Student pays tuition with 230 pounds of coins
Devin DeFraine rolls in boxes of coins in protest after his university added a new fee for credit-card payments.
OK, it's kind of fun to pay your parking ticket in coins -- or at least dream of it, anyway -- but to pay an entire college tuition?That's what one Canadian college student did recently, wheeling in boxes filled with 230 pounds of coins to protest a new fee at Mount Royal University. Devin DeFraine was so upset by the new fee, which reportedly amounts to an extra $57 for a five-course semester, that he decided to pay his entire $3,000 tuition in rolled-up dimes and nickels.
"If they're gonna nickel and dime us, I'll nickel and dime them," he told CBC News in this video.
In the past, the university picked up the fees of up to 1.89% for students paying tuition with a Visa or MasterCard, CBC reports. But now the school is passing on the fees to students. About 90% of the students at the university pay by credit card.
DeFraine got quite a workout wheeling in those coins. The protest obviously involved much more work on his part than the university's. Still, school officials had to contend with boxes filled with dimes and nickels, and DeFraine got a little bit of satisfaction that his statement was heard.
But Mount Royal University probably won't change its policies anytime soon. Sure, it's got some cranky students now, but it saves an estimated $500,000 by passing on the costs.
But please, students, don't look to the actions of Michael Lynch as any guide. The 47-year-old resident of Bellevue, Wash., was so angry about a traffic ticket in 2009 that he emptied $206 in coins into a plastic bag and poured urine on top, The Oregonian reported. He mailed it to the county courthouse, which promptly handed the package to a sheriff's sergeant. The sergeant mailed the package back.
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Let's see. When Visa was threatened (Durbin Amendment) with an interchange fee lowered to 12 cents from the 44 cents that they were charging, the stock dropped down to about $90 dollars. Visa cried foul, talked about how they won't make any money, gnashed their teeth and suggested that they might not even be able to survive.
Eventually they were told they can only charge 21 cents, less than half of what they were charging before, and now their stock is trading at over $148 dollars a share. I guess Wall Street didn't believe the same sob story that they were shoveling us.
The W.A.State Dept of Revenue says that mechants can charge a "fee" for credit card payments.
Most important is that the merchant pay the taxes from the total amount collected.
Im a store owner and the credit card fees exceed 3% per month. If you dont support small businesses and usually shop at Lowes and Home depot , dont worry about it but if you do support the small guy expect a fee when using a credit card.
I had a service business for twenty years. I accepted credit cards for about a year (the bank charged me 4%). They said the only way to get a better rate was to increase my volume. I cured the problem by refusing to take credit cards. When a customer wanted to pay by charge card, I sent them to the bank for a cash advance! It worked and without costing me a cent. I can't ever remember losing a customer because of it.
After my little local bank realized I did not accept cards any longer they offered me a 3% deal. I told them to stick their 3% where the sun does not shine. Instead of charging all people, merchants should offer discounts to those who pay cash. That way, only those who rely on them get zapped.
Don't count on this working very often. At least in the U.S., the requirement can be made that any roll(s) of coins presented for payment of a debt be stamped as rolled by a financial institution, with the institution's telco and address on each roll.
Have you priced a bank rolling your coins for you? This isn't quite like sending in to the IRA your Form 1040 printed in blood (not just unaccepted, now; also illegal). But it's getting there.
Whether you pay for it via line item or via slightly higher prices you're still paying for it. Running plastic isn't free and the merchant isn't footing the bill guaranteed. Even if state laws (like Oklahoma, for example) prohibit stations for charging a few pennies extra per gallon for credit purchases they are collecting the transaction fees by raising prices on other items in order to collect the difference.
He's only "nickel and diming" the poor cashier at his school...So wtg "making a point" by griefing the lady making slightly above minimum wage. Also this whole pay with coins thing is old, it's been done numerous times at banks/other establishments..
So he's an unoriginal jerk. I'm sure he'll be top management material whereever he decides to go after school is done.
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