When I travel I tend to use cash a lot. This gives me a better sense of what I am spending and keeps my credit cards from getting compromised in unfamiliar locations. One byproduct of using cash is the accumulation of coins. 

When I was a kid I was fascinated with coins. I liked collecting them, sorting them, counting them, and filling those paper tubes. It was a sense of accomplishment to see those rolls of coins accumulate over time. 

As I got older I became less fascinated (lazy?) and stopped rolling coins. Back then you could take a big bag of coins to the bank, and they would use one of those automatic sorting machines to count it and give you the equivalent in bills. At some point those machines disappeared in banks. I remember taking a bag of coins to the bank and being told, “We don’t have a machine to count it, but here is a slip for your deposit and we will have it counted and deposited into your account.” So I’m supposed to trust you are going to put the correct amount in my account? No thanks.

It turns out those machines that used to live in banks have been modified and now live in various grocery stores under the name CoinStar. For a fee of around 8%, you can dump your coins in the bin and have them counted in short order. There is a separate chute for anything that is not US currency (take that Canadian pennies!) The machine prints a ticket that you can redeem for the amount. I figure all the extra pennies that I wouldn’t know what do with are paying the fee. It’s the price of doing business. 

One day, perhaps in our lifetimes, there will be no more “hard” currency. Maybe the medium of exchange will be entirely digital. We will long for the days when we could peel off those bills and feel the weight and smell the coppery scent of coins. What was once an annoyance will be viewed wistfully with a sense of the “good ol’ days.” Until then I will continue to accumulate loose change and appreciate the good fortune to possess these items that still have value in our society.