Economic Micro-Stiumulus

I love using up change. I don't know why, and perhaps it says something about my personality, but I get excited when something costs $5.19 and I have the change to pay the $0.19 cents rather than paying $6 and receiving $0.81 in change. I readily acknowledge that the same amount of money is changing hands, but for whatever reason, I'm glad to have less change.

But I find (as I think most do) that a pile of change accumulates at my desk at work and at my dresser at home from each time I empty my pockets when I didn't have the precise combination of nickels and pennies and dimes that I needed. And it takes effort to spend down the accumulated pile of coins. Furthermore it's a losing battle, as I'm pretty sure there are coins at the bottom of my change pile that have laid undisturbed for years.

So here's my plan. Instead of spending through my pile of coins by attentively trying to pay with exact change, I'm planning a mini-micro-stimulus project aimed at local businesses. I will put more money into circulation, just like the government is doing. My plan is to get rid of it by dropping it in tip jars at stores nearby. I figure that this money hasn't been used in a while, it's not doing me any good, I might as well get rid of it as tips. I see only upside: I'm getting rid of a troublesome pile of change, I can feel good about leaving something in the tip jar, and someone else gets some previously idle money.

Though I do wonder whether the people working at the ice cream shop/pizza place where I might drop it off would actually want it. What if they feel the same way about the coins?