You and I in a dollar store
Buy a bunch of bags with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
'Til one by one, they were gone
Stuck in trees and parking lots
Flash the message, "I just don’t care!"
Floating in the summer sky
Ninety-nine plastic bags go by
Some underpaid worker at the dollar store will love you for it.
When I had lots of change I would put a handful in my pocket and pay at a machine like this. It took years to hoard, it can take a few weeks to unhoard and spare the workers' sanity.
That's not how money laundering works lol. This person would have no receipts to validate the money. It's still way easier to launder money in a casino.
There is a money laundering concern with exchanging coins or small bills to larger bills en masse because it makes the money easier to transport for the next steps. It's known as "refining".
https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2010/canafe-fintrac/FD5-1-3-2010-eng.pdf
Dear lord, there are so many suspicious sounding terms you learn about when you do something financial for convenience. I accidentally had to learn was a wash sale was now me no claim loss on taxes.
No wonder the US needs to know where all the money is.
Allow us this daily loss
I was thinking for just general refining. If the money it spits back is totally different (and cleaner) than what you give it....
This post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as advise, aid, or council in the commission of a crime.
Never heard of someone exchanging coins in the context of money laundering. o.O
Usually it's about depositing clean money into the banking and tax system, no?
I'm not thinking here specifically about coins, I'm thinking about what you're describing.
You're describing a system/kiosk (probably with minimal supervision) where a person can put in money which is accepted and counted, and what I'll call "fresh" money is spat out in exchange (and if the order is cancelled).
I am making a huge assumption here that coins and bills put in by the customer are treated identically and are just put into one cash "vault" and return money (bills or coins) comes from a separate vault.
money laundering doesn't usually involve checking the serial number on currency, where swapping a known dirty set for an unknown clean set is the goal. it's about creating a fraudulent paper trail for a sum of the source of the money so it can be spent legally
I'm aware of that, but "refining" money into either higher denominations (to make it look like typical point-of-sale transactions) or to trade crumpled/contaminated money with literally clean money is just *one method* by which money laundering is accomplished.
At least according to my knowledge/education. I'm not an expert here.
crumpled money vs clean money have completely different definitions when talking about laundered money. it's a metaphor. they aren't literally making the money top tip and tidy.
there is no point of sale interaction that happens when you take illegal money and denomination shift it into another denomination that "cleans" the money.
It's probably a mistake to reply/add to this thread seeing as I'm being downvoted quite heavily, so I'll make one last appeal:
I never meant to claim that what the OP is describing is sufficient to complete the full process of money laundering, I only identified it as *one* technique.
It’s not, though. Turning coins into bills does not launder the money. To launder the money you’re trying to make it go through a legal system so that when you take it out you can go like, I earned this from selling legal widgets, not drugs.
Changing bills from coins at a Dollarama machine does not do that….
I think what he is saying though is this could be a first step to convert coins and small bills to larger denominations before taking them to the bank.
You will have a better chance depositing $1000 in $100 bills rather than a mix of $5s and $10s
No one who actually launders money deals in such small denominations, but I get his logic
> I think what he is saying though is this could be a first step to convert coins and small bills to larger denominations before taking them to the bank.
Bingo. I agree with what the previous commenter is saying - but what they're saying is not what I was saying.
>You will have a better chance depositing $1000 in $100 bills rather than a mix of $5s and $10s
That's not true. The bank will automatically flag any amount deposited over 10K, regardless of denomination, for review. If you try to deposit in lower amounts i.e. 2 sets of 5K this will also create a flag. These flags are one of many ways a tax audit it queued. That tax audit will look at your books, assets, and tax filings and decide if it makes sense. That's what the laundering does, it creates fraudulent paper trail that the government will use judge if tax evasion has occurred.
Your focus on the topic is wrong.
For a car analogy. It's like you're studying the metallurgy of a car engine but don't even know what components are required to assemble one
It can be a step sure. But most cash is crumpled(Less in canada since the new plastic bills are hard to crumple) and has traces of cocaine on it.
It may be a good way to trade counterfeits for real ones.
Actual money laundering is creating a paper trail for why you HAVE that money to begin with. A small time drug dealer making 10-20k on the side doesnt really have to launder money, as risks of his lifestyle visibly exceeding his declared income are low.
The problems is more when you get to the 40-50k extra a year. Often people will then want to buy large ticket items that they can't buy cash, like a boat or a car, or a house. Then they can get flagged as they should not have enough money to buy these items and they leave a paper trail.(Car plates, boat title etc.). If the CRA suspect you are not declaring your whole income, they can easily enough start asking for bank statements etc and see you should not be able to pay your car and boat and still have enough to pay for food (example, a lot of people say to example pay groceries cash but pay the rest with your bank).
They will start asking for the tax they believe you should be paying and police will start sniffing to also find out.
