Friday, October 10, 2008
how much is a pound of coins worth?
Scott and I keep a big jar of loose change. We usually let it fill up and just take it to a Coinstar machine and accept the 10% charge. But this time we ignored the jar until it was overflowing and we'd moved on to just adding to the pile of change next to the jar. I suspected we had over $200 and didn't really want to give Coinstar $20. So we counted and rolled it ourselves. I discovered that some banks (First Tech Credit Union here in Seattle) will let you hand over a big bag of coins and they'll run through a sorting machine. But not our bank, of course. Our bank did give us as many free coin rolls as we could possibly want.
Lauren (thanks Lauren!) pointed me towards this page on the distribution of coin types in a jar that estimates mixed coins would average out to $12.96 a pound. I wanted to know how our jar compared so I kept notes. One thing, we regularly took quarters out of the jar to use for parking meters.
Total weight before sorting: about 22 pounds and 3 ouncesThis will go into our sofa fund (I secretly think of it as half the cost of the matching ottoman). Our coins averaged to just a little over $11.27 per pound, less than the $12.96 average and probably the result of our poaching quarters out of the jar to use for parking. So there we go, next time we are eyeing our pile of change and trying to decide if the fee for the Coinstar is worth the convenience we can weigh things out and have a good idea.
Number of rolled tubes (all had a few coins left over):
Quarters: 13 tubes
Dimes: 14 tubes
Nickels: 10 tubes
Pennies: 24 tubes
Number of one dollar coins: 7
Number of fifty cent pieces: 1
Canadian coins: $1.98 cents (one dollar coin, two quarters, four dimes, one nickel, three pennies)
Number of wheat pennies: 4
Oldest penny: 1936
Non-monetary: two guitar picks, two rubber bands, one small washer
Too disgusting to touch: approximately twenty pennies and one very beat up dime
Amount per pound: just over $11.27
Worth the time spent rolling the coins? Yes. A partner and a glass of wine and the exercise of counting out pennies is very satisfying.
Total bankable amount: $248.02
Note: Coinstar doesn't take the 10% if you exchange your coins for a gift certificate to a number of places, including Amazon, Starbucks and iTunes.
categories: mumbling
I hope you go out and get that sofa soon - personally, I'd recommend blowing the cash on a night out since it's 'found' money but I applaud your responsible impulse!
Comment by Dana McCauley — October 10, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
Bonus if you live around New Jersey or either of it's "Tri-state areas" (SW CT / NY 5 Boroughs / North NJ or Philly / Wilmington / South Jersey), your local Commerce Bank will do this for free. And you don't even have to belong to that bank! And you can get a prize if you guess within a certain dollar amount how much your coins are worth.
(http://bank.commerceonline.com/information/locations_hours/ - full disclosure - I am not a Commerce Bank member, but I do love their coin counter)
Comment by Kelly Anne — October 10, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
Dang! I thought I was good with my little cup - if it's full and I haven't poached quarters for meters I can generally get a good $20-$25 out of it.
My mom did a similar thing with a larger jar and her coins paid for a weekend cruise - everything from airfare to souvenirs.
Good for you! Can't wait to see your new couch!
Comment by Emily — October 10, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
to readers... do check with your bank before you roll (or don't roll) your coins! i was a bank teller for a stretch and people used to be very pleased with themselves to have brought in tidily rolled coins... only to have to help me assist in unrolling them to have them counted. we weren't allowed to take coins unless they ran through our machine, and the rolls ended up being a great waste of time for all involved.
Comment by katie e. — October 10, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
We get gc for Amazon through Coinstar. We use them spurge on fun things!
Comment by Linda — October 10, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
What a fun post. I love the fact about how much an average pound of change weighs-cool! A nice (and educational) chunk for your fund!
Comment by Rachel — October 10, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
I learned this tip from my friend for quicker coin rolling. Buy the plastic coin wrappers in addition to the paper ones. As the plastic ones are sized for the right amount of coins, all you have to do is transfer them to the paper ones.
Comment by Monica — October 10, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
My brother bought the coolest digital coin counter for about $25. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Counting-Money-Average-Change/dp/B000QHRG22
Comment by bella — October 10, 2008 @ 1:26 pm
Really cool, plus I love the non-monetary items picture! ;) My husband and I dropped change into a big glass bottle for almost a year and fought the urge to count it all up everytime we'd notice it. When it got to the point that no more coins could fit in, we counted it all up. We had enough money to drive to the beach, stay in a cheap motel, eat out, shop, and drive back home in one weekend! I definitely recommend savin' up change!
