I spend pennies when paying cash for goods or services, and I usually have enough coinage in my wallet to get a nice round number back in change. On walks around town, I pick up whatever change I see lying on the ground, and thereby replenish my supply of coins. Just this evening I found 19 cents (a dime and nine pennies) over the course of a two-hour walk.
My ex-bank would only tally up change for people with an account there. Good enough let’s move on. I was getting my change done and the lady said she was glad to get all the change she could , because they had to pay a fee on all change that they had to order. So why didn’t they do the change for people without accounts? 
I save pennies along with the rest of my change. As others have said, it’s still money, and it does add up after awhile (small amounts, but it’s money I’d not have otherwise). That said, I prefer to keep them separated from the rest of my change, which goes into a big Coca-Cola plastic bottle bank I’ve had for the past 15 years. About every 3 years or so it gets full (weighs about 100 pounds, too) and is ready to empty. When the smaller penny jar gets full I roll them up and then cash them in with the rest of the change once the big change bank is full.
I spend them! It is a very rare occasion that I have more than four pennies at any time. This only happens if I need to break bills for change and can’t be bothered. Over the next couple of transactions, I’'ll be back down to four or less again.
I hoard toonies, loonies and quarters for the bus and laundry. I break bills and try to accumulate as many toonies, loonies and quarters as I can fit in my wallet. I actually like change. If I have ten dollars in change (which is of course easier if you’re Canadian than if you are American), it’s like surprise money. I look in the bill part of my wallet? Nothing. Sadness. Then I open the change part - an unexpected ten dollars? Angels sing “Haaaaallelujah!”
Put them in a jar take it to the bank in December. Then I add it to my year-end charitable contributions. I may not be able to do much with a few bucks, but it’s a lot of money for a kid who needs cleft lip surgery in a country with low per capita income, or to buy cat food for the local animal shelter.
I spend them. I can honestly say there is not a single penny floating around here. We have sorted through every drawer, box, pocket and crevice in the place. When there get to be a few too many in the bottom of my purse, I take them to work and sell them to the register. But that doesn’t happen often. I live on a very tight budget, and every single coin counts. I’m not too proud to pay with up to 15 pennies, though I do try to have them counted out ahead of time…no fishing around in the bottom of my purse at the register with people waiting behind me.
I spend them. Every time I go to the registed I pay up to the nearest nickle, dime or quarter so as I always minimize the amount of change I own. It’s just the simplest of math.
Whenever there’s a fundraiser at school, I have my kids count mine in along with the club’s change. Whenever we have a celebratory pizza party, my share (and anyone who’s a little short that week) is already paid. The bonus is not having to touch all those nasty-smelly things, blech.
This CoinStar Amazon certificate thing is perhaps more compelling than pizza. Books or pizza, hmmmm…?
I spend them. I read too many Mother Goose rhymes as a kid and still remember that “penny on penny laid up become many.”
Pennies provide me with one of the few times I use the U-scan option @ the grocery store. I use up all of the pennies I have at the time in my house/car/desk/purse to the closest dollar and then pay the rest w/ bills. No need to count them, the machine does it; no 9% going to the Coinstar either. I call it my ‘penny coupon’.
I refrain from doing this at peak hours, as people get lined up pretty quick. (I’d usually rather stand in line longer and keep a cashier in their job.)
I have a big 5 gallon jub that I put them into. Next to it I have a big Pepsi Bottle that I put other change into. I dunno how many gallons it holds, but it is about 3 feet high.
If I’m not mistaken, all banks will do this. All of them. Which is why it’s amazing to me that Coinstar has survived at all with any rate other than 0%. I just kind of save pennies. They’re all around in my room somewhere, I think… I wouldn’t miss them.
Does anyone ever look at their pennies? (or any other coins?). There are probably some interesting ones old still rattling around.
I got an electric coin sorter for Christmas a few years ago, and I toss all my change into that. When I fill up a coin wrapper, I deposit it at the credit union the next time I’m there. I’ve got a roll of quarters ready to go now, which makes for a nice $10 bonus.
A couple months ago, I ran out penny wrappers. I decided that I couldn’t be bothered to buy more wrappers (I’m kinda getting tired of the coin sorter), so I just put a cup on the shelf next to the sorter and started tossing all my pennies into that. When I filled up the cup, I took it down to the credit union and dumped the pennies into their own Coinstar-esque machine. It came to a couple bucks, and they only took 3% as a fee. I’m going to run out of quarter wrappers next, and at that point I’ll be tossing them into the cup. Dimes and nickels will last a while longer, with nickels probably being the last wrappers remaining.
I do. I’ve noticed that there are quite a few Canadian pennies mixed into the US coin supply, much more so than than with the silver coins. Nobody seems to care.
I also collect State Quarters, so I habitually look at the backs of any quarters I get to see if it’s a state I don’t have.
Naw, some of them in this area simply refuse. In fact, there is one particular bank winning loyal customers by advertising that even non-members can use their coin counter for free.
When I’m on a long road/camping trip, I use the pennies I’ve accumulated to make some kind of design on the picnic tables at my campsite. I figure that either the ranger cleaning up gets a mini-tip, or perhaps a family with w/kids will camp there next, and get a kick out of it.
Around here, only certain branches of my bank will take loose change; they don’t all have counting machines. You give them a bag of change and they promise to deposit it within 48 hours.
Again, Coinstar is for emergencies for me.
I throw 'em in the garbage.
It depends. At Puff N Stuff (the cigarette cheaper place) my total is usually $10.99 or $14.98 - in those cases I leave them there for someone who might be short a cent or two. Otherwise I spend them - I’m an exact change freak - if I have exact change I use it. Drives my husband bananas, but I do it anyway.
:: nods ::
For me, too, quarters and loonies are for the laundry. Loonies and toonies are Big Change, and tend to get spent rather quickly, of only to get quarters back. Dimes and nickels build up in my change pouch, and get spent at the end of the week when I’m a little short on cash.
But pennies… pennies used to build up in piles at home. Since the price of snacks at the cafeteria at work has just broken past the $1 mark to $1.05 in the machine or $1.07 in person, there tends to be a lot more call for pennies there, and I take them to the cafeteria, where they are now eagerly accepted.