Time for Change
by
Economic times are tough. Gas prices are through the roof and families are scrambling to make ends meet, sometimes scraping change together just to buy food, or in this case gas.
At one Metro convenience store a woman was reportedly refused gasoline because she only had coins and not paper money.
Another patron who witnessed the alleged incident thought that was definitely messed up.
Her name is Lauren Anderson.
When I meet the 26-year-old, she is outside her business, holding a small jewelry type box. The box contains $10.
“I handed the clerk the change,” The woman tells me.
I look in the box.
It contains $5 in dimes that have been rolled. There is also $5 in mostly quarters scattered around the box.
“I want $10 on pump six,” Anderson says to the clerk. “She said they can’t accept that. Her explanation: ‘They are not a bank.’ I was outraged.”
Anderson is telling me about her June 25 encounter at a Smith Springs convenience store.
It is here that she sees a woman crying by the pump. She says the woman is with a boy, around 12 years of age.
Anderson says she is concerned and asked the crying woman what happened.
The woman tells Anderson that she attempted buy $10 in fuel with the silver money and the clerk said no.
The woman appeared to be down on her luck and Anderson leads her back into the store to talk to the manager.
“Gas is pushing $4 a gallon. Sure a lot of people are scrounging for change. The reason they couldn’t accept the other $5, it was loose was because their registers are generated electronically and that would throw off others in later shifts.”
Huh?
Isn’t silver money, money? I hold up a quarter that proudly shows the Great State of Wyoming.
Isn’t Wyoming part of America, I ask Anderson.
“Sure is,” she replies.
I pick a nickel out of the box.
Isn’t that Thomas Jefferson, Former President of the USA?” I ask.
She laughs. “That’s what I’m talking about. It is legal tender and they refused her.”
“People are stealing gas. Pumping and jumping, they call it and this lady has money. $10 and they are denying her and it is all because it is loose change. I was outraged.”
We call the convenience store day after day and get no response. We call the district manager day after day and get no response.
So we send a WKRN employee into the store with $4.40 cents in change.
The clerk is cheerful and accepts the change.
I figured this would happen. So many calls about this topic; undoubtedly word has filtered down that we were doing a story and perhaps they softened their stance or changed their policy all together but since no one ever called me back, I am not sure.
So I go into the store and attempt to talk to the same manager that Anderson spoke with.
A nice employee leads me to her office. The door cracks open and the employee informs the manager that Channel 2 would like to talk to her.
The door squeezes shut and after a few moments, the employee tells me that she is not going to talk to me.
I ask if she can give me a number of someone who will.
The employee disappears into the office and after a few minutes’ returns. She walks to the stacked cups and hands me one. On the side, in very small print, there is a customer service 1-800 number.
I laugh out loud.
In all my years, I have never been handed a cup and told to call corporate headquarters.
Of course, we have called corporate headquarters, and of this post, nobody from the corporation has reached out to us to explain a thing.
With that said, in these tough economic times, when people are scrounging together any dollars they can to get to work, and buy food for their families; change is money and it should be accepted as such.
I wish I knew which convenience store this is. I would like to protest by getting all my friends to load up with $10 in change and go buy gas from this store all at the same time.
40 or 50 people all with $10 in change might make a statement… especially if it is in small coins.
Wow!! What an unbelievable incident.. Are we living in the United States???? Great reporting Andy… Love the MUSIC in the piece..
What is messed up is that a “reporter” invested this much time because a minimum-wage clerk refused to accept a few dollars in change which, unless the convenience store is a government-run entity, is perfectly legal. Bad customer service, perhaps, but not an unreasonable cost-saving measure. Besides, your inability to replicate the incident suggests that you have nothing but your fanciful imagination to suggest corporate intent.
Frankly, if you came into a business I owned demanding to see the manager so that you could make a blog mountain out of a 10-penny-high hill, I’d refuse to see you, too.
Are things in Nashville so good these days that this is the biggest outrage you could find, or are your priorities, well, messed up?
I am going to share this with all my email buddies and suggest they stop going to the On The Run markets. If they won’t accept American made change, they do not need any of my change or paper money. Also, the comment above by MS, this person must not have much of a life to be up at 4:38 am today to criticize you and your work, also this person doesn’t have the nerve to put a name with this comment. I think you do a wonderful job, no matter how big or small the complaint, YOU take the time to try to make a difference in someone’s life. Thanks again Andy, keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great Story! At least the lady was willing to pay for the gas. Money is money, whether it is change or paper. I am glad to see that there are still people out there like Ms. Anderson who are willing to help people these days! I am sure there are alot of people in TN who are down on their luck with the economic woes!!! Thanks Andy for another good job!!
