# Anyone else throw away small change? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541 "2010-03-15T14:32:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/101 "2010-03-16T20:29:37Z")
I’ve read this whole thread and at first thought I had nothing to add - no way am I throwing away my change, but everyone else has already elucidated my reasons for not doing so. But then I thought of something kinda interesting (I hope). In Hindu culture, money is actually kind of revered as a symbol of the Goddess Lakshmi. She is the Goddess of Wealth, the wife of Vishnu, the Sustainer. So to throw money away is essentially to spit on her image and drive her away- become poor. To the point that when I was with my brother and dropped a quarter which started dramatically rolling away, and I stepped on it to stop it, he (mildly) scolded me for stepping on “the face of Lakshmi”. Just thought the OP might find that interesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/102 "2010-03-16T20:38:57Z")
> [@tetranz](#): > > US currency tends to generate lots of small change. It would help if the ATM allowed you to withdraw in multiples of any currency instead of being forced into multiples of 20. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/103 "2010-03-16T20:48:43Z")
> [@spazurek](#): > > I guess cashiers in your part of the world must be a lot faster than any that I’ve ever encountered. Making change vs. swiping a card (or better yet, me swiping it myself as the checker scans)…no contest. Oh hell no. I’ve been stuck many times behind a card transaction. The card doesn’t work, The card is rejected, the person can’t follow the instructions or find the right card etc… Cash moves a lot faster than card transactions. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/104 "2010-03-16T20:50:56Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Cash moves a lot faster than card transactions. QFT ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/105 "2010-03-16T21:02:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Oh hell no. I’ve been stuck many times behind a card transaction. The card doesn’t work, The card is rejected, the person can’t follow the instructions or find the right card etc… Cash moves a lot faster than card transactions. Really? I’m at Circle K a few times a week picking up a soda or whatnot, it’s quick and painless for me. I don’t even need to wait for their prompt. When they’re done scanning I swipe my card, enter my pin and a second later the cashier hands me my receipt and off I go. Cash can always be damaged, lost or stolen. With a card, things are more secure. Of course not completely secure, but **more** secure. I never have to ask a person in line behind me for a dime, never have to break a bill into a bunch of clanking coins that’ll fall out of my pocket in the car. I’ve probably used cash maybe two times in the past two years. No exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/106 "2010-03-16T21:02:40Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Cash moves a lot faster than card transactions. I disagree with this. And I am one of those impatient people that will walk out of a store the second I see the lotto player’s stance on the person ahead of me (Hand full of tiny papers, fingers quick and nervous, shifting weight from one foot to the next, I know the stance). Back in the day, it was a hassle with the credit cards. Nowadays, technology has definitely caught up and it’s swipe and go. Shit, for me it’s just blink and go. No waiting for change, no fiddling with bills, no coins dropped, etc. ETA: Aclockworkmelon, you don’t even have to wait for them to finish ringing you up, believe it or not. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/107 "2010-03-16T22:13:13Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > ETA: Aclockworkmelon, you don’t even have to wait for them to finish ringing you up, believe it or not. What do you mean? Swipe my card and it’ll be in their system ready to go for when they’re done ringing everything up? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/108 "2010-03-16T22:22:54Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > This is a pretty ridiculous statement. He’s not throwing this amount away a day. It’s a YEAR. If $2.88 over an entire year would make a difference in your life, you don’t live in America. Funny - isn’t Indiana part of the US? > [@](#): > > If you drive AT ALL, you ‘throw away’ that amount of money every day with underinflated tires, poor route planning or lack of carpooling. I check my tire inflation monthly and make adjustments, plan my routes carefully, and carpool about 4 out of 5 days I work. I buy gas about once a month, about $10 worth. > [@](#): > > If you eat, you waste an order of magnitude more in uneaten food in a year. Actually, most of my leftovers and trimming land in the compost pile, to eventually be recycled into new vegetables. > [@](#): > > If you buy three candy bars that you don’t really need to eat over an entire year, you’ve wasted more than that. Man, if you buy a single fancy coffee, you’ve wasted more money than that. What’s a candy bar? What’s a fancy coffee? I don’t think I’ve had coffee in about 30 years. I’m sorry you don’t believe poverty exists in your paradisaical notions about the US, but it does. Yes, buying my lunch even once a year would make a significant different in my life. It would mean someone actually gave a damn about me. Have a good day. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/109 "2010-03-17T00:01:06Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > What do you mean? Swipe my card and it’ll be in their system ready to go for when they’re done ringing everything up? Yep! ETA: Brooomstick, are you serious? I am not asking in a disrespectful manner, I just honestly don’t know anyone that lives that way, and I know lots of very poor people. Was born and raised in the ghetto. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/110 "2010-03-17T00:10:41Z")
The only exaggeration is that yes, I _do_ know what a candy bar is and do occasionally indulge. And I made brownies for my birthday. But yes, I really do live like that at present. It’s been quite a change, you know - three years ago I was wealthy enough to fly myself around in an airplane as a hobby. Now… well, an outing is riding my bicycle around the block. I got hit hard by the Great Recession. ---
