Why Rick Steves Recommends Spending Foreign Coins Before Crossing A Currency Border

Rick Steves is an American travel writer, broadcaster and entrepreneur best known for his budget-friendly guidebooks and his long-running PBS series, "Rick Steves' Europe." He helps travelers experience local culture and communities — and gain perspective on how to avoid scams like bad European ATMs and why flying "Open Jaws" can save them money on airfare. 

Steves advises travelers to spend every last foreign coin before crossing into a new country. For example, a €2 coin you do not exchange can't be used in the U.S, so it only ends up as nothing more than a travel memento. Unlike paper bills — which you can exchange back into local currency almost anywhere — coins rarely enjoy the same treatment. Even where U.S coins are accepted, you pay heavily. This is why in the next slide, we'll look into why foreign coins are nearly impossible to exchange — from high shipping costs to their tiny face value — and what that means for your travel budget.

The short answer for why it is hard to exchange foreign coins is they are heavy, costly to ship, and each piece holds only a tiny value, so handling them costs more than they're worth. This is why major banks around the world — including those in the United States — simply refuse to handle foreign coins and may reject paper notes they can't process. For instance, U.S. Bank's policy states it does not accept foreign coins and paper bills are reviewed case by case. Bank of America likewise notes that it does not offer or accept foreign coins in its currency exchange services. Even the Federal Reserve won't touch them. Its Cash Services guide specifies that Federal Reserve Banks do not accept deposits of foreign currency or foreign coin — it's returned to the sender instead. 

Coins weigh a lot compared with paper bills, so moving them in bulk quickly adds up in shipping weight — and carriers charge by weight. In fact, local banks often refuse foreign coins because shipping them back to their home country can cost more than the coins' face value. Each coin carries only a tiny monetary value, so the return on investment for processing and transporting them plummets. In fact, an October 2022 Federal Reserve industry report found that excess coin shipments create inefficiencies in the supply chain — banks and mints end up paying storage, handling, and transportation fees that exceed the coins' worth.

You can turn leftover coins into little travel treats; buy a snack, grab a final coffee, or ride one last bus so every cent adds joy, not clutter. Use €1 and €2 coins to top off a train ticket or cover museum entry, and drop smaller change into tip jars. Airports can also work well for your coin "clear-out," thanks to cafés and vending machines right before boarding. Or you can get creative; make keychains or fridge magnets or mail them to charities like UNICEF, which puts foreign coins to good use beyond your trip.

Put €5 (or its equivalent) into a stamped envelope for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and you're helping buy and distribute a malaria bed net to protect a child. UNICEF USA even advises you to donate foreign coins via selected American Airlines' flights, a brand which has raised over $18 million for the "Change for Good" program to fund vaccines, clean-water projects, and nutrition programs for children around the world. Whichever approach you choose —treat yourself to one last gelato or drop those coins into a donation box — the goal is the same; put every cent to work.