See Why You Should Be Paying With Change At Walmart
A Walmart customer found that paying with coins at self-checkout is a good way to save as an alternate to the coin trade-in machines.
This article is more than 2 years old
People with a lot of extra coins usually go to a Coin Star machine to convert them into notes. But a savvy Walmart shopper recently stumbled onto a free alternative. Last week, a TikTok user named @harveykleven555 shared a video where he piles all his change into one of the retailer’s self-checkout machines to pay for his groceries.
“I’m here at Walmart,” he says in the clip. “I’m taking this change and putting it in there, and watching the money drop. I started off at $76.” The screen eventually shows that he poured in and counted $50.06 worth of change. The video showcasing the helpful coin hack has amassed over 100,000 views. However, not everyone was happy with his payment method.
According to the user, there was a Walmart service worker off-camera giving him dirty looks as he added coins to the machine. “She’s paid to watch us ring up our own stuff, so I just keep dumping my change in there and it just keeps on counting,” he explained, undeterred by the staffer’s grouchy demeanor.
By contrast, the comments section of the Walmart coin hack video was filled with people expressing their thanks for the hint. “I’m definitely going to do that,” one person said. “I usually use the Coin Star machine in customer service, but they charge for it.”Another said since “we are our own cashiers” paying with coins shouldn’t bother anyone. “I’m cleaning out ALL my change. It all spends,” the person added.
So how much did @harveykleven555 save on Coin Star fees by paying in coins? According to MyBankTracker, the coin-cashing machines charge 11.9% of the total value of change it converts. That means if you have $100 in coins, you’ll be paying a $12 conversion fee. However, the hack may not work in every Walmart branch because some self-checkout desks have no change ports, the Daily Dot reports. Interestingly, paying with change may actually be helpful to some retailers.
In 2020, Walmart was hit by a coin shortage that plagued the entire United States. As a result, the retailer began asking shoppers to pay with a card or produce exact change when possible. Some stores even converted their self-checkout registers to only accept cards. The trouble began when the pandemic delivered a bizarre double blow to the country’s supply of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.
Social distancing and other safety measures slowed the production of coins at the U.S. Mint, NPR reported at the time. And fewer coins made their way from customers to banks, coin-sorting kiosks and cash registers at places like Walmart as people stayed home. “The flow of coins through the economy kind of stopped,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers in June 2020.
As such, the Federal Reserve started to ration coins. Soon after, business groups representing convenience stores, retailers, gas station operators, and grocers like Walmart, wrote to Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin explaining that the situation was an emergency. Over time, several retailers and businesses adjusted to the temporary shortage while still accepting cash. Two years later, everything is back to normal. But it never hurts to pay with coins when possible.