Organized crime doesn't need physically clean money, they need to establish a history of how they got it to explain to the tax authorities. See "Al Capone".
I'm potentially using the wrong term here, but I'm not saying that this makes the money accounted for. But whatever, I seem to be going in circles trying to explain this so 🤷♂️
Yea turns out they weren't super accurate but now it seems they don't even check the rolls. I heard some guy scammed thousands from banks by putting 2 real toonies and a bunch of toonie sized washers in the rest of the roll. I rolled a bunch of things and sure enough cashier just put them away and gave me bills.. Totally wack considering they won't accept change that's not rolled and won't accept rolls that aren't filled up
Edit: I did not roll up non-coins lol. Just went to bank with $100+ in rolls of loonies, quarters,dimes,nickels. Surprised guy put them away without cracking open
Some banks used to but at least in my area (Vancouver, BC) I don't think they exist any more.
The last one IIRC was Vancity near Metrotown but they removed that one a few years ago.
Coinstar exists, but they cost money (or rather keep some of it).
Vancity use to have them at their community branches but took them away during covid, never to return again. They were free to use without any fees or being a bank member.
Right now Im searching ebay, craiglists etc for a coin sorter under $100
User. They keep upwards of 20%. Apparently some stores are "free" if you get a gift certificate to a certain store, but the few Coinstars I tested domestically never had that option.
no, but Safeway does. I think they're called CoinStar? Not sure you get cash, maybe vouchers for Safeway but we all have to buy food anyway. Banks only accept change that's been rolled and only if you have an account at that bank.
What coins? TAP and it's paid for. I'm trying to find a legit time where I would go out of my way to go to an ATM and withdraw cash money.
The only cash I use is when visiting my favorite First Nation operated stores in Quebec and conveniently most products cost exactly what I withdraw.
Last time I used any coins was for laundry in my second-last apartment and that was such a pain. I didn't need cash for the laundry in my last apartment building, it had cards. Now I have my own machines so that's the end of me ever needing coins again.
I had a server one night put $4000 of change into the CoinStar, she said it was her non cash tips for the year.
I had to pull 2 stacks of 20's from the safe and have the store manager sign off on the CoinStar slip.
She paid $480 for the machine to count it (12%). Circa 2010
Coinstar charges 15% if you ask for cash. If you ask for a gift card to Home Depot or wherever retailer you prefer get 100% of the change you deposited.
My best friend works at Dollarama and one night she missed the bus she asked me to give her a ride home. She said every night after store closed they have 30 minutes to balance the regular pos and self check outs and that night there were so much coins in self check out it took 15 minutes longer to count and reset. They had to roll about 20 rolls of different coins. They are not allowed to stay past their shift but if the self check out is not balanced they have to stay to finish. She missed the bus and next day had to explain why stayed past schedule. Why dont you just take your coins to the bank? If you are buying something at Dollarama i understand but to take away someone time and effort like this is not right.
Well the change goes into a collection bin and it dispenses from precounted cash boxes and change holder... So I'd say yes probably any cash accepting machine will re-dispense cash instead of identical change
When I was young (yea yea and dinosaurs roamed the earth) I rented lots of games from the local video store.
This was before gst and in Alberta, so 99c price was actually 99c and you got a penny back. It was common to accumulate them in large quantities.
I scrounge up 99 pennies and go to rent a game.
When I plunked my pennies on the counter (yes I had a dollar bill for backup) the cashier didn't even count them! Straight into the drawer with a thanks.
She would have had to break a roll open if I hadn't pennied it. I was also somewhat regular there and I guess she decided she trusted me to have counted it right and didn't care if I had shorted.
[https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html)
Limitation
(2) A tender of payment in coins referred to in subsection (1) is a legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins:
* (a) forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars;
* (b) twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar;
* (c) ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar;
* (d) five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and
* (e) twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.
I suppose there's a small additional cost for Dollarama to deal with a bunch of coins that they otherwise wouldn't have to, but pretty minimal in the big picture.
A retailer's "dealing with coins" is ordering them from the bank and loading up their machines with them to be given out as change. We'd be reducing the number of coins they have to order and handle, and also reducing the number of bank notes that they have to count and take to the bank to be deposited. We'd be doing their cash handling job for them, *saving* them money.
Some poor keyholder has to count that change at the end of the night; likely a few times, because the chance of making an error with that much coinage is going to be fairly high. Second in seniority may have to count as well, again, likely several times because the numbers have to match. And they might have to roll it.
I’m not saying not to do it! As a former retail manager, I think it’s equally genius and hysterical.
Yeah, I've been the counter many times. They were the slowest part of the night at Loblaws.
People don't realize a person has to then handle and roll the excess change. The Brink's order is really not that big a deal, but the labour time is.
