Just tossing it away
Australians let loose change slip through their fingers – $39 million a month, writes Sophie Elsworth
SMALL change is big business but many Australians hate carrying coins so much they are resorting to literally throwing their money away.
One in four people despise carrying small change in their pockets and 11 per cent dislike it that much they simply toss away coins they receive.
Data released by bank ING has found half of the population does not think twice about losing loose change and it’s costing them about $39 million per month – an average of more than $2 a month, per adult.
But ING’s head of product, Tim Newman, urges Australians not to dismiss the little pieces of metal because they can quickly add up to a decent amount of cash.
“Change is obviously of small denominations and quantities but it can add up quite quickly once you put it all together,’’ he said.
“While in isolation it might seem a small amount of money that is quite worthless, if I go back to what people used to do and still do today they put that loose change in a big coin jar or into some sort of savings system.”
The research, which quizzed 1000 Australians, found 93 per cent of people admit to throwing away 5c coins and 29 per cent have thrown away 10c pieces.
And people say the most likely places to find loose change is on the street (36 per cent), followed by in old bags, purses or wallets (31 per cent) and in the washing machine (26 per cent.) But consumer finance expert Heidi Armstrong said customers who are careless with spare change should stick to paying electronically. “If you are loose with your coin – then stick to electronic purchases,’’ she said. “The benefit is you always know where your money goes – and your financial institution keeps a record of this for you.
“The danger with using cash is you don’t always know where it went.”
To deal with the problems of loose change, ING has rolled out a digital savings tool that rounds up customers’ payments using debit card to the nearest $1 or $5 amount - it’s up to the customer - and the additional funds are tipped into their savings account earning interest.
I’m trialling the tool and in a space of a couple of weeks I’ve accumulated more than $10.