# Are change trays common in retail stores in Europe ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-change-trays-common-in-retail-stores-in-europe/816851>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 27, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-change-trays-common-in-retail-stores-in-europe/816851 "2018-06-27T17:51:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-change-trays-common-in-retail-stores-in-europe/816851/21 "2018-07-01T09:29:33Z")

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> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> so no hand contact.  
> I assume it’s a hygiene thing.

I’ve never paid much attention to this issue, but I can think of another reason for using the tray, which nobody else has suggested yet:  
it lets both parties see and count the change. So there may be fewer mistakes, or accusations of short-changing the customer, etc.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-change-trays-common-in-retail-stores-in-europe/816851/22 "2018-07-01T19:42:12Z")

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> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> In the US, one occasionally sees a weird arrangement at the grocery store whereby the cashier hands back any bills to you directly, but the coin portion of your change is dispensed by a mechanical changer that spits the coins into a little tray.

There’s a machine like that at my local liquor store. That’s the only place here I’ve ever seen one (including other stores of the same chain)

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