# Vending machine giving less than face value for Canadian money

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 19, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898 "2017-12-19T23:02:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898/1 "2017-12-19T23:02:48Z")

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Curious if this is a common practice. From my brother in Northern Virginia:

> [@](#):
>
> Just recently a soda machine gave me a Canadian quarter in change. I put the coin back in to see if the machine would take it, and I heard the coin drop into what sounded like a different bucket. The machine then gave me credit, but only for fifteen cents, not twenty-five.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898/2 "2017-12-20T00:04:01Z")

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He’s lucky the machine gave him anything. The Canadian quarter is currently worth US $0.20. And, banks won’t take them.

I don’t believe we have vending machines in Northern Ohio that would have done anything other than keep the quarter or give it back.

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**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898/3 "2017-12-20T17:13:43Z")

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While not quite a vending machine, I saw an unmanned display at the Dublin airport that had bottles of water for £1 or €1, even though they’re not at parity. I assume that it’s profitable even on the honor system and I’m sure they get a wide variety of currencies in the drop box  
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 20, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898/4 "2017-12-20T22:28:12Z")

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Heck, [Coinstar charges 11.9%](http://www.coinstar.com/howcoinstarworks) just to turn U.S. coins into U.S. bills.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vending-machine-giving-less-than-face-value-for-canadian-money/804898/5 "2017-12-21T12:23:19Z")

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> [@kunilou](#):
>
> Heck, [Coinstar charges 11.9%](http://www.coinstar.com/howcoinstarworks) just to turn U.S. coins into U.S. bills.

I’ve circumvented the fee by getting an Amazon gift card in lieu of cash.