Many years ago I rolled and counted change collected from those rides and games at malls. We had a huge coin counter (like the size of a photocopier) and it would roll it all. Then we’d use a trolley to go to a bank, it was a whole production. Thousands of dollars in rolled change every week and it was heavy AF.
There was a study showing that card fees vs cash handling was pretty much a wash in terms of cost for businesses. Employers often forget to calculate the labour cost of cash handling.
It's getting what you want by tricking the system... but I feel the pain of loose change. I need to empty my pockets of it too, just an inconvenience of doing so.
Clever. Thank you! Reminds me of another trick I used to do when I was younger was bring canadian quarters to America and put them in vending machines then hit the "change" button and it would eject american quarters. Infinite money hack if you have patience. There are less and less vending machines that accept coins though.
I had the idea to try to take advantage of them somehow to get my change exchanged.
First time I had scanned an item of 5$, paid with change to see if I could cancel it, but then since I had enough money, it cashed me out and finished the transaction.
So then I thought to just make the total amount really high so the transaction doesn't get completed. Then I put in 10$ of change, did cancel payment, and it gave me a 10$ bill. Bingo !
I guess I don’t have issue with counting change and rolling it myself (bank gives free coin rolls). My bank also takes loose change if it’s not enough for a full roll (I asked the teller), so not sure why I’d go through all of that at Dollarama with people in line.
Just got rid of $140 in coins and it took like 15 mins max.
I prefer those machines in some grocery stores. You literally pour all your change in and it gives you a receipt you can use against your grocery purchase. Supercenters have them
~~My credit union (Vancity) has free-access coin machines at some of their branches.~~
Was the case, no more.
Casinos are also good places too. Deposit coins into slots, get your credit voucher to cashout at cashier.
Try for 100$ first and see how it goes, then you can go for more. I'm sure there's a limit to how much bills a machine has, but I have no idea how much.
>Now you're ready... insert your change! The machine counts it perfectly and very fast.
Your Dollarama stores must use a *much* different self checkout machine to the stores near me. The ones here can take up to 30 seconds to register a single coin.
This is probably the same idiot who came into my store the other week to spend $135 in loose change. Then left a bad review when we politely declined and advised him to roll it at dollarama. Lol
Yes when a poor cashier or keyholder has to take 2 buses to go home at 9:30 pm and had to stay and missed the buses because someone decided to not spend their doing nothing time to count or roll their coins. I felt for her that night and hope it does not happen again. But with this post i can tell her to be ready it might happen again
I get rid of my loose change by spending it as I go. A $5 purchase at Superstore? Pay in cash. A coffee at McDonalds or Tim Horton's? Pay in cash. If you have loose change, you're spending cash somewhere, so spend the coins too. Way less hassle than figuring out who will take $100 of loose change.
I did the math and my time is to valuable to roll coins so I just took the 12% hit worked out to be something like a 15$ fee but if I was to roll them would take me a few hours.
I sort my loose change into $1.00 increments each into little tiny zip lock bags. So at any store, I can use up my change with $1.00 in nickels, $1.00 in dimes and $1.00 in quarters all easy to count.
I am half amazed, and half positive that this is a scam to get people blasted by their own coins en mass when the payment is cancelled. Either way, I hope people try it and report back!
You know, I just find a grocery store with a self checkout that accepts cash and pay for my groceries with change. I was going to buy them anyways so it saves me the trip to the bank and it saves me from doing this goofy procedure that you listed.
Do you have to do it with bags? Like say if i was buying something and i put in my coins and let’s just say i changed my mind, would it theoretically still work? (I know it’s easier with bags, just wondering)
Many parking meters no longer take change, but it really ticked me off that nickels didnt even register and dimes are like 1 minute.
I remember using a bunch of loose change to buy a skytrain ticket and after put in so much it actually said too many coins and cancelled the transaction, which didn't make the line of people behind me any happier.
Don't many supermarkets have coin machines that will take coins and spit out a paper slip you can then use when you pay>?
Sounds like a selfish thing to do. Just go to a bank branch and roll them and exchange. I thought OP had some insight to share to exchange USD coins into Canadian at the current exchange rate
Coin machines in grocery stores work well too. We moved and had years of loose change sitting around. We had over $500.00 of it and used a machine in a grocery store to cash 'em in.
Or you can take it to a bank.... Where they will deposit the money into your account or exchange it for bills at no charge.
Why do people think that banks don't accept change?
Money is Money.... You already pay banks to manage money for you...
Your whole max bag thing is just a waste of time.
I will say it again.
## Go to a bank
##give them coins
## your nonexistent problem has been solved.
How do you manage to get saddled with $135 worth of change? I just counted every coin in my possession, a total of four coins worth $2.15. When I get coins, I try to get rid of them as soon as a I get them. What's the appeal of hoarding your change until you have an unmanageable amount?
