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Obviously this questioned would be more directed towards the Canadian and Mexican Border.
Thought it would be a cool quesion to ask you all. when ever I find foreign coins as change from when I purchase something. I will collect them and wait for the exchange rate to be in my favor and then convert them at the bank. Once in awhile I will find pennies or dimes rarely I will get a quarter.
So I am asking how often does it happen to you? Do you usually get Canadian Currency or Mexican Currency? Does this happen alot?
Used to happen a LOT, but not so much anymore. Whenever it happened to me I just handed it back and asked for a "real" one back because you will never make it back on the exchange if you are talking a Canadian coin. Except for a VERY brief period a year or so ago when their dollar was a few pennies ahead of ours in the exchange.
Of course now that I live a long way from the Canadian border I hardly ever see them anymore. When I lived 5 miles from the border it was getting quite scarce to have one come back in change. And I NEVER got US coins back in change when I was in Canada. 40 years of going to Canada on a VERY regular basis and I don't remember ever getting a US coin back in change, they must watch it closer over across the border.
I will get a Canadian coin, usually pennies, but not very often anymore. The last two times I think it was a quarter, about once a year. When I was in Buffalo, about 10 years ago, there was signs everywhere, No Canadian Money Accepted. Every time I've been to Canada they accepted our money and adjusted it to market. I had to assume they were honest about it as I had no idea what the difference was. When I was little I took a Canadian quarter to the bank and got 27 cents for it.
Being from WA state, it seems to happen more than not when I get canada currency change back from the local department stores, but if I catch it in time, I'll ask for US currency ...primarily due to many stores will not accept the foreign monies...even Starbucks turned it down....
Growing up in Iowa I would see Canadian money about once or twice a year. I thought it was cool, and no one payed enough attention to really care.
For whatever reason, I've never once seen foreign money in the 8 years I've been in Chicago. That might be more because I stopped caring about "change". I just throw it in my pocket, throw it in a bucket, and at some point I need to cash it in! I have a 2 gallon bin totally full. I'll let you know when I haul it to the grocery store to throw in a machine...
We travel so much that it's not unusual to find a coin from Europe or Russia or India just randomly in our spare change. One time I took a couple of quarters to put air in my tires...turns out one of them was a Turkman...whatever their currency is. Had to borrow a quarter from the gas station people.
I'm in Syracuse and we used to see Canadian coins a lot. They would be accepted in stores, but probably only because the cashiers did not notice them. The highest denomination you would see would be the quarter. Nickels and pennies were more common. Today, you don't see so many in circulation.
Growing up near the border, I thought it was normal to accept and get back Canadian coins at the store when I was a kid. When I visited Mississippi, however, I got a rude shock when I tried to pay for a candy bar with some change I had on me, which happened to include a Canadian nickel although I did not realize it. "What's this?" the cashier said disapprovingly. She wouldn't take it. It was a little embarrassing.
I think we aren't noticing Canadian quarters so much anymore because we have 50 different state quarter designs in circulation. Just glancing at your change you can't tell the difference easily. Dollar coins are back and they're only slightly larger than a quarter so it may payoff to look at your change a little closer.
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