The Price of Convenience

Several months ago my nephew came to me seeking financial advice. He is a recent college graduate living on his own and working full time. His job pays him a fairly good salary, but he complained that he never seemed to have enough money left at the end of the month after he paid his rent, student loans, car payment and "daily living expenses." When I inquired as to what he meant by daily living expenses, he told me "food, gas, coffee and stuff like that."

I told him his problem was probably in the amount of money he was spending on what he called his daily living expenses and suggested to him that he try an experiment I read about in a financial planning magazine. I told him to get a pocket notebook and write down every penny he spent for an entire month. Doing this would show him where his money was going and he could make some adjustments to his spending, if necessary. He agreed to give this a try.

At the end of the month he was surprised to see how a majority of his money was being spent. Some of his "daily living expenses" included over $125 a month eating lunch out every day, even though his company had a lunch room with a refrigerator where he could keep a lunch brought from home. He was spending another $60 a month getting a soda from the machine rather than bringing his own with him from home. He paid $2 for a coffee each morning to drink on the way to work instead of bringing a travel mug from home. In total, he was spending over $250 a month just because it was convenient to eat out instead making his own lunch and bringing his own soda to work. He admitted that he had been lazy and after seeing how much it was costing him he decided that it would be worthwhile to change his ways.

Money-Saving Convenience

Just because something is convenient does not necessarily mean it is more expensive. Many times it depends on how you make use of the convenience. Sometimes it can even save you money. One of the most convenient changes to the casinos over the last few years has been the adoption of the Ticket In Ticket Out (TITO) coinless slot machines. All of the new machines being made have this feature. It is a convenience to the casinos and the players for several reasons.

The major convenience for the casinos is that they can cut labor costs. If there are no coins involved, the casinos will be able to cut out the change people who roam the casino floors. They do not need the army of employees who empty the machines each night after most of us have crept to bed. There is also no need for the "hard count" room, where all the coins must be sorted and counted. The casinos are able to cut back on the number of slot attendants whose primary functions are taking care of hopper fills and clearing coin jams.

The advent of this system has made it possible for multi-denomination machines and penny slot games that would not have been practical if coins were needed. This is also a convenience for the players who in some instances can switch denominations without having to change machines.

Another convenience for the player is not having to wait for a hopper fill if the machine runs out of coins when they cash out. As they say, time is money and there was a lot wasted sitting for a hopper fill when the casino was busy. And to make matters worse, it always seemed to happen when you had some place else to go. Players also do not have to handle dirty coins and lug heavy buckets to the cashier's cage when they win.

A Costly Convenience

For some players, however, the convenience of the coinless slots can be more costly. When you used to hand feed coins into a machine, you were playing at a much slower rate. This means you were risking less money against the house edge. Now when you feed a bill into the receptor you just start playing credits and they can be played at a very fast rate.

The coinless system is also costly to some players who are now more inclined to play off the credits instead of cashing them out. When players get down to their last dollar of two, they may find that it is more convenient to play off the money instead of cashing out. Before when you cashed out coins you could slip them in your pocket and walk away, but when you are paid with a voucher you must take it to the cage and convert it back to cash.

Most vouchers are good for 30 days, so if you are staying at the casino you can slip the voucher into your wallet and use it for your next playing session if there is a line at the cage. Playing off a dollar or two in credits may not seem like much, but if you play a lot of slots this can add up to quite a bit during the year. Like my nephew who was too lazy to make his lunch, you might just find you are paying quite a price for the convenience of not walking to the cage.

Until next time remember:
Luck comes and goes.....Knowledge Stays Forever.