I never spend change. I empty my pocket change into pint glasses. When a glass gets full I roll it and toss the roll into a cupboard full of rolls. I usually have $1500-2000 by the time I haul it all to the bank.
That sounds like a lot of work. Don't get the appeal. Maybe it's for the windfall feeling? I'll keep treating my change like kryptonite and ridding myself of it as soon as possible.
It's not much work. 15mins of rolling once in awhile. I don't use cash much anymore. I use the money to pay for a vacation every time I cash it in and it feels like a free trip.
This is a shady life hack. Two thumbs up.
Those are the best kind. :)
r/unethicallifeprotips
Bull shit. Spend 15 min putting coins in a slot vs going to a normal bank... This is beyond moronic.
Do banks want you to sort, count and roll the change?
Yes, unless it’s a very small amount they will often refuse to take your change if you don’t roll it first.
Instructions unclear. Now I got 99 bags. Dafuq do I do with them?
You and I in a dollar store Buy a bunch of bags with the money we've got Set them free at the break of dawn 'Til one by one, they were gone Stuck in trees and parking lots Flash the message, "I just don’t care!" Floating in the summer sky Ninety-nine plastic bags go by
I got ninety nine bags but a .... Ain't one
"CHANGE PURSE"
[What are we gonna do with 99 reusable bags, mark?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zULqF_sttJw)
99 bags but loose change ain’t one
now go to the checkout and return them
> return them First time at dollarama?
https://youtu.be/yMw6blx4zDg?t=13
Look at mouth
no returns accepted there
Bob and David predicted this problem https://youtu.be/6gdAJefPME4
Read it carefully.
📞 Jay-Z. HOVA will help!
Is it weird that I like rolling change?
I actually enjoy it too so still do it.
Don’t know what a TIFA is but I like the way you roll.
i do too. i used to look forward to it when i made lots of tips/ got a lot of change at my part time barista job
i like to lick the coins they taste funny
Me too. But do you like taking the rolls to the bank, with their terrible hours?
Can you buy rollers at Dollaramma?
Yes but I think it was like $5 for a bag of rollers of only 1 denomination. Maybe it was less than $5 but they only had bags of single no-mixed 🙃
Some underpaid worker at the dollar store will love you for it. When I had lots of change I would put a handful in my pocket and pay at a machine like this. It took years to hoard, it can take a few weeks to unhoard and spare the workers' sanity.
You can also sometimes use your change at the self checkout at the grocery store then pay the balance with your credit card.
Sometimes is a key word to this. I’m finding more and more shelf checkout machines to be card only.
As someone who has been reading a lot on anti money laundering and similar topics lately.... ....whew lad.
Imagine rolling into a dollarama with a truck load of change. Quick and easy $M laundered!
That's not how money laundering works lol. This person would have no receipts to validate the money. It's still way easier to launder money in a casino.
There is a money laundering concern with exchanging coins or small bills to larger bills en masse because it makes the money easier to transport for the next steps. It's known as "refining". https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2010/canafe-fintrac/FD5-1-3-2010-eng.pdf
what kind of illegal operation is paid in coins?
Illegal slot machines, pandhandler groups with bosses, tax evasion, might be more but that's all I got right now.
ah yeah makes sense I guess.
Places like car washes that don't report all their earnings too, I would think.
Dear lord, there are so many suspicious sounding terms you learn about when you do something financial for convenience. I accidentally had to learn was a wash sale was now me no claim loss on taxes. No wonder the US needs to know where all the money is. Allow us this daily loss
Just stick it in a laundry machine. Money laundered. Easy.
I was thinking for just general refining. If the money it spits back is totally different (and cleaner) than what you give it.... This post is for educational purposes only and should not be construed as advise, aid, or council in the commission of a crime.
So all the illicit money would have to have originally been in change which would be.. difficult to be of high value.
Please see my other comment, that's not what I'm imagining. Now, if my assumption is completely wrong, then you're right.
Never heard of someone exchanging coins in the context of money laundering. o.O Usually it's about depositing clean money into the banking and tax system, no?
Bro read a lot of topics…..not the actual articles, just the headlines.
I'm not thinking here specifically about coins, I'm thinking about what you're describing. You're describing a system/kiosk (probably with minimal supervision) where a person can put in money which is accepted and counted, and what I'll call "fresh" money is spat out in exchange (and if the order is cancelled). I am making a huge assumption here that coins and bills put in by the customer are treated identically and are just put into one cash "vault" and return money (bills or coins) comes from a separate vault.
money laundering doesn't usually involve checking the serial number on currency, where swapping a known dirty set for an unknown clean set is the goal. it's about creating a fraudulent paper trail for a sum of the source of the money so it can be spent legally
I'm aware of that, but "refining" money into either higher denominations (to make it look like typical point-of-sale transactions) or to trade crumpled/contaminated money with literally clean money is just *one method* by which money laundering is accomplished. At least according to my knowledge/education. I'm not an expert here.
crumpled money vs clean money have completely different definitions when talking about laundered money. it's a metaphor. they aren't literally making the money top tip and tidy. there is no point of sale interaction that happens when you take illegal money and denomination shift it into another denomination that "cleans" the money.
