# Did you ever learn to make change this way?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 17, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873 "2017-11-17T15:05:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/1 "2017-11-17T15:05:30Z")
You’re a cashier. I’m the customer. My purchase comes to $7.35. I hand you a $10 bill and you ring it up. The cash drawer pops open, and without doing any advance calculations (or looking at the screen, if there is one), do you immediately set the $10 bill on the shelf above the drawer, take out, and hand me (counting into my hand - optional):
[ul]
[li]a nickel,[/li][li]a dime, [/li][li]two quarters,[/li][li]and two $1 bills?[/li][/ul]
(Or 3 nickels, a 50-cent piece, etc., you get the idea, right?)
If you did learn to make change this way, who taught you and when, i.e. at what age and in approximately what year?
I learned in elementary school, probably 3rd grade, 1957.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/2 "2017-11-17T15:21:41Z")
That’s exactly how I do it. I mentally count up from $7.35 until I get to $10.
I don’t recall being taught that in grade school. But that is how I was trained when I was working as a cashier at a gas station.
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/3 "2017-11-17T15:24:26Z")
I’ve never been a cashier. Is there something unique or wrong about making change this way? Do people need to be taught to make change a certain way? The only thing that stands out to me is leaving the $10 bill out but I assume this is so the customer can’t claim that they gave you a $20.
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/4 "2017-11-17T15:25:49Z")
Child-labor abuse: why was poor ThelmaLou having to work as a cashier in the third grade? 😃
I was 15 (1976), first job, my high-school friend–who worked there and got me the job–showed me and it stuck instantly.
Why do present-day cashiers put the bills in your hand first then the change on top, so it slides off onto the floor?
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### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/5 "2017-11-17T15:28:44Z")
I think this type of thread comes up every few years.
To answer your question, yes, that pretty much exactly how I’d do it.
QuikTrip cashier, Stillwater, OK, 1980-1981.
I was taught the count-up method; so for a $7.35 purchase from a $10 bill:
Start at $7.35, count to .45 (grabbing a dime), .50 (grabbing a nickle), and .50 more makes $8.00 (grabbing two quarters).
Then finish up with the dollars, $8.00, to $9 (grab a single $1), to $10 (grab another single).
Only slightly different is if someone hands you bills and change.
i.e. $10 and two quarters. You count the same way but keep the change count independent from the bill count.
.35, to .45 (grab a dime), to .50 (grab a nickle), then the singles $7 to $8 (grab single dollar), $8 to $9 (grab single dollar), $9 to $10 (grab single dollar),
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### Author:  [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/6 "2017-11-17T15:29:17Z")
Yep. I expect it was in elementary school that I learned to count that way. It wasn’t until my first retail job -at maybe 14- that I was told/taught to put the bill on the shelf.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/7 "2017-11-17T15:40:02Z")
The registers at the local pack-your-own supermarket shows a diagram of the cash drawer and how much to take from each slot.
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### Author:  [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/8 "2017-11-17T15:45:30Z")
The coins always go on top of the paper, to keep it from blowing away.
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/9 "2017-11-17T15:46:15Z")
I’ve always been good with mental subtraction, so I did the math in my head and gave back the change. For instance, if a customer gave me $10 for a $7.53 purchase, I would quickly do the math in my head, determine (and say) I owed $2.47 in change and count out that amount. Counting up actually slowed the process for me.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/10 "2017-11-17T16:01:06Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#):
>
> … Is there something unique or wrong about making change this way?
I’m curious. What in my post seemed to imply there was anything wrong with making change this way? \<_scratches head_\>
> [@](#):
>
> Do people need to be taught to make change a certain way?
I think people in jobs that require them to accept cash and give change should know how to make change.
But in general, no. I don’t think people need to know how to make change at all. Like learning to tie your shoes in a Velcro world. Or learning to drive a standard transmission.
> [@](#):
>
> The only thing that stands out to me is leaving the $10 bill out but I assume this is so the customer can’t claim that they gave you a $20.
Oh yes. Don’t put the big bill in the drawer until you’ve given change to the customer.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/11 "2017-11-17T16:05:54Z")
I’ve always made change that way, although I do not recall being “taught”.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/12 "2017-11-17T16:08:13Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> You’re a cashier. I’m the customer. My purchase comes to $7.35. I hand you a $10 bill and you ring it up. The cash drawer pops open, and without doing any advance calculations (or looking at the screen, if there is one), do you immediately set the $10 bill on the shelf above the drawer, take out, and hand me (counting into my hand - optional):
> [ul]
> [li]a nickel,[/li][li]a dime, [/li][li]two quarters,[/li][li]and two $1 bills?[/li][/ul]
>
> (Or 3 nickels, a 50-cent piece, etc., you get the idea, right?)
