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AskBwog: Special Double Useful Question Edition
The first of this week’s questions comes from Bwogger Maryam Parhizkar who wants to know where she can convert her loose change into dolla dolla bills, yall.
The Bank of America on 107th and Broadway has change-converter machines that are free for anyone to use, regardless of whether they have an account at Bank of America. Although, one should expect the machine to take a commission.
The second question comes from an anonymous student who wants to know if he can add Flex Points and Dining Dollars online. “Who wants to wait in line at Kent and Hartley?” Who indeed.
Well, yes and no. Luckily for Anonymous Columbia Student, both Flex Points and Dining Dollars can be added on the SSOL website. (Bwog has added Flex Points in celebration of the new Crumbs cupcakes at Ferris.) Log onto your SSOL account on go to Dining Services. It’s as easy as entering your credit card (or your parents’ credit card) number.
Unfortunately, Columbia Dining Services does not have access to the accounts of Barnard, Teacher’s College, or JTS students’ accounts, thus system is unable to allow them to add Flex/Dollars online. These students, can of course, purchase Flex or Dining Dollars, but hanging out in Hartley at Dining Services is a steep price to pay for a Crumbs cupcake.
AskBwog thanks Columbia Dining Services, SSOL, and bank-savvy Paul Barndt.
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15 Comments
@clarification Homeless person saves $30. Counts money, goes to bank, gets $32. Goes to another bank, gets rolls of quarters. Goes to bank, gets $34. Repeat.
@Huh? They don’t get a $1.99 gift, they get a gift if they guess within $1.99. So presumably they could get a lot of gifts this way, but I don’t think it’s a way to make a living.
@Columbiatch The homeless people don’t have enough coins to break bills, because the rich people aren’t rich enough to give them pocket change.
@Columbiatch Go to Commerce Bank if you want to turn in your coins for bills. Commerce does not charge a commission, and they give you a free gift if you guess prior to the counting within $1.99 of what your change is actually worth. Plus, they close at 8PM seven days a week, and they open 10 minutes early and 10 minutes late (for the early-risers and the procrastinators). It’s part of their customer-friendly philosophy. They REALLY are that nice.
I would know all this because I just changed $225 worth of coins this past weekend.
@whoa Do the homeless people know about this?
@wait if there’s a commission, doesn’t that mean it’s not free?
@moolah In butler, where the copy machines are on the first floor there’s a machine where you can add flex and I think dining dollars to your card. I’ve only every put cash in the machine, it may take credit cards, but i don’t know. It’s very easy, and you never have to wait!
@yuck the apostrophes are showing up as � for me.
mac os x 10.4.10, firefox 2.0.0.8
@bc '07 I don’t know if it’s still there, but there used to be a machine in the copy room of barnard’s library which allowed you to put cash on your flex or dining dollar accounts.
@correction JTS students (undergrads) do have access to dining dollars via SSOL. The Grad students aren’t Columbia affiliates and don’t have CUID, and as such, it really doesn’t matter that they don’t.
@also http://askus.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/cu.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php
@Commerce Doesn’t commerce bank on 110 do it as well?
@natalie? ummm natalie portman update please???
@Alex Paul Barndt is eminently wise, but even the best of us may falter. The best answer to Maryam’s query is Banco Popular, on something like 111th Street and Broadway, where coins are converted to bills free of charge. And if you guess how much money your coins are worth within a small margin of error, you get a prize, too!
@Bingo Go to Commerce Bank, B’way and 109th.
Don’t pay a bank to turn your money into money! That’s just dumb!