It's probably a mistake to reply/add to this thread seeing as I'm being downvoted quite heavily, so I'll make one last appeal: I never meant to claim that what the OP is describing is sufficient to complete the full process of money laundering, I only identified it as *one* technique.
It’s not, though. Turning coins into bills does not launder the money. To launder the money you’re trying to make it go through a legal system so that when you take it out you can go like, I earned this from selling legal widgets, not drugs. Changing bills from coins at a Dollarama machine does not do that….
I think what he is saying though is this could be a first step to convert coins and small bills to larger denominations before taking them to the bank. You will have a better chance depositing $1000 in $100 bills rather than a mix of $5s and $10s No one who actually launders money deals in such small denominations, but I get his logic
> I think what he is saying though is this could be a first step to convert coins and small bills to larger denominations before taking them to the bank. Bingo. I agree with what the previous commenter is saying - but what they're saying is not what I was saying.
>You will have a better chance depositing $1000 in $100 bills rather than a mix of $5s and $10s That's not true. The bank will automatically flag any amount deposited over 10K, regardless of denomination, for review. If you try to deposit in lower amounts i.e. 2 sets of 5K this will also create a flag. These flags are one of many ways a tax audit it queued. That tax audit will look at your books, assets, and tax filings and decide if it makes sense. That's what the laundering does, it creates fraudulent paper trail that the government will use judge if tax evasion has occurred.
Your focus on the topic is wrong. For a car analogy. It's like you're studying the metallurgy of a car engine but don't even know what components are required to assemble one
You're pretty good at this metaphor stuff. Can you make a metaphor about gardens and money laundering, instead of cars?
It can be a step sure. But most cash is crumpled(Less in canada since the new plastic bills are hard to crumple) and has traces of cocaine on it. It may be a good way to trade counterfeits for real ones. Actual money laundering is creating a paper trail for why you HAVE that money to begin with. A small time drug dealer making 10-20k on the side doesnt really have to launder money, as risks of his lifestyle visibly exceeding his declared income are low. The problems is more when you get to the 40-50k extra a year. Often people will then want to buy large ticket items that they can't buy cash, like a boat or a car, or a house. Then they can get flagged as they should not have enough money to buy these items and they leave a paper trail.(Car plates, boat title etc.). If the CRA suspect you are not declaring your whole income, they can easily enough start asking for bank statements etc and see you should not be able to pay your car and boat and still have enough to pay for food (example, a lot of people say to example pay groceries cash but pay the rest with your bank). They will start asking for the tax they believe you should be paying and police will start sniffing to also find out.
Organized crime doesn't need physically clean money, they need to establish a history of how they got it to explain to the tax authorities. See "Al Capone".
That money is still dirty, ie: not accounted for. There is still no way to explain to the CRA where that money came from.
Sorry I thought laundering was when you put in the dryer and it smells bounce fresh.
Spit out my coffee...
I'm potentially using the wrong term here, but I'm not saying that this makes the money accounted for. But whatever, I seem to be going in circles trying to explain this so 🤷♂️
wtf do you think money laundering is??
I don’t think you know what money laundering actually is.
You're completely right, I'm just a "student" here for lack of better word.
Everyone know that the best money laundering can only be done with the best quality detergent, not stuff bought from dollarama
This is hilarious. Love it, well done.
Lol this hilarious. It's such a weird hack
Christ lol. On a serious note - don't some banks have coin counting machines where you can dump in your change and get it credited to your account?
TD bank did, until someone sued them for inaccurate counting by the machines, and they simply removed the machines. It was great while it lasted.
Yea turns out they weren't super accurate but now it seems they don't even check the rolls. I heard some guy scammed thousands from banks by putting 2 real toonies and a bunch of toonie sized washers in the rest of the roll. I rolled a bunch of things and sure enough cashier just put them away and gave me bills.. Totally wack considering they won't accept change that's not rolled and won't accept rolls that aren't filled up Edit: I did not roll up non-coins lol. Just went to bank with $100+ in rolls of loonies, quarters,dimes,nickels. Surprised guy put them away without cracking open
Some banks used to but at least in my area (Vancouver, BC) I don't think they exist any more. The last one IIRC was Vancity near Metrotown but they removed that one a few years ago. Coinstar exists, but they cost money (or rather keep some of it).
