Hi All,
I have a bunch of Swiss Franc coins collected for long time by my child. Now i wanted to convert them in banknotes but apparently the Postomat from Postfinance doesnt accept them at all.
I used to do this exchange in the past, but now is not possible anymore.

I found something in the internet that PostFinance is decommissioning these devices but i couldnt figure out what do i do with the coins. Any idea?
Thank you

Spend them.

Tom

Donate it to charity. For example, I heard from a friend that there are a lot of poor beggars in Basel.

I find that supermarket self checkouts (at quiet times!) are a good way to get through piles of coins.

True

Especially as you don't need to pre-sort or count them.

Just empty a handful of shrapnel into the funnel and the machine will count them for you and return any coins that were too many.

Where are the functioning machines that remain? I also have a ton of coins that I collected that I need to change for real monies.

I guess I could just take it to the Postfinance cash register and ask them to count it and then put it into my account... and ruin the day of whoever happens to be working on the counter at the time.

Banks (and I guess post offices) supply paper wrappers. You count out the relevant amount which they then cash for you or credit to your account.
This is more fun than it sounds, and the OP's child might enjoy the task of sorting their savings.

#2 son worked in a bar for several years and every now and then he'd bring home the Tips Jar for me to count and wrap; the result was split between the staff.

Is there a limit on the number of coins (like with parking meters), and do they take 5rp?

I have a couple of jars of small stuff which may add up to about 50 Fr.

I don't know if there is a limit to the amount, but I believe that on the Coop machines there is a time limit and if you haven't completed the payment within a certain time it times out and spits everything back out, and you can start over. Not just with the payment but also with the scanning.

So if you are paying a larger amount it helps if there are some larger coins in the mix. Or otherwise break your shopping into smaller batches and pay for them separately.

I think 5rp are OK.

If you are a customer at UBS, they offer a counting service. Free for amounts under CHF100, small charge if more than CHF100.

https://www.ubs.com/ch/en/help/account/coins.html

I can happily supply a private address for anyone to send any coins they no longer want.

Why don’t the Swiss just get rid of the 5 centime piece? Round everything to the nearest 10.

Up or down?

Yes, up or down to the nearest 0.10! I wouldn’t even mind if they rounded everything up to the next 0.10.

Isn't it just because they want to keep the standard letter B post at 85c, like it's been for the past few decades? ISTR some years ago that being given as the only reason the 5c coin remained.

In Euroland they still have even the 1c coins, as well as 2, 5, 10, 20. What is the point of them I don't know either.

Marketing, so they can still sell things on TV for just something .99

Not all EU countries use the 1, 2 or 5.

My UBS bank has a machine that you chuck all the coins into. Then you get a piece of paper to take to the cashier to get your notes.

Credit Suisse too, I would always have excess coins from my shop and bar, once a week I would throw them in as part of my weekly banking.

do you need to have a bank account with them or they simply gives you the money in hand?
Thank you