to swap for £20 notes if you have a lot of change, which I do from time to time for various reasons. The banks charge small businesses to take change out and to pay it in, which I think is ridiculous, and so I use £20 notes for Tesco's, even for small amounts, as I reckon they can afford to cope with the banks.

Falconbird

It does, or should display the rate of commission taken . I think the one in our local Asda takes 10%.

This reminds me of when DH was taking 2 DGC on the train and before they boarded, DGD asked if he would buy her a drink. He gave her a £10 note as he had no change and off she went and bought her drink. When she came back he held his hand out for the change. "Oh", said she blithely "I put it in the charity box on the counter".

Being a tight-fisted thrifty Yorkshireman he was well and truly flabbergasted - and still is to this day!

falconbird it's very interesting what you say about coins and shop assistants. I came to live here from South Africa where it is accepted that you count out coins at the till, so I also did that here until I got the slightly impatient vibe from the cashier (not all of them), so I stopped. What I do do, is if I am buying only a few items and I know that it will cost say £3.84 - I have that amount ready in change as it is put through the till.

It is of course the norm here too to pay with cards, now I even just swipe my card, no more chip and pin. So that also means ending up with lots of change.

I've got a friend who throws all her change loose into her handbag, and adds it up at the end of the week and then says that's her week's "savings". It's amazing sometimes how much it is.

The problem with shrapnel is giving it a shop assistant.

Patience isn't a strong point in shops these days. I've tried counting out the exact sum but there is usually a lot of impatient huffing and puffing in the queue behind me.

I didn't know that Coinsters took a percentage. Does anyone know what it is. I will keep on feeding the machine anyway because better give it to charity than keep it in a bag in a drawer.

A friend who used to be in charge of collections in a charitable group would say "No shrapnel please, spend your shrapnel yourself and give your folding money to charity".

Seriously though, shrapnel is a hassle for anyone!

Good idea we always ff load all the schrapnel either in Wilkinson who always have a charity bucket by the tills usually Macmillan or at Wetherspoons who have Cliq Sargant tins.

I have a clear plastic Church of England Children's Society box which gets all my "shrapnel", universally referred to as the Poor Box.
(PS those "Coinstar" change machines take a percentage you know)

That's right - most supermarkets have them and you can have vouchers or give to charities.

They have them in lots of supermarkets, you can exchange coins for vouchers to use in the shop.. mostly for those who collect their spare change in jars [green]

What is a coinster machine?

I'll look out for that sounds like a good idea, I'm always trying to take the weight out of my mini purse..

PS the change not the purse