Anything I can do with all my foreign loose change (in BJ)?

[Chinese Learner]

Hi,

I know this is a bit of strange question. I'm in Beijing at the moment. I've accumulated loads and loads of loose change on my travels; HK, US, UK and Euro and I don't know what to do with it...

It's weighing down my bags when I travel and really bugging me!

As far as I know I can't do anything with it apart from keep it until I am in the right country again top spend it, give it away (but again it's kind of useless over here) or throw it away - but I literally don't want to throw money away! As far as I know banks just change notes - right?

Thanks for any ideas!

[Xiao Kui]

You can give some to little kids - I've done that in the past with small change. It's a good icebreaker, and they seem to really appreciate it. I've met some adults as well that collect foreign coins (just for fun, not serious collectors) and they've asked me if I had any change from my country.

[imron]

Unicef also runs a loose change program for donating your loose change. Most airports have a donation bin for it. You might try contacting them to see if there's another way to get it to them.

[Shadowdh]

Most flights (international) have a scheme where you can put all that loose change into an envelope and it goes to underprivileged kids... seems like a good way to get rid of all that stuff you dont want... and if you are not taking an international flight anytime soon then perhaps a friend is...

[flameproof]

If you meet a foreigner of that place ask him to change it to RMB. I would have no problem to take your HK$, ¥ and €. And I believe there are enough USAians to do you that favor with your US$.

I guess you are not talking about huge amounts, right? So when you go to Sanlitun just bring it with you and check the rate to not get too short changed.

[roddy]

Or if you know anyone who's teaching, they can use them as prizes in kids games. Or ask around your friends, quite possible someone's got a dad or an uncle who collects foreign currency. Well, i kind of made that up, but it works for stamps.

[gougou]

Actually, plenty of people will start collecting the second you mention you have money you don't need anymore

But seriously, like Xiao Kui said, many people would love to see foreign currency. The first time I went to the fruit stall where I used to live, I was greeted with 欧元来了！

But that's nothing compared to Russia, where I once was arrested because the police wanted to trade coins...

[Rincewind]

Some Exchange Bureaus will change change. When I was coming back from France they changed everything except the small copper coins.