A "change" of pace just for fun...

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

denmarc

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2009
Posts
2,502
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan
The DW is sitting at the kitchen table hand sorting and paper wrapping pocket change I throw into a small plastic container. Just something to do on a rainy, dreary day. We also have one of those 5 gallon water jugs that we have been putting our pocket change into for the past 28 years. It's darn near full to the top. It most certainly is too heavy to move around!

Anyone ever been in the same situation? I got to wondering about how much money is actually in that jug. Been looking around for a coin counter/sorter/wrapper to make short order of the task. Coinstar seems to get 9 cents on the dollar. Not interested in toting the jug to the local grocery store with a Coinstar machine. I would have to bring my work truck home equipped with a 3500lb liftgate to get the stupid jug to the store!  ;)

Anyone willing to make a guess? 
 
I always take my change to my bank and it has a free change counter machine and I can get cash or add the amount to my checking or savings.



The information is out there, all you have to do is let it in.
 
My mom did the same thing when my sisters and I were growing up.  About once a month she would dump out the coin jar (actually a large coffee can) onto the kitchen table and we'd all spend a half hour or so sorting and wrapping coins.

I did the same when I left home, but by then the banks had changed their rules and only accepted hand wrapped coins if you wrote your name and bank number on the rolls.  Too many people were shortchanging the rolls or padding them with objects other than money and the bank would charge back any shortages reported by the recipient.  Of course there was no way to dispute these claims.

At one point I acquired a 5 gallon water jug and started filling it with spare change.  I was curious how much money I'd have when it was full.  When it was about half full I tried lifting it up by the neck so I could move it to another location and the bottom of the jug sheared off as cleanly as if I had used a glass cutter, spilling the coin collection all across the floor.

Here in Los Angeles, Coinstar wants 10.5% to count your change unless you apply it towards a retailer specific gift card. No thanks.  I separate out my change, keeping quarters to use in the pay laundry and carrying a dollar or so in pennies, nickels and dimes with me.  That way I can use them for exact change when I make a purchase instead of collecting more coins.

I've yet to see a customer accessible coin counting machine in any bank I've been in. What bank are you using?
 
Lou Schneider said:
My mom did the same thing when my sisters and I were growing up.  About once a month she would dump out the coin jar (actually a large coffee can) onto the kitchen table and we'd all spend a half hour or so sorting and wrapping coins.

I did the same when I left home, but by then the banks had changed their rules and only accepted hand wrapped coins if you wrote your name and bank number on the rolls.  Too many people were shortchanging the rolls or padding them with objects other than money and the bank would charge back any shortages reported by the recipient.  Of course there was no way to dispute these claims.

At one point I acquired a 5 gallon water jug and started filling it with spare change.  I was curious how much money I'd have when it was full.  When it was about half full I tried lifting it up by the neck so I could move it to another location and the bottom of the jug sheared off as cleanly as if I had used a glass cutter, spilling the coin collection all across the floor.

Here in Los Angeles, Coinstar wants 10.5% to count your change unless you apply it towards a retailer specific gift card. No thanks.  I separate out my change, keeping quarters to use in the pay laundry and carrying a dollar or so in pennies, nickels and dimes with me.  That way I can use them for exact change when I make a purchase instead of getting back more coins.

I've yet to see a customer accessible coin counting machine in any bank I've been in. What bank are you using?

""I've yet to see a customer accessible coin counting machine in any bank I've been in. What bank are you using?""
 
My Credit Union has had a free coin counter for many years.  (In every branch)

I forgot to add.... Please send your change to me and I'll see that it gets counted FREE!!
 
We have three banks and they all take our change and run it through their coin machines at no charge.  We just bring in your stoneware jar when it is full and let them do the dirty work. Hmmm.... Hopefully we can trust our banks  :-\ ;)
 
MN Blue Skies said:
We have three banks and they all take our change and run it through their coin machines at no charge.  We just bring in your stoneware jar when it is full and let them do the dirty work. Hmmm.... Hopefully we can trust our banks  :-\ ;)

Good point. I never thought of asking my credit union if they have such a service. No such service advertised.
And I have also never seen such a machine in any of the 3 credit unions and 2 local banks we have been dealing with for many years.