**Author:** ![Flipshod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f19dbf/32.png) [@Flipshod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipshod)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/111 "2010-03-17T00:24:24Z")
The logic of the OP is unassailable. I’ve wondered if it’s worth my market hourly rate to bend over and pick up a quarter. But life is more than logic and rational accounting. As the diversity of opinion here shows, some folks value those small coins, so it is unethical to throw them away. Throw it on the ground if it bothers you so much. (bought my Blackberry last month with the $270 in change I had sitting about my house) ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/112 "2010-03-17T00:29:53Z")
> [@spazurek](#): > > If you don’t mind my exploiting your valuable perspective as a cashier a bit more, I have a question: don’t you think someone who said the less-obnoxious version would still likely receive some shocked looks and perhaps questioning from the cashier? Not at all. Plenty of people hate to carry around change. I probably got 10 people a week or so who would give me some version of “I don’t want my change”. > [@](#): > > I mean, look at how appalled nearly all the posters here have been. I’d prefer not to defend my personal philosophy while buying a lollipop for my son. People are not appauled at you not keeping your change from transactions, they are not able to process you throwing money away INTO THE GARBAGE. That you don’t keep your change isn’t the shocking part, people get rid of it either by leaving it with the cashier (ideally with “I hate change jingling in my pocket” or some other pleasantry), giving it to a bum, or honestly I bet you ZERO people who posted in this thread would have a problem with you throwing it on the sidewalk for someone else. Like I said “I hate change, thanks” is fine, and doesn’t come off as smug like the cashier is beneath you and should be thankful for your crumbs. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/113 "2010-03-17T01:02:03Z")
Broomstick made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/114 "2010-03-17T01:21:19Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > In Hindu culture, money is actually kind of revered as a symbol of the Goddess Lakshmi. She is the Goddess of Wealth, the wife of Vishnu, the Sustainer. So to throw money away is essentially to spit on her image and drive her away- become poor. To the point that when I was with my brother and dropped a quarter which started dramatically rolling away, and I stepped on it to stop it, he (mildly) scolded me for stepping on “the face of Lakshmi”. I like this idea, but I’m not sure it would work the same way in Canada. Our quarters have the Queen on one side and a caribou on the other. Lakshmi isn’t a caribouu, is she? Then I guess the Queen got a promotion. 🙂 > [@Honesty](#): > > It would help if the ATM allowed you to withdraw in multiples of any currency instead of being forced into multiples of 20. Royal Bank ATMs in Canada formerly gave fives and tens. I wish they still did. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/115 "2010-03-17T03:43:10Z")
I would never throw change away. Maybe it’s magical thinking, maybe it’s because I remember when I was a poor student, and between 7-50 cents or so would mean the difference between bus fare and walking home from my job. I may spend money foolishly, but I would never literally _throw_ it away. Wouldn’t even occur to me. Change jar at home, and once in a while I make an effort to spend my change–that’s me at the grocery store, paying with exact change for a while, until it’s depleted. I also pick up coins on the ground if I see them. To scorn them, in my mind, is to invite fate. “Don’t think you need that quarter? I’ll show you what it’s like to _need_ that quarter! Then you’ll learn…” ---
**Author:** ![Delayed\_Reflex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/delayed_reflex/32/3172_2.png) [@Delayed\_Reflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delayed_Reflex)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/116 "2010-03-17T03:48:54Z")
I hope you only throw away change if there isn’t one of those “Take a penny, leave a penny” trays at the counter. Someone else could be using your change! Just one penny in the tray can prevent someone else from receiving four more back in change 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e9a140/32.png) [@aerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerie)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/117 "2010-03-17T04:03:40Z")
> [@Kaio](#): > > My bank (and I imagine most banks) has a coin sorter. > > \*\*\*\*Or tell the clerk “keep the change” and make their day, just a little. You’re kidding with this right? If not, they’re getting a good chuckle when you get out the door. And you’re getting the ‘bird’. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/118 "2010-03-17T04:04:58Z")
> [@julius blaze](#): > > Not at all. Plenty of people hate to carry around change. I probably got 10 people a week or so who would give me some version of “I don’t want my change”. > [@Ogre](#): > > I’m still wondering why the OP doesn’t throw it in the “Please donate! My kid has brain cancer!” cup at the local 7-11. It’s these two points that make me think the OP is just being wasteful. I agree entirely with the logic of not being bothered with the change himself, but it takes essentially zero effort to not take the change in the first place. Taking it then making the effort of throwing it away is silly. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/119 "2010-03-17T05:47:26Z")
My sarcastic reply to people saying “keep the change” and not taking their eight cents was always, “GEE, THANKS MISTER!” because that would be the appropriate response 50 years ago when 8 cents as a tip made you not a raving asshole. “Keep the change” means, “here is your tip”. Don’t ever give someone a tip that small unless you’re a complete asshole. “I don’t like carrying around a bunch of change, thanks” means “Let someone else who is a couple pennies short use these.” MUCH BETTER. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541/120 "2010-03-17T06:23:55Z")
> [@julius blaze](#): > > My sarcastic reply to people saying “keep the change” and not taking their eight cents was always, “GEE, THANKS MISTER!” because that would be the appropriate response 50 years ago when 8 cents as a tip made you not a raving asshole. > > “Keep the change” means, “here is your tip”. Don’t ever give someone a tip that small unless you’re a complete asshole. > > “I don’t like carrying around a bunch of change, thanks” means “Let someone else who is a couple pennies short use these.” MUCH BETTER. When I say “keep the change,” I mean “don’t give me the change, I don’t want it.” I don’t give a shit what you do with the money. If you were to reply as sarcastically and obnoxiously as your post implies, I’d think you were the one being the asshole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-throw-away-small-change/532541.md?page=7)