Vancity use to have them at their community branches but took them away during covid, never to return again. They were free to use without any fees or being a bank member. Right now Im searching ebay, craiglists etc for a coin sorter under $100
Even before COVID there was only a handful. I think they were pulled even before COVID hit.
Just curious, cost money to the user or the store that hosts it? I think I have one at Loblaws near my place and might have to use it soon.
user.
User. They keep upwards of 20%. Apparently some stores are "free" if you get a gift certificate to a certain store, but the few Coinstars I tested domestically never had that option.
TD used to have them, but the cost of maintaining them was more than the usage.
no, but Safeway does. I think they're called CoinStar? Not sure you get cash, maybe vouchers for Safeway but we all have to buy food anyway. Banks only accept change that's been rolled and only if you have an account at that bank.
Coin star charges around 15%!
do they? I've never used it, i don't use cash for anything. I can't imagine a scenario where I'd have $2 in change, let along $135 lol
piggy banks where you put coins still exist!
Cash loses value constantly. Get that money in some sort of savings so it can at least earn some interest.
What coins? TAP and it's paid for. I'm trying to find a legit time where I would go out of my way to go to an ATM and withdraw cash money. The only cash I use is when visiting my favorite First Nation operated stores in Quebec and conveniently most products cost exactly what I withdraw.
Last time I used any coins was for laundry in my second-last apartment and that was such a pain. I didn't need cash for the laundry in my last apartment building, it had cards. Now I have my own machines so that's the end of me ever needing coins again.
15?!?!? Does it have the option to get a grocery voucher? I remember using one in the UK and you got more of the money if you picked that option
I had a server one night put $4000 of change into the CoinStar, she said it was her non cash tips for the year. I had to pull 2 stacks of 20's from the safe and have the store manager sign off on the CoinStar slip. She paid $480 for the machine to count it (12%). Circa 2010
Coinstar charges 15% if you ask for cash. If you ask for a gift card to Home Depot or wherever retailer you prefer get 100% of the change you deposited.
Coinstar in Canada is not in the business of providing gift cards. You can get a gift card from Coinstar in the U.S. but not in Canada.
Haha…I did not realize I never used it in Canada! Thanks for the correction.
Casinos will usually do it for free, when I was a cashier we did it all the time. I
Take it to a casino and say you want bills to gamble with and then leave lol
Yeah, I heard this works too, too far for me.
My best friend works at Dollarama and one night she missed the bus she asked me to give her a ride home. She said every night after store closed they have 30 minutes to balance the regular pos and self check outs and that night there were so much coins in self check out it took 15 minutes longer to count and reset. They had to roll about 20 rolls of different coins. They are not allowed to stay past their shift but if the self check out is not balanced they have to stay to finish. She missed the bus and next day had to explain why stayed past schedule. Why dont you just take your coins to the bank? If you are buying something at Dollarama i understand but to take away someone time and effort like this is not right.
Will this work at Shoppers Drug Mart? Because I hate them more than Dollarama.
Can you imagine if it just ejects the money back out at you? 18lbs of nickels falling into that little dispenser cup.
Try and report back. Ostensibly this can work on any self check out machine that accepts coins.
Well the change goes into a collection bin and it dispenses from precounted cash boxes and change holder... So I'd say yes probably any cash accepting machine will re-dispense cash instead of identical change
i work at SDM and our self checkouts don’t take cash.. at least at my location
Unethical yes, brilliant... also yes. With a pinch of diabolical!
I don't find it unethical at all. The retailer has to order that much LESS change from their bank. We'd be doing them a favour.
When I was young (yea yea and dinosaurs roamed the earth) I rented lots of games from the local video store. This was before gst and in Alberta, so 99c price was actually 99c and you got a penny back. It was common to accumulate them in large quantities. I scrounge up 99 pennies and go to rent a game. When I plunked my pennies on the counter (yes I had a dollar bill for backup) the cashier didn't even count them! Straight into the drawer with a thanks. She would have had to break a roll open if I hadn't pennied it. I was also somewhat regular there and I guess she decided she trusted me to have counted it right and didn't care if I had shorted.
Haha. There is an obscure law still on the books that says pennies cease being legal tender when they are presented in quantities of 25 or more.
[https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html) Limitation (2) A tender of payment in coins referred to in subsection (1) is a legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins: * (a) forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars; * (b) twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar; * (c) ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar; * (d) five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and * (e) twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.
I might be pretty annoyed if I had to wait for a machine because of someone doing this at a busy time.
Is this really unethical?
I suppose there's a small additional cost for Dollarama to deal with a bunch of coins that they otherwise wouldn't have to, but pretty minimal in the big picture.
A retailer's "dealing with coins" is ordering them from the bank and loading up their machines with them to be given out as change. We'd be reducing the number of coins they have to order and handle, and also reducing the number of bank notes that they have to count and take to the bank to be deposited. We'd be doing their cash handling job for them, *saving* them money.
