Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Non-Tech : Bill Wexler's Dog Pound -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: purecntry5 who wrote (212)	3/12/1999 6:28:00 PM
From: BelowTheCrowd	Respond to of 10293

Çß CSTR offer a very nice service, which I use frequently. Just go to the supermarket, dump all my spare change into the hopper and get a voucher for the cash value minus commission, which can be used in the store. They take about 2% for most coins, a bit more on pennies. Frankly, I think it is a useful service. But I see a few problems: * Any bank can already perform the same service using existing hardware and infrastructure. They generally have not chosen to do this, but it's a logical business for "in supermarket" mini-branches to get into. * Bigger retailers could offer the same service themselves, also with little extra overhead. This is exactly the kind of thing COST would do. For a retailer it has additional advantage: By taking a customer's change and charging a commission, they save themselves the trouble of having to obtain rolls of coins from elsewhere. * Electronic transactions obviously decrease the use of change overall. * Larger retailers charge too much for floor space, and CSTR can't even get their machines in place. Mostly the machines are located at second-string or specialty retailers, not at the big supermarket chains (at least in my area). Bottom line, I think the business idea is a good one: Charge people a small commission for turning large amounts of "loose change" into "real money." I have my doubts about the need for a company to specialize in this field. mg