[rune]

Ok after all those months of buying barely useful stuff at 7 11 I have ended up with two large bags of coins. I estimate its around 2000 hkd worth of coins.

Now last time I went to Hang Seng to exchange those to notes they almost laughed at me and told me to sort them out in bags of 1 hkd coins and 2 hkd coins etc. and pay a 60 hkd fee.

In Denmark I would go directly to my coin counting machine at the bank and 30 seconds later I will have a note with the full amount ready to be cashed at the counter.

Now I am asking can I find something similar in Hong Kong so I dont have to do it manually?

[Mary Ann Sparro]

From experience, but then again it was a long, long time ago and you reminded me that I would need to exchange some coins to notes soon...the branches normally recommend that you go to their Head Office in Hong Kong, if not, they should or you can ask them which branch/HO you can take your coins where you do not have to pay for administration service.

I had to go to Standard Chartered Bank Head Office in Central to do some exchange few years back.

Or, what I do sometimes is take some coins with me and use that the whole day to pay for lunch, Octopus, etc...shops love them. Some even asked if I can do some exchange with my coins to their notes.

Good Luck

[freeier]

start using them when u have little. i do that with my 10c and 20c coins as well, taking buses with them. once u accumulate too much u are stuck with the problem of having to convert them back.

the other way is to go to market and ask the store people to swap with you. hawkers and restaurant owners do need some of those 1/2HKD coins as changes. break it into 100/200 tranches and swap them for notes.

[Lammarite]

HKD2000? That would take up a lot of space- i'd be surprised if it is that much.
I did the same thing when I left Oman- gave the teller a big bag of mixed coins. He tols me to come back after 2 hours and he gave me whatever amount. He had a great time I think!
Alternatively give it to a charity.

[hullexile]

Its possible, I built up 1500 dollars. Got rid of it through western union as they always need change and they took it in 500 dollar lots. Back up to nearly 500 dollars again I guess though!

[BenderBends]

yeah....i was there a while back.....

i had huge baggies of em...
finally separated into ziplock bags to separate denominations...and brought to my bank.
I asked to open an account and deposit 50K in cash, and the rest in coins....they said NO....arseholes

is a coin not money?
i cant imagine going to a bank in usa and having them say no to pennies or quarters......lol

[jgl]

Originally Posted by mattstewart

is a coin not money?
i cant imagine going to a bank in usa and having them say no to pennies or quarters......lol

Off a distant memory "legal tender" means that you can use it to settle a debt. So if you owed the bank 10k, they'd have to accept in coins if you wanted.

If there is no debt, then the seller can demand to be paid in anything he wants- purple cabbages for instance.

I'm not sure if it's different for banks though.

[Max]

Maybe you could use all those coins to buy all of us a round of drinks on Friday.......lol

I know, I know.....its a long shot...

[PDLM]

From the Coinage Ordinance (Cap454s.2)

"(1) The Chief Executive in Council may, by order, authorize the issue of coins with the design and of the denomination, composition, standard weight and remedy allowance specified in the order, and such coins shall, provided they have not been dealt with in any manner prohibited by law, be legal tender for payment as follows- (Amended 68 of 1999 s. 3)
(a) for coins of denominations of not less than $1, for the payment of an amount not exceeding $100;
(b) for coins of denominations of less than $1, for the payment of an amount not exceeding $2"

[freeier]

actually this is conflicting.
so they issue u tonnes and tonnes of coins, and u can't use them past 2$... sounds logical ?

that's the face of life.