Comments on: Tuesday’s Tip: Pennies

By: Rick Linsk

Rick Linsk — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:34:27 +0000

I throw pennies and any other loose change at week’s end into a special box, take them to the bank periodically and then give the proceeds away to charitable organizations. You can enlist your kids to help roll the coins too as a fun way to do good.

By: Spike

Spike — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:12:00 +0000

Not directly related to toll roads but seeing as we talking about pennies, my local supermarket has a machine which takes all your pennies and returns a voucher for you to spend in store, very handy. SpiKe, Organize IT

By: Dave Ross

Dave Ross — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:52:42 +0000

Indeed, Coinstar machines do give you 100% of the value if you get your money in a gift card. I empty my change jar every few months and get Amazon gift certificates, which I use to buy those tech books I’ve been wanting, but never wanted to spend “real” money on.

By: watershed

watershed — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:47:27 +0000

For people who don’t travel on toll roads enough to need an ipass or ezpass, this is a great tip. Otherwise an ipass or ezpass is the way to go! And think of the gas money saved by not having to slow down to a stop and accelerate again.

I only drive on toll roads occasionally when I visit Chicago. I picked up the habit from my father of keeping a plastic bag of loose change in the car for tolls. I also noticed that Chicago tolls take pennies once when I didn’t have quite enough change and was stuck at a toll booth scrambling around. I was able to find enough pennies on the floor of the car to get through!

By: Gwen

Gwen — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:34:20 +0000

Not to be a smart ass, but wouldn’t it be better to just get the ipass and take the pennies in to the bank to be counted? I mean, with the iPass, it’s good in several states AND it saves you 50% because iPass tolls are only 40 cents on 294. Plus, you don’t have to wait in the ridiculous lines a tthe toll booths.

I thought most coin stars (which are available just about anywhere) would give you 100% if you converted the coins to gift cards instead of getting cash.