A Walmart customer is teaching TikTokers something new after dumping over $80 worth of change into a self-checkout machine.
Jame Martyn (@jamemartyn) started recording after he had rung up all his items in the self-checkout line and came up with a total of $84.67. Rather than pull out a card or even some $20 bills like most shoppers would do, Martyn decided to show viewers a life hack.
“So here we go,” he said, turning his camera to a large jar of coins he had waiting in his cart.
He then lifted up the kiosk’s coin slot cover—the one that limits shoppers to depositing a single coin at a time—and started dumping in small handfuls. And, sure enough, the checkout started flashing as it counted the coins $0.01, $0.05, $0.10, and $0.25 at a time.
“This [expletive] really works,” he said.
What can you do with a bunch of loose change?
Ending up with a jar (or a piggy bank) full of loose coins is pretty common for anyone who still occasionally pays for anything with cash. And that’s likely a lot of us, considering 52 percent of Americans still consider cash an important currency, and 27 percent report carrying it with them every day.
But unless you’re also counting out exact change with your cash purchases, the coins leftover tend to pile up. For those with an easily accessible local bank or credit union, taking the coins in to exchange for bills or deposit into your account is likely an option. Some banks require them to be rolled first, and some may require you to have an account with them to engage in a transaction.
The other prominent option is going to a coin-counting kiosk such as Coinstar. These are often located in places like grocery stores or big box stores and allow you to dump large amounts of coins and receive bills or select gift cards in return. The catch here is that if you prefer cash, the machines charge a fee. And although the gift card options are often plentiful, they may not fit your needs.
@jamemartyn #Walmart #usingchangetopayfor yourgroceries #USA #America ♬ original sound – Jame Martyn 
Paying for Walmart items with change
Martyn’s solution may not be the most elegant, but it’s definitely one that works. It also skips over the awkwardness of trying to pay a cashier with a ton of coins they have to count by hand. And viewers were largely on board, whether they’d considered the idea themselves before or not.
“You know what? Hell yeah. Moneys money!” wrote @nannykam.
“Better do it this way than some employee have to count it,” @alex.adapts agreed. “also, no fees like [coinstar]. most businesses could use change. great idea and I do this too!”
“Wait am I the only person who didn’t know these change things lift up like that!!!!????” @astroblasto13 asked.
“Lol I saw a sign on the kiosk at a local gas station that’s like ‘this isn’t coin star!’” @mablesx recalled. “Babe, it’s taking my legal tender.”
One viewer did suggest it’s important to keep an eye on the numbers as the machine counts, as they claimed, “sometimes it’ll stop, not count the change, & not give the money back.”
But many reported overall success with this particular method of ditching change—and apparently, it’s not that uncommon.
“I used to work in a grocery store as a cashier and I had people come in line and do this,” @pantsypantspantspants said. “I honestly didn’t care. It passed some time and helped me not have to ask for change for my drawer. If that’s how you have to pay, you still deserve groceries with dignity.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @jamemartyn via TikTok comment and Walmart via its website.
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