POST OFFICE/BANK charges for counting coins.

[Bubblegun]

Usually my kids and I have been buying one of the 100 yen cans, and we've been popping in 10 yens, etc etc..
It has been very fruitful over the past 20 years. Paying for flights, emergencies,juku, blah blah blah.

Imagine my to be told they post office will now charge us to deposit coins into our account with them.

Its not a flat fee. As you can see the charge increases the more you save, and ask the MACHINE/staff TO COUNT. When kids, and adults are popping away smaller denominations it isn't worth putting it into the post office and certain other banks because of that charge. Psychological nudges here.



Anyway MUFG still allowed us to deposit up to 100 coins into their machines for free.
Don't get caught out by those fees. I also heard the shrines are not happy about it as they collect all he shrapnel and the post office said to use something like PAY PAY.

I was pretty happy watching few ladies, and myself, with bags of 1s,5s 10s 50s 100s refusing to pay, and standing at the ATMs, depositing their money.
If we're prepared to look for a 0.25% saving on a fund, I'm certainly not going to pay to give them my kids money.
Ofcourse some will say just spend it, but that's not what this site is about, and its a great way for kids rot learn.

[RetireJapan]

Yeah, this hit my wife's business as she runs the STEP Eiken test and Eiken insists we pay them via the post office so we get hit with this (and Eiken refuses to cover the cost). Pretty annoying.

[Haystack]

Perhaps charging a suica/Pasmo with your extra coins might be a good workaround?

I assume more of this is to come at all banks. My wife has a Mizuho account and sent me some funds around 4:30pm. 330 yen charge...

[Butterball]

That's pretty ridiculous.
I used to spend a while each month feeding the MUFG ATM my coins (you can only do 100 at a time, and it takes a LONG time to count each batch) but now, the best way to get rid of coins is shopping at places that use those automatic cash-receiving machines. Just throw a pocketful of coins in every time you buy something. It will take your mishmash of random low-value coins and give you your change back in higher-denomination coins (and bills, if your change due is over Y1000).

[beanhead]

I heard that if you put coins into the machine at a JR station for an expensive ticket, then cancel the transaction, you get notes back instead of your coins. Not sure if this actually works or not.

It certainly doesn't help with teaching the kids the value of saving your pennies, obviously.

I was a 500yen going collector for years. Very lucrative.
Over the past few years with Paypay and Suica etc I almost never use cash now, let alone coins...

[Bubblegun]

Yeah, this hit my wife's business as she runs the STEP Eiken test and Eiken insists we pay them via the post office so we get hit with this (and Eiken refuses to cover the cost). Pretty annoying.

OMG, sorry to hear that. We do the Aiken test too.The banks/post office seem to run the money system like its own little mafia,system.
Pay us to look after your money, and we'll pay you nothing in return. And don't take all the money out as that incurs another charge. Shocking really.

Perhaps charging a suica/Pasmo with your extra coins might be a good workaround?

I assume more of this is to come at all banks. My wife has a Mizuho account and sent me some funds around 4:30pm. 330 yen charge...

I read this somewhere, and its helpful, but putting all those coins away for the kids was really useful.
I also don't use Suica or Pasmo..what are they? I'm not a fan of digital money as the research shows your more likely to spend 10% more than if you used cash. because the actual physical withdrawal of money from your wallet, causes psychological pain. ( not literally) but it causes us to pause. I think this is why credit cards are so nasty.Its painless.

That's pretty ridiculous.
I used to spend a while each month feeding the MUFG ATM my coins (you can only do 100 at a time, and it takes a LONG time to count each batch them) but now, the best way to get rid of coins is shopping at places that use those automatic cash-receiving machines. Just throw a pocketful of coins in every time you buy something. It will take your mishmash of random low-value coins and give you your change back in higher-denomination coins (and bills, if your change due is over Y1000).

Exactly. Thank god the women came to me as said I don't need to count them. Just dump them in the machine, it'll take 100 coins and return the rest. Then just rinse and repeat.
I shall be strong, defiant, brave...and take a stand or a knee.....at the ATM, because " COINS MATTER".
I might have to discriminate and start putting every 1000 yen I get in the can now.

I heard that if you put coins into the machine at a JR station for an expensive ticket, then cancel the transaction, you get notes back instead of your coins. Not sure if this actually works or not.

It certainly doesn't help with teaching the kids the value of saving your pennies, obviously.

I was a 500yen going collector for years. Very lucrative.
Over the past few years with Paypay and Suica etc I almost never use cash now, let alone coins...