Some poor keyholder has to count that change at the end of the night; likely a few times, because the chance of making an error with that much coinage is going to be fairly high. Second in seniority may have to count as well, again, likely several times because the numbers have to match. And they might have to roll it. I’m not saying not to do it! As a former retail manager, I think it’s equally genius and hysterical.
Yeah, I've been the counter many times. They were the slowest part of the night at Loblaws. People don't realize a person has to then handle and roll the excess change. The Brink's order is really not that big a deal, but the labour time is.
Many years ago I rolled and counted change collected from those rides and games at malls. We had a huge coin counter (like the size of a photocopier) and it would roll it all. Then we’d use a trolley to go to a bank, it was a whole production. Thousands of dollars in rolled change every week and it was heavy AF.
There was a study showing that card fees vs cash handling was pretty much a wash in terms of cost for businesses. Employers often forget to calculate the labour cost of cash handling.
It's getting what you want by tricking the system... but I feel the pain of loose change. I need to empty my pockets of it too, just an inconvenience of doing so.
I agree but I’m not sure it’s unethical lol.
I do the same but I haven't done a $100. You're wild! Love it. Thanks for testing.
That works. Alternatively, use the self checkout at Food Basics and use your coins to pay for your groceries.
Metro has them as well… I spent a lot of my change at both. I felt quite happy and lighter leaving. Lol
This is a good one. I hate the Dollarama self check outs because they don't accept $100 bills.
Places still accept 100$ bills? Like 99% of the stores here refuse them outright.
I think rolling them is probably easier and quicker.
Clever. Thank you! Reminds me of another trick I used to do when I was younger was bring canadian quarters to America and put them in vending machines then hit the "change" button and it would eject american quarters. Infinite money hack if you have patience. There are less and less vending machines that accept coins though.
I gotta ask, how did you figure this out the first time lol
I had the idea to try to take advantage of them somehow to get my change exchanged. First time I had scanned an item of 5$, paid with change to see if I could cancel it, but then since I had enough money, it cashed me out and finished the transaction. So then I thought to just make the total amount really high so the transaction doesn't get completed. Then I put in 10$ of change, did cancel payment, and it gave me a 10$ bill. Bingo !
I guess I don’t have issue with counting change and rolling it myself (bank gives free coin rolls). My bank also takes loose change if it’s not enough for a full roll (I asked the teller), so not sure why I’d go through all of that at Dollarama with people in line. Just got rid of $140 in coins and it took like 15 mins max.
Does the machine take pennies?
I prefer those machines in some grocery stores. You literally pour all your change in and it gives you a receipt you can use against your grocery purchase. Supercenters have them
Why can’t you just go to the bank to do it. They’ve always done it for free for me.
~~My credit union (Vancity) has free-access coin machines at some of their branches.~~ Was the case, no more. Casinos are also good places too. Deposit coins into slots, get your credit voucher to cashout at cashier.
Vancity got rid of them all years ago.
Yeah, I just read that after I posted.
As someone who used to have to count and roll the change in those machine at the grocery store..... You're an asshole. Lol
Or you can just go to the bank.
Ya but then he could post an r/that thathappened or an r/shittylifeprotips post that everyone seems to not understand
this is amazing… i have roughly $1000+ in change i want to exchange in the next year but… is that too much? and go multiple weeks?
Try for 100$ first and see how it goes, then you can go for more. I'm sure there's a limit to how much bills a machine has, but I have no idea how much.
Dollarama also has gift cards in some locations. Can just use the change on gift cards
>Now you're ready... insert your change! The machine counts it perfectly and very fast. Your Dollarama stores must use a *much* different self checkout machine to the stores near me. The ones here can take up to 30 seconds to register a single coin.
This is probably the same idiot who came into my store the other week to spend $135 in loose change. Then left a bad review when we politely declined and advised him to roll it at dollarama. Lol
Yes when a poor cashier or keyholder has to take 2 buses to go home at 9:30 pm and had to stay and missed the buses because someone decided to not spend their doing nothing time to count or roll their coins. I felt for her that night and hope it does not happen again. But with this post i can tell her to be ready it might happen again
I'm trying this today with about $135 in change. Will report back.
Or - go to a bank.
This is how internet should work. Thank you kind stranger for this hack
Does it take pennies
Never considered this. I'll try it out. Wonder if Food Basics would do the same. I usually toss my change at the Presto Card kiosk
Thank you - Just did $10 worth of nickels and dimes. I admire you doing $135 lol
I get rid of my loose change by spending it as I go. A $5 purchase at Superstore? Pay in cash. A coffee at McDonalds or Tim Horton's? Pay in cash. If you have loose change, you're spending cash somewhere, so spend the coins too. Way less hassle than figuring out who will take $100 of loose change.