A truly sad,but realistic experience,hopefully the winds of change are upon us and new feeling of caring and pride in our nation and ourselves will evolve. What ever happened to “caring[love] about our neighbor as ourselves ?
Great story,love the business card cup….
So, MS, can we assume you are the manager at the store in question? Your attitude sure makes it look that way.
As for your statement “Bad customer service, perhaps, but not an unreasonable cost-saving measure..” please explain how accepting dimes and quarters - commonly given to customers as change - COSTS a company money????
The gas station is the Exxon at 2664 Smith Springs Rd (corner of Smith Springs & Bell Rd), 615-399-7575. They mention Smith Springs in the video, and the store number is in the photo above.
Instead of you people being ugly to the cashiers and calling them bad names which 99% of you have, they are just doing what Exxon tells them to do, every job has rules and the store manger and the cashiers have to do what Exxon tells them, don’t you have rules at your job. Cash control, that’s why you don’t hear of On The Run’s getting rob, but you do the other stores.
So Andy, let’s say you’re the fourth customer in line. All three people in front of you pay with mostly change, rolled or unrolled. By the time you get to the register, that poor clerk has only a few dollar bills left… and a mountain of silver coins.
When she hands you “$5 in dimes that have been rolled” and “$5 in mostly quarters”, how happy are you going to be? Will we see another post about how gas stations are now weighing down your pockets with all their small change?
Tell him Alexa
I have worked in a couple of convenience stores in my lifetime, and everyone should have limits on the amount of money they can keep in a register. If they are at that limit, then sorry. Their safety verses a small inconvenience to you? Their safety SHOULD win everytime! Is someone being killed in a robbery more important than some change? HELL NO! How happy do you think the person trying to make a quick buck will be when they are handed $60.00 worth of change and no cash? Would you wnat to be on the other side of that counter? Everyone has a family to support, everyone has to work for a living, everyone has to get to work, most have children to feed, but is change more important than someones life? NOT NOW NOT EVER! Would you like to be the one that has to tell a 4 year old their mother has been killed because of change? I wouldn’t think so. Times are hard, everyone is pinching pennies, but NO ONE is required, or should be asked, to put their life on the line over someone crying over change.
TAKE IT TO THE BANK. Why should cashiers at a convenience store play bank teller as well. It is a crazy concept, but most banks will take rolled change and give you dollar bills for it. Cashiers at convenience stores are limited to the amout of money that they can have in their drawers. If they were to have that limit in all change and have to start giving it back to you, that would be the next story. Somebody would be complaning about having got back $10 in loose change because that is all the cashier had because you were to lazy to go to the bank or to a COINSTAR in Kroger (they are everywhere). I have worked in a convenience store in my life and if it is my life on the line over your $10 in change common sense should tell you that I am going to choose my saftey over your loose change. People want to talk about the American way! So the American way now is pretty much screw you and take my change not caring what possible harm they have just caused for that cashier. THAT IS MESSED UP!!
Now Andy Do you see both sides of the story, if your going to do a story tell the both sides not just what makes you popular.
There’s always 2 sides to every story,and WKRN does’nt tell it all so if you want the truth News Channel 5 is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I live in Montgomery County. The Cunningham Utility District won’t accept change either. They have some note posted on the window about how they can’t accept it if it is over a certain amount. Anyways, I don’t see the big deal, money is money. But if anyone knows the real reason besides the employees are just to lazy to count it then lets hear it!!!
I worked in retail (mostly grocery) for many years. I never had a problem taking change from customers. You never know what someone’s situation is. That may be all they have. I have received several dollars in change before and do not think it is a huge deal. BTW, when you put money in Coinstar or similar machines, you are not only losing 8% of what you put in, but a store employee has to handle that money at least once a week. This is another example of how when times are rough, people only look out for #1. And if a robber would be upset with change, why do laundromats get robbed? Money is money. Let’s be done with it. Also, I want to commend Ms. Anderson for trying to help out the way she did. Common curtesy. Come on, people!
wow that is messed up. They do need to tell us what store this is.
Also the girl (Lauren Anderson) is a hottie
good job honey 
Ok, here’s another side to that story.
Panhandlers are notorious for hanging out at convenient stores. They can get some quick change, catching people who are in too big of a hurry to care about where their change is going. And the convenient stores sell what panhandlers want - BEER!
So, as a way to discourage the panhandlers for hanging around, many convenience stores adopt a “no-change” policy. It doesn’t matter if it’s 20 dollars worth of dimes, or just 6 quarters.
In this particular case, I imagine the cashier did not know the “why” about the policy, and just treated everyone equally.