I still am. I have three cans. 500 yen, 100/50 yens, and the shrapnel can. They sure get really heavy, and it has paid for our flights a few times over.

You said you use digital money now.... would you say that's impacted on your savings. I'm asking because you mentioned you "were" a 500 yen collector and it "was very lucrative?"
As I mentioned the research shows digital shoppers spend more than cash shoppers.
Any thoughts?

Pitty we couldn't start a bank called the 1 coin bank. pop your money in our bank for free and well let you take it out...for free after a year. After we've made our profit of course.

[beanhead]

You said you use digital money now.... would you say that's impacted on your savings. I'm asking because you mentioned you "were" a 500 yen collector and it "was very lucrative?"
As I mentioned the research shows digital shoppers spend more than cash shoppers.
Any thoughts?

Pitty we couldn't start a bank called the 1 coin bank. pop your money in our bank for free and well let you take it out...for free after a year. After we've made our profit of course.

I used to use the 500yen collection for 'fun' stuff. Paying for vacations, or a new computer or similar.
Then I started putting it in my account which pays the mortgage. So I was able to always add a little extra in that account. Kind of emergency account, as I always try to keep at least 6 or 9 months of mortgage payments there.

I use less cash now because of PayPay and credit cards. I don't think that I end up spending more, but I am not tracking that closely. Using less cash has coincided with this pandemic, so I find I spend lots less in general anyway.

Many American banks have been charging customers for the privilege of having a 'checking account' for many years. Citibank here also used to charge you if you went below a certain balance.
I hope that is not the general movement that we should expect to see with Japanese banks as well...

[Haystack]

I read this somewhere, and its helpful, but putting all those coins away for the kids was really useful.
I also don't use Suica or Pasmo..what are they? I'm not a fan of digital money as the research shows your more likely to spend 10% more than if you used cash. because the actual physical withdrawal of money from your wallet, causes psychological pain. ( not literally) but it causes us to pause. I think this is why credit cards are so nasty.Its painless.

They are transit cards in Tokyo. JRs and non-JR. They work interchangeably now and can be used in much of Japan.

They are a step beyond electronic money in Kanto and can be used virtually anywhere near a station, or at any konbini.

You can have a physical card, have it on your phone, or have it attached to another card.

.....................

When used responsibly credit cards are an essential part of saving and investing in Japan, and can garner many benefits by using them. You leave a lot on the table by ignoring them and deprive yourself of a lot of future security.

However, you know your own personal habits better than anyone else. Perhaps you have had bad experiences managing credit or debt in the past, and I can respect that.

[Whiterose]

I was also surprised and annoyed the post office has started charging to deposit coins, so I've done the same as the OP, and headed over to MUFG which doesn't charge (YET!) . It's something I've long loved about Japan, that small coins can go into the ATM. You can't do it via ATM in the UK, you have to take coins to the counter and they're pretty fussy about it. But I hear since covid began the UK is pushing people to go cashless, so... I'm glad in Japan it's still acceptable to count out small coins for things, and I like the idea about using them to charge an IC transport card, as the train machines do take 10 yen coins! I'm gonna do that with my shrapnel!

[adamu]

I know this is not really in the spirit of this thread, but getting into the habbit of not collecting a huge amout of coins is another way to handle this.

When paying in cash, always pay down to the last yen if possible, even if you have don't have exact change, and get change in large coins or notes.

For example, if something is 536 yen, even if you don't have a 500 yen coin or enough 100 yens, give them 1036 yen and get 500 yen change. Or if you don't have a 5 yen or enough 1s, you can give them 1041 to get 505 back (two coins) instead of the 464 (10 coins) you'd get if you just hand over 1000 yen. Or even just pay 1001 yen to get 465 back and get rid of a 1 yen coin, instead of gaining one.

I used to collect heaps of small denomination coins and periodically take them to the bank, but by using this method I never have more than a handful of coins. You can also slowly deplete a large batch of coins using this method.

If you have a family, getting everyone to do this might be too much of an ask. But if you do it yourself, you could even run "virtual" bank accounts for your kids. For example, if they have change left from their pocket money, take it back and write it in their "virtual" account. Once it reaches 1000 yen, they can get that 1000 yen in addition to their normal allowance, etc. You could even take it further and credit their allowance to their virtual account instead of giving it to them directly, and allow them to withdraw when they want and learn about saving in the process. Bonus points if you pay them interest.