Regardless, I just wonder what we have collected over the past 28 years.
 
My bank also has a machine. We have a clear container which is around 4 gallons I'm guessing. We've been dumping all of our pennies in it for around 15 years. I think it will be full in about a year. I've also wondered how much is actually in there.  :eek: ::) :-\ :-*
 
My credit union offers the service for free also.  the machine is behind the counter, so you really wouldn't see it.  I had a friend who filled an empty fire extinguisher with the top cut off, so that is much smaller.  He put in no pennies, just nickels or larger.  He had $ 1,100.00 when he cashed it in.  I'd suspect, including a lot of pennies, you probably have 2K plus.  JM2C.

Steve
 
We use 2 plastic pretzel jugs - one for pennies and the other for silver. We cashed them in last month for spending money on a cruise. Both were about 2/3 full and netted us just over $400. We also have a credit union with a free self-service machine.
 
Years ago I threw my change in one of those cardboard Canadian Club containers. One dreary Sunday I decide to amuse myself by rolling coins. Toonies and loonies were not yet in circulation and the laundry had eaten all the quarters. I had 156 bucks, 91 dollars in dimes. :eek: That was sure nice a week before payday.
 
The large handmade stoneware (pottery) jar that we keep our change in is worth more than the change that is in it.  ::)
 
I don't intentionally keep change but it tends to add up and my purse gets heavy.  I then look for a grocery store with self-check out lanes and start feeding coins into it.  That lightens the load considerably!

Re Coinstar and similar.  Saw a thing on TV that people get shortchanged a lot.  Every single machine they used shortchanged them, some by a considerable amount.

ArdraF
 
ArdraF said:
I don't intentionally keep change but it tends to add up and my purse gets heavy.  I then look for a grocery store with self-check out lanes and start feeding coins into it.  That lightens the load considerably!

Re Coinstar and similar.  Saw a thing on TV that people get shortchanged a lot.  Every single machine they used shortchanged them, some by a considerable amount.

ArdraF

Ah Ha ... So I'm not paranoid!
 
The Facts Jack:

Newer pennies are made mostly of zinc. Here's the history, according to the U.S. Mint: From 1837 to 1857, the cent was made of bronze (95 percent copper, and five percent tin and zinc). From 1857, the cent was 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, giving the coin a whitish appearance.Jan 13, 2013
What's a Penny Made Of? - LiveScience
www.livescience.com/32401-whats-a-penny-made-of.html
Symbol: Zn
Atomic mass: 65.38 u ? 0.002 u

Zinc 445.30 Pounds Per *Cubic Foot

5us liquid Gal  = 0.668403 CuFt *445.3lbs = 297.6398559lbs pennies/5 gallon bucket (Not accounting for air space of course)

Start adding silver and this all goes out the window  ::) ::) :eek:

As a side note: our church does a collection to help out the local pregnancy center by collecting baby bottles of change.  The year my wife and I did it we ended with around 50$ in it! (not all pennies obviously) Surprising how fast it adds up!


 
I ought to have some kind of a contest. Closest guess to the exact amount in dollars and cents in the jug without going over. Prize could be a RV'er of the Year plaque. Or maybe a donation to the forum in the name of the winner.
Could be fun.
 
I keep quarters in one coffee creamer can, (nice screw-on lid) nickles and dimes in another...and pennies in a larger gallon size jar. The quarters go with us in the motorhome for the occasional stop in a laundromat...the nickles and dimes just accumulate. I REALLY SHOULD take them and get more quarters...:p
 
denmarc said:
I ought to have some kind of a contest. Closest guess to the exact amount in dollars and cents in the jug without going over. Prize could be a RV'er of the Year plaque. Or maybe a donation to the forum in the name of the winner.
Could be fun.

Great Idea!  Mark, if you can work out the details, we're game.
 
Wondering how I could handle all the guesses and keep them straight? Might be more information than I can handle. I will check with my credit union tomorrow to see if they can help me out with the sorting and counting.
 
Back
Top Bottom