Bank paying a bonus for cashing in loose change
COVID-19 has led to a coin shortage for businesses as customers are going cashless to avoid touching anything. To help bring more coins into circulation, Wisconsin's Community State Bank is offering a $5 bonus for every $100 in coins you turn in. The maximum bonus is $500. (As comparison, Coinstar takes 11.9% of the money you exchange unless you opt for a gift card.) From CNN:
"We knew we needed to figure something out. We hate the idea of telling our customers, 'No, we can't give you one of the services we're proud to provide,' so we came up with a creative way to get things done," Community State Bank Vice President Neil Buchanan told CNN. "Just because this hasn't been done before doesn't mean it isn't going to work -- and it has already made a huge difference."
Just days after launching the program, hundreds of people have dropped off their spare change, already resulting in an "incredible impact" on local businesses that were struggling because of the shortage, according to Buchanan.
