digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About
See the original image at npr.org

Why We Spend Coins Faster Than Bills

npr.org — ...it turns out that economists have researched the phenomenon, which they call the Denomination Effect. Priya Raghubir and Joydeep Srivastava did a series of experiments in the U.S. and China that showed people were much more willing to spend the same sum of money if they had smaller denominations instead of one large bill.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 13, 2009

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

110 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • al1encas1no, on 05/13/2009, -1/+60I consulted by brain on this and it told me pretty quickly, "coins aren't real money!"
  • popzero, on 05/13/2009, -0/+54Coins are annoying to carry around, to dig out of your pocket, and to find out that no, you don't have the right amount. Your reward for the effort? More coins. Self-perpetuating little bastards, I say.
  • itsunlmtd, on 05/13/2009, -1/+23lol I can definitely relate.
  • MyNameIsJoe, on 05/13/2009, -1/+22I consider anything I buy with coins as free because normally they just go into my cookie tin and collect dust.
  • svendm, on 05/13/2009, -4/+23This needed researching? Really?
  • alais, on 05/13/2009, -3/+18Next on digg, why the sun comes up, later we'll explore not touching hot stoves.
  • Exhibitionist, on 05/13/2009, -0/+14Yeah, I've seen them, and I didn't fancy paying the 10% commission it charged, so yeah...
  • chesterogilvie, on 05/13/2009, -0/+14I pick up EVERY coin I see. Why the hell not?
  • Exhibitionist, on 05/13/2009, -1/+12I almost never spend my coins. Any coin change I have gets thrown into my bag or pocket and put into a basket when I get home. Every year I go through my routine of splitting up the coins into their denominations, taking them to the bank and depositing them. It's an easy way of saving a little bit more money. Just spend notes.
  • sprkoolguy, on 05/13/2009, -0/+10Its because whenever I sit on the couch or the chair they just fall out of my pocket anyways

    They are more annoying than useful these days, who even bothers to pick anything smaller than a quarter up off the ground anymore
  • Hazardc, on 05/13/2009, -0/+10Donald Trump picks up pennies.
  • pookydirt, on 05/13/2009, -3/+12I'm a genius! LOL! This is actually a theoretical discussion I had with a friend some years back... nice to know it's been validated!

    I also see this as the reason we have jars and mugs full of coins in our houses... Who knows, I might have $152.83 sitting in my room as we speak, but the clumps of change from my pockets didn't seem like so much money when I threw them in there.
  • Black6x, on 05/13/2009, -0/+9I really hate the slight jingling sound that occurs when I walk. I feel like everyone can hear it. I do whatever I can to get rid of the damn things.
  • LoneWolf01, on 05/13/2009, -0/+9My dad doesn't spend any coins. He pays for everything in notes (or plastic, but rarely) and dumps all the change he gets from the notes in a big bucket. He has several hundred dollars in change. It's even better here in Australia where our smallest note is $5.
  • MCA2142, on 05/13/2009, -0/+8I was always told that as soon as you break a hundred, it's soon gone.
  • bben46, on 05/13/2009, -0/+8You don't play slots very often do you? Not only do they take bills, they will take anything from a $1 up to a $100 bill.
  • Zapkiller, on 05/13/2009, -1/+9Everything needs research, no matter how simple it might seem.
  • ChaosProfessor, on 05/13/2009, -1/+8what is depressing is to think that to get that 153.83 think about how much you spent, to get all the loose change I thought about that one day and almost started crying, I don't carry cash anymore i spend it faster, but if all i have is my debit card I think before i swipe
  • dhoneywell, on 05/13/2009, -1/+8I like $1 bills, but they really cost us more than they are worth. Their average lifespan is very short, under two years I think, and almost half the bills the mint prints are $1. The subject of the article asside, if we really want to save the country some money, we ought to swich to $1 coins which last upwards of 20 years. Think about it, there are still bicentenial quarters and wheat pennies circulating.
  • Radar3D, on 05/13/2009, -0/+7However the final payment must be made in wampum.
  • lornefs, on 05/13/2009, -0/+7That's contradictory, the article is about spending coins more than bills and yet you are talking about hoarding coins.
    ?
  • billricardi, on 05/13/2009, -0/+7There's a strange counter to this now available. Does anyone else have those grocery store self checkouts? AWESOME way to get rid of change! In fact, whenever I'm at one, I insert every coin into it before swiping my card.

