If you are like some people, you may be fussy about the coins in your pocket. You may not want to touch dirty coins and you have valid reasons not to.
During the pandemic, there was a real risk that touching coins could be a way for the COVID virus to spread from one person to another.
Moreover, coins are touched by thousands of people over their lifetime, making them greasy, potentially unhealthy, and discolored.
That’s why, since 1938, the Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco started to wash all their coins every night as a service to its guests.
Keep in mind, this was long before credit cards – back then, everyone paid cash.
Here’s how they did it:
- Hotel cashiers would send trays of U.S. coins of all values to a basement laundry area.
- The coins were then poured into a mixture of water and strong salts such as sodium borate and sodium tetraborate. Note: These salts can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, headaches, and even seizures if ingested or after prolonged use.
- The coins were then stirred around – by hand – using a metal ice scoop for three hours.
- After washing, the coins were placed on tables under heat lamps for drying.
- Once dry, they were returned to the cashiers.
Nowadays, we have a simpler and safer way to clean coins using citric acid-based cleaning products.
A simple first step is spraying citric acid-based sanitizer and cleaner on the coins. Wait a few minutes and dry them. This should remove visible dirt, and the sanitizer eliminates almost all germs.
If you have several or more soiled coins to clean, mix the citric acid-based cleaning product with water, let the coins soak a few minutes in the product, swirl them around, and then dry them.
Try it. You’ll find it’s a quick, healthy, and a very effective way to clean money.
Pronatural Brands cleaning, sanitizing & disinfecting products are made from 100% naturally derived, FDA approved food additive ingredients. They are just as powerful as leading chemical-based solutions – just safer. For more information, contact us here.