>
> If you did learn to make change this way, who taught you and when, i.e. at what age and in approximately what year?
>
> I learned in elementary school, probably 3rd grade, 1957.
Yep, exactly like that in 1972, when I was ~ 16. I worked in a book store, mostly doing deliveries and such, but sometimes I had to man the cash register.
The other thing I learned was to give Mr. X the brown paper bag, hidden under the counter, when he came in and paid cash. The bag contained a magazine or magazines with very thick, glossy pages. We had Playboy and Hustler on the top shelf of the magazine rack (with covers on them, of course), but the special delivery for Mr. X was… special. And I never, ever ever peeked at the contents. 😃
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### Author:  [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/13 "2017-11-17T16:10:51Z")
Yup, that’s how I’ve done it in all my cashiering days. I might have been taught it when I was in 2nrd or 3rd grade or whatever, but I was definitely re-taught when I actually was a cashier.
Unless of course you do that BS where the total is 7.35 and you give me 9.62. You can go straight to hell on that one. I’m not smart enough to do that kind of quick mental math.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/14 "2017-11-17T16:10:53Z")
I volunteer at a concession stand. Our registers are antiquated at best so we count up to make change. Because there is no display people argue with us incessantly. As the customer is always right we never argue back, we bow to their insistance. I mean if this was a business with bottom line count down at the end of the day we would be in big trouble. I learned to do math really fast in my head in 6th grade, so they want me on the counter most times I work, because I am fast. Hey it’s a real life skill I am proud of!
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/15 "2017-11-17T16:12:24Z")
I"m 41. I was taught how to make change this way by old people who thought the New Math and the New New Math were dumb and wanted to show me how much easier their way was. I agreed. Ironically, the Newest New Math, Common Core, is, at its root, much more “counting up” in it’s approach to everything, and my generation lost it’s goddamn mind over the horror of it.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/16 "2017-11-17T16:16:55Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> I volunteer at a concession stand. Our registers are antiquated at best so we count up to make change. Because there is no display people argue with us incessantly. As the customer is always right we never argue back, we bow to their insistance.
No, no, you owe me $24,536 change from that tenner I gave you!
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/17 "2017-11-17T17:08:35Z")
I know I learned it in grade school, so between 1960 and 1966.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/18 "2017-11-17T17:28:13Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#):
>
> I’ve always been good with mental subtraction, so I did the math in my head and gave back the change. For instance, if a customer gave me $10 for a $7.53 purchase, I would quickly do the math in my head, determine (and say) I owed $2.47 in change and count out that amount. Counting up actually slowed the process for me.
This defeats the purpose. It’s not about speed. It’s about efficiency. And part of that is making it clear that it’s the right amount of change without the customer having to recheck your mental subtraction, which may not be as accurate as you think.
> [@MandaJo](#):
>
> I"m 41. I was taught how to make change this way by old people who thought the New Math and the New New Math were dumb and wanted to show me how much easier their way was. I agreed. Ironically, the Newest New Math, Common Core, is, at its root, much more “counting up” in it’s approach to everything, and my generation lost it’s goddamn mind over the horror of it.
AARGH! There is no such thing as “Common Core” math. Common Core is a set of standards about what skills should normally be learned by what age. It neither introduces any new methods of teaching nor dictates any particular methods, other than specifying that students should learn multiple methods of solving certain types of problems.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/19 "2017-11-17T17:29:45Z")
That’s how I was taught to make change in the 60s.
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-learn-to-make-change-this-way/801873/20 "2017-11-17T17:31:12Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#):
>
> This defeats the purpose. It’s not about speed. It’s about efficiency. And part of that is making it clear that it’s the right amount of change without the customer having to recheck your mental subtraction, which may not be as accurate as you think.
> AARGH! There is no such thing as “Common Core” math. Common Core is a set of standards about what skills should normally be learned by what age. It neither introduces any new methods of teaching nor dictates any particular methods, other than specifying that students should learn multiple methods of solving certain types of problems.
But those standards stress things like understanding place value and knowing multiple ways to regroup–exactly the sort of thinking “counting up” involves, instead of rigidly sticking to the “borrowing” method.
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