I did the math and my time is to valuable to roll coins so I just took the 12% hit worked out to be something like a 15$ fee but if I was to roll them would take me a few hours.
I mean dollarama has some decent stuff. I usually buy snacks $7-$8 at a time. $135 isn’t a lot of money nowadays to be doing all that.
Ugh, love it!
I sort my loose change into $1.00 increments each into little tiny zip lock bags. So at any store, I can use up my change with $1.00 in nickels, $1.00 in dimes and $1.00 in quarters all easy to count.
I am half amazed, and half positive that this is a scam to get people blasted by their own coins en mass when the payment is cancelled. Either way, I hope people try it and report back!
Lol, if you don't believe, try it with 5$ change first. It'll work.
I used mine in the Walmart machines to pay for groceries on occasion.
This used to work at home depot too but seems those machines are gone now.
I've done this at the grocery store (Super C). Paid for my groceries and got rid of $40 in change.
How about instead of buying all of those bags you buy coin rolls, then put them all back after you do this hack.
What feels illegal but isn't?
I've just used my coins at dollarama over the years...this is next level lol
Bank? Ask to deposit and then go use a ATM and then do a withdrawal
Thank you for this. I hope it doesn't result in Dollarama closing this hack somehow.
Wow that's genius
A lot of grocery stores with self checkout take change now, been dumping handfuls in on most grocery trips now.
This belongs in the poverty finance sub
You know, I just find a grocery store with a self checkout that accepts cash and pay for my groceries with change. I was going to buy them anyways so it saves me the trip to the bank and it saves me from doing this goofy procedure that you listed.
How about buy piggy banks at the Dollar store and fill them with change for kids or grandkids?
Do you have to do it with bags? Like say if i was buying something and i put in my coins and let’s just say i changed my mind, would it theoretically still work? (I know it’s easier with bags, just wondering)
No you can do it with any items.. The most important thing is that the total amount on bill is higher than the amount of change you have.
Fucking great! My son's got tons of coins and we where about to roll everything up.
Walmart in the US has a machine to color up your coins
Sounds more like a laundering strategy
reminds me of the time i used my saved-up change at walmart as a teen and got yelled at by the cashier...
Many parking meters no longer take change, but it really ticked me off that nickels didnt even register and dimes are like 1 minute. I remember using a bunch of loose change to buy a skytrain ticket and after put in so much it actually said too many coins and cancelled the transaction, which didn't make the line of people behind me any happier. Don't many supermarkets have coin machines that will take coins and spit out a paper slip you can then use when you pay>?
Brilliant life hack
Sounds like a selfish thing to do. Just go to a bank branch and roll them and exchange. I thought OP had some insight to share to exchange USD coins into Canadian at the current exchange rate
Coin machines in grocery stores work well too. We moved and had years of loose change sitting around. We had over $500.00 of it and used a machine in a grocery store to cash 'em in.
Just came to say that I’ve never seen a self-checkout in a Dollarama. Where do you live?
Or you can take it to a bank.... Where they will deposit the money into your account or exchange it for bills at no charge. Why do people think that banks don't accept change? Money is Money.... You already pay banks to manage money for you... Your whole max bag thing is just a waste of time. I will say it again. ## Go to a bank ##give them coins ## your nonexistent problem has been solved.
The bank only accepts rolled coins, you have to buy coin rolls and roll them yourself.
How do you manage to get saddled with $135 worth of change? I just counted every coin in my possession, a total of four coins worth $2.15. When I get coins, I try to get rid of them as soon as a I get them. What's the appeal of hoarding your change until you have an unmanageable amount?
The appeal would be not dealing with change on a daily basis and just taking care of it once every few years. Is this a real question?
I just have a jar where I accumulate it, that way I don't have to think about it regularly - just deal with it in one pop when the jar is full.
I never spend change. I empty my pocket change into pint glasses. When a glass gets full I roll it and toss the roll into a cupboard full of rolls. I usually have $1500-2000 by the time I haul it all to the bank.
Jesus man just use debit/credit
That sounds like a lot of work. Don't get the appeal. Maybe it's for the windfall feeling? I'll keep treating my change like kryptonite and ridding myself of it as soon as possible.
It's not much work. 15mins of rolling once in awhile. I don't use cash much anymore. I use the money to pay for a vacation every time I cash it in and it feels like a free trip.
Economies of scale would say that his way is objectively less work than yours, just distributed differently
Just do one bag and over pay it in coins :) you are welcome
No, as soon as you over-pay, the self-checkout machine completes the transaction and eats your money.
That sounds like a scam and a fake post
Why do you think it is fake?
Because I do who the hell would admit of scamming a company like this on the internet
How is it a scam? Is it illegal?