    So now I have NO change when I'm walking around. And I'm not really more likely to spend money, because my bill is the same at the grocery store whether or not I have change, it doesn't factor into things. Weirdness.
  • aZoo, on 05/13/2009, -0/+6Could someone explain those 'experts' that notes are lighter than coins in my pockets ?
  • AsSubtleAsABrik, on 05/13/2009, -0/+6At most banks (at least mine, and I've heard only the same from other banks), if you have an account, they don't take the 10%. At your local supermarket though, yes, they steal from you.
  • lisaawesome, on 05/13/2009, -0/+6I hoard all my coins. If I get change back anywhere I won't spend it. It goes right into my change jar. I turned in a few smaller jars for $127 last month. Not too shabby.
  • DivisibleByZero, on 05/13/2009, -1/+6Who uses cash anymore?
  • perpafactor, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5Yea those coinstar machines suck, but usually some banks have their own coin counting machine which you can use for free if you're a member and have the total automatically deposited into your checking account.

    I don't know if that's a common thing, but that's how it is at my local bank.
  • inactive, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5That may explain why I prefer tucking coins at the strip bar.
  • harristotle, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5It's so easy to pop one of those Canadian 2 dollar coins into a vending machine, but when it comes to 2 one-dollar bills, I hesitate. Glad I'm not the only one.
  • lex0nyc, on 05/13/2009, -1/+6Que?
  • jamesdew, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5ye I do that too
  • OrangeTide, on 05/13/2009, -0/+5As far as I know, nobody calls it Interac outside of Canada.

    And real men don't carry credit cards or check books. We pull out a roll of 20s or 50s like a drug dealer.
  • rmxz, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5Yet ironically, with the zinc in a penny being worth about a penny; while coins may not be backed by a gold standard, at least they're based on some metal standard.
  • drlha, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4In Vegas, not only do slot machines take bills, but they don't even spit out coins any more, just pieces of paper with the amount you won printed on them, that you have to trade in at a cashier's desk or machine. Furthermore I've seen slot machines in Vegas that don't even take coins at all, just bills.
  • OrangeTide, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5Only accidentally.
  • Rapter09, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4I'm not sure. Let me research that for you.
  • janinekahn, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5same here.
  • inactive, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4The mailman will get shot, the envelope will not seal, the stamp will be in the wrong denomination.
  • madponyboy, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4If you look on the bottom of the page, in related news the US mint is slowing production of coins because of the recession. opposite of what is recommended by these researchers.
  • po43292, on 05/13/2009, -4/+8I gave away my friend's cup of change to pay for a $5 sub once. I had borrowed his car, didn't have my wallet on me, and I was hungry. There was probably 10 bucks in there.

    /douchebag friend
  • evilregis, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4Good luck, *****!
  • bobbknight, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5I say carry around $50 in Quarters, Nickels and Dimes, lets see how fast you want to spend it.
  • energyx, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5We need to get rid of dollar bills and just use golden dollars.
  • seanstuart, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5Sixty easy payments of $538.17 and that baby's mine.
  • lisaawesome, on 05/13/2009, -0/+4Yup. When I see a coin even a penny on the ground I think "free money!" I always pick it up. A few years ago I worked at a grocery store and one day I decided to pull the register setup apart to clean underneath. I found a ***** goldmine of dropped change that had collected under the registers.
  • Dan6963, on 05/13/2009, -1/+5If someone scattered a hundred pennies on the floor in front of you, would you pick each and every one of them up, (the condition being that you have to stand back up straight after picking each one up, to stimulate the condition picking up a penny every time you see it while walking), would you do it? You'd have to bend down and stand back up a hundred times.... for the grand total of ONE DOLLAR!
  • ontain, on 05/13/2009, -0/+3it's not just coins. it's smaller bills too. I noticed it in myself during college. if i had a hundred dollar bill i wouldn't want to spend it or break it. but if i had 5 20's i wouldn't mind using some of it.
  • FastZ, on 05/13/2009, -1/+4I HATE using coins to pay for stuff unless it's for sodas or something from a machine. Even then I usually just use bills. I just can't stand the jingle jangle of the coins in my pocket all day. I don't even like getting change back from purchases I make with cash, which might be one of the reasons that, unless absolutely necessary, I never carry cash either. Coins suck.
  • mogebier, on 05/13/2009, -0/+3Real men don't carry change around to spend. If the item is $6.27 they give the guy $7 even if they have the $.27 in their pocket.
    Then they toss the change in some sort of container when they get home.
  • protodon, on 05/13/2009, -0/+3Once upon a time I told someone that I thought it would be cool if we stopped using paper money and we all had coin pouches on our belts. They told me it was the gayest thing they ever heard.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 113 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.