Comment by sc | July 6, 2008 @ 9:50 pm
There’s always 2 sides to every story,and WKRN does’nt tell it all so if you want the truth News Channel 5 is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Hey, SC, why are you watching Channel 2 news if you consider channel 5 news the best? It sure invalidates your comment.
Today at the BP Station at the corner of Clark and Memorial Blvd in Murfreesboro, my daughter had a similar experience. She went to get gas and had $7.00 in quarters. These quarter were part of the tips she had just made at her waitressing job. The rude clerk told her that they could only accept six quarters or $1.50 in change. My daughter questioned her and the clerk said she could speak to the manager. Although, my daughter had some dollar bills she told the clerk “I’ll just get $1.50 worth of gas.” She pumped $1.50 worth of gas and then drove to Walmart where they happily accepted her quarters to purchase gas.
For Tim the only reason, I made that comment is because I was reading this story, I really don’t watch any of them but NewsChannel 5 online.
i love my friend!! she is the most good hearted person i know! this totally doesnt suprise me that she did this! little did i know hen i met this girl 5 yrs ago i would be blessed with such a good friend!!
nxt topic is the man n his house on nolensville rd!!
heart u boogie!!
p.s yes this is me ur friend hahaha
Please people, this is America, there is ways an manners, there is a way you can be nice and telling others what is accepted and what is not, when you work at a store or at any place that you deal w/ people, this is all about customer service, ” THE WAY YOU TREAT PEOPLE, IS THEY WAY YOU ARE GOING TO BE TREATED BK” { THINK} how many times we been in situations were we don’t have money working pd-chk to pd-chk, and don’t have money until Friday? We start looking around for change, we are not asking any body for money, we are not stilling.
Why do we accept change when we buy something???
Do we need to ask the stores for bills only because coins don’t feet in our wallets????? Do we need to tell the store cashier keep the change? Is the cashier going to keep the money? Or is she/he going to put it Bk in to the register so store owner could keep it????
The Point is that MONEY IS MONEY, this is American Money we are not outside USA and our coins are not even accepted here.
BALONEY. You’re a merchant. Take the money. If your till is full of change, put it in the time lock safe. If you have to give a handful of change to a customer, then do it… it’s happened to me and it’s just not a problem.
Any merchant that won’t accept a change needs to lose our business. And DON’T tell me that there’e no legal requirement to accept change. That’s a lot of you-know-what too.
No, it’s NOT a bank. It’s a STORE. If they want to stay in business, they’ll take your money. If the merchant doesn’t like this, take your business elsewhere.
Finally, I don’t think “MS” has ever worked anywhere near anything resembling a retail operation. Any manager that doesn’t want to deal with a customer complaint needs to be ready for the inevitable fallout when their poor customer service is publicized.
Just a thought. There was a lady involved in the story, and another note was made here about a female getting the same treatment. I wonder if they’d pull this BS stunt on a guy?
That’s messed up! Walmart on Mufreesborah Rd, Antioch Did NOT accept my change as payment for my purchase. I had to go the the self check out lane, because I was told cashiers did not have to count my change, if they didn’t want to. I was OUTRAGED! Why was no one willing to take
my rolled up coins to pay for my groceries? We hit hard
times and had to resort to rolling up coins to pay for food and then get hit with no cashier willing to take our money to pay for the food. It’s messed up that no retailers
in TN is willing to take our hard earned
cash to pay for our gas, groceries or what ever we need to make it in this time of hardship. This needs to be introduced in the public eyes that this is going on. THAT’S MESSED UP! AND WE NEEED HELP!!!!!
MONEY IS MONEY AND IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT’S DOLLAR BILLS OR CHANGE THAT WE’RE SPENDING…..MONEY IS MONEY!!!!!!
That’s messed up! Walmart on Mufreesborah Rd, Antioch Did NOT accept my change as payment for my purchase. I had to go the the self check out lane, because I was told cashiers did not have to count my change, if they didn’t want to. I was OUTRAGED! Why was no one willing to take
my rolled up coins to pay for my groceries? We hit hard
times and had to resort to rolling up coins to pay for food and then get hit with no cashier willing to take our money to pay for the food. It’s messed up that no retailers
in TN is willing to take our hard earned
cash to pay for our gas, groceries or what ever we need to make it in this time of hardship. This needs to be introduced in the public eyes that this is going on. THAT’S MESSED UP! AND WE NEEED HELP!!!!!
MONEY IS MONEY AND IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT’S DOLLAR BILLS OR CHANGE THAT WE’RE SPENDING…..MONEY IS MONEY!!!!!!
I went to Sonic on Sam Riley - Same thing happened to me. $6.50 in qtrs - the girl would not take my change because the computer would not register the coins. I thought money was money