Have you a hoard of unused foreign currency at home? Here's a solution...
If you’re like me, you probably have various small sums of money kicking about at home, in a variety of different currencies – and some for destinations you might not return to for years to come. Some of it you can’t even easily change back into your local currency as they’ll only accept notes of a particular denomination. Aside from donating it to my children’s increasingly exotic coin and note collection, there’s little I can do with it except hang on to it until the next trip to the place in question.
With almost 5 million people flying around the world every day, there must be a lot of unused currency sitting in drawers around the world! In Britain alone, it’s estimated that there is a whopping £3 billion in unused foreign money in people’s homes.
That’s why it’s so exciting to find out there is another way. Travelersbox is an innovative service that offers air travellers a new, convenient way to use their leftover notes and coins and thus a great way to make the most of your unused currency.
Insert your unused notes and coins into a Travelersbox kiosk at the airport and you can deposit your money to an e-wallet such as PayPal, exchange it for a gift card or make a donation to a charitable cause. The kiosks are simple to use with 12 languages offered. With your money converted to ‘cash’ in PayPal, it’ll be at your disposal to spend on all manner of things, be it iTunes, Skype or whatever your fancy takes you. You’ll no longer have the need to have miscellaneous bits of foreign currency kicking around at home, but instead can put that same money to work.
Having deposited your unused money, you will be presented with a transaction summary window showing the amount you have deposited and, once you’ve entered your personal details, you’ll also get a confirmation to your email. How easy and convenient is that?!
So far Travelersbox kiosks can be found at airports in Manchester, Milan, Tbilisi, Manila, Istanbul and other locations in Turkey, and currencies accepted include US and Canadian dollars, UK pounds, euros, Russian rubles, Turkish lira, Philippines peso and Georgian lari, but expect both to expand over time. Of course, you pay for the service – anything from 3-10% depending on the amount you choose to deposit – but then what good is the money just sitting in a drawer back home?
So the next time you’re passing through the airport, instead of getting a useless souvenir at the duty free shop, just look for the orange machine…
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Travelersbox.
Quite a clever device! You are right: I’ve been keeping foreign coins for decades in a cupboard, in the hope I’d come back to the country I just visited … Most of these coins and small bills cease to be valid after a while anyways.
Transferring your small change to a PayPal account is the genius invention of the system. Looking forward to see these clever exchange machines everywhere in the world.
Thanks for the info ;-)
Thanks Gery, we definitely agree :)
Looking forward to hearing your feedback after using our kiosks!
There is another way. For many years at the end of international flights Qantas collects spare foreign small change for Unicef – as does Virgin. So finish your holiday by doing good for others – if your airline of choice does not do this then at least choose the charity option and ‘pass it forward’.
Thx for this other suggestion Jennifer. You are right. I do not usually fly Qantas or Virgin, I didn’t realize they had this nice idea. A simple gesture that can have a big impact if lots of people do so!
Hi Gery and Jennifer,
we like the idea of donating your leftover foreign change to a cause close to your heart, that’s why we have this option on our machines – instead of converting your change into an online product, just choose a charity you like to donate to :)
We hope you’ll enjoy our service in your future travels.
Finally! A way to use my unused currency. I have some that I have kept for years without ever getting a chance to exchange it. I just kept it as a souvenir. If you hold onto it for too long, the currency could no longer be valid as countries do change their currencies from time to time and have time limits on the ability to exchange it. I look forward to the increase in the number of Travelersbox kiosks. Thanks for a great eye opening blog.
I remember using things like this years ago, back then you put coins in and got coins out (in your desired currency), then they suddenly disappeared! Glad they are coming back again.
Thanks Bob! Your feedback is right on the money (literally). That’s why using our kiosks to convert to digital currency not only finds great use for your money, but it helps obtaining the value of your money, rather than keeping a worthless jar of mixed coins.
I like this concept and I hope it will be available in the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport in 2019 when the second line of the tramway will be open in the same year.
The concept is really greatfull and I like it. 👍👍👍👍
Thank you so much! This is a new discovery and I will take my hoard of cash to the airport next trip.
This is great!! Hope this could be more effective for African Currencies and that the Travelers-box could be installed at Airports in Africa. Im sitting with loads of Tanzanian shilling :-)
This is a great idea and it encourages people to give to charities….so thanks for sharing it.
I don’t visit any of the countries with the machine and regularly visit the USA, Canada and use Euro or UK pounds monthly so I always need my notes, so not something I would use until they branch out.
I always give all the coins away on British Airways who collect for Flying Start a charity for under privileged children. I have flown on a few airlines who do this kind of thing.