Comment by Allie — October 10, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
I think you can also get it counted through the machine in the Wallingford Verity Credit Union for free! May be worth a call. We're members so we get it for free, but I think anyone can.
Comment by Tiffany S. — October 10, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Whoawhoawhoa.
What's a coinstar?
This sounds magical!
Comment by Desiree Fawn — October 10, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
My favorite post since bacon cups.
Comment by Susan Gibbs — October 10, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Washington residents are eligible for accounts at First Tech. Take your coins, open an account with $5 of it, and get free coin counting whenever you want. (Yes, I work for First Tech - in Portland, though.)
Comment by laurie — October 10, 2008 @ 6:32 pm
I love to get the amazon.com and Starbucks gift cards with my change. Just a warning, though: not all Coinstar machines have the no-fee gift card option. Check http://locator.coinstar.com to find one that will get you what you want.
Comment by knitopia — October 10, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
I thought I was the only one who rolled coins! Nice!
Comment by Valencia — October 11, 2008 @ 4:34 am
We each save coins tho dh is the quarter user for parking too.
It does make a nice evening just sitting and rolling them AND just talking. A relaxing profitable night.
My mother had an old milk tin(?) barrel(?), well the kind that is about 3' tall, and she filled that one up for years. Her first grandchild, my 40+ yr old son, now uses it for his children.
Comment by Maureen — October 11, 2008 @ 7:09 am
I'm not a coin hoarder myself (spend it as I go, use credit card a lot and thus don't get change in hand as much) but I have on a number of occasions rolled coins:
-a bag given to me when I was a kid by a friend of my grandma's who didn't want to roll it. It was mostly pennies, but I thought I did pretty well getting around $20 more or less for free.
-lots of rolling in college of vending machine coins for a club I belonged to: a session of rolling was paid with a submarine sandwich for dinner.
-rolling for a broke boyfriend who was a coin hoarder.
I can't remember how much money that boyfriend had hoarded in coins, but it quickly piled up to a very impressive sum and he was very grateful I was making him do it. Some of the coins were stored in a large coffee can, and I think the weight of the coins somehow accelerated metal oxidation, and the pennies towards the bottom were really frightful.
Comment by Jen — October 11, 2008 @ 8:48 am
I sorted our some coins awhile ago and ended up just throwing them in separate jars. So I took the nickel jar and bought truffles with it. Luckily it was a slow moment, so she didn't mind me counting out my nickels on the counter :)
Comment by Amy — October 11, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
Our whole family collects our coins in a jar to use as spending money on our annual trip to Disneyland. It amazing how coins can add up!
Comment by ellen — October 11, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
That's crazy! I used to keep only pennies in a jar because I'm pretty good about using up my change (now I just toss my pennies whenever I see a tip jar)
Now I'm thinking I should re-think my change habits!
Comment by Vincci — October 11, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Hello,
Coinstar only takes 6% at my local supermarket I thought that was interesting.
Oh and yes counting out pennies is always very satisfying. They really do add up.
Comment by starry — October 12, 2008 @ 8:33 am
I also find coin-rolling to be a relaxing activity (once or twice a year) and LOVE how quickly things add up with "just a little spare change."
Comment by Kaylen — October 12, 2008 @ 11:53 am
LIke Katie E, i was once a bank teller. Absolutely check with your bank first... and if they take unrolled coin be nice and sort through it for junk first! And don't get upset when they won't take Canadian coins...
But yeah, if you have a rainy/snowy sunday with not much else to do- rolling/sorting coins while watching a movie is a good way to spend it :)
Comment by missy — October 12, 2008 @ 7:56 pm
I have a magic Coinstar across the street...My penny jars paid for more than half of the last Harry Potter book...many many moons ago, we used to roll pennies and use them like cash for stuff like gas...but then, gas was like, less than 1.50/gal
I tend to only do pennies because I use up the silver coinage where I can...especially in the vending machines at work and the Pepsi machine in the laundry room
Comment by phillygirl64 — October 13, 2008 @ 7:02 am
Loved this post. Two comments: I always start out just counting, but, ever since I was a little kid, end up wasting hours separating by dates, counting by kind, etc. We save all of our State quarters in our five-year-old's Disney fund. We manage to save about $150/year. I figure we'll be resting comfortably in a penthouse by the time we actually get to go. When I count his quarters (our bank does this for us for free BTW, I'm just into it), I look for a PA quarter that I heard they stamped incorrectly. If spun on its NS axis both side face up. It's supposed to be valuable! LIke probably $5 or something, but I still search diligently.
Comment by Christi — October 13, 2008 @ 7:27 am
If I am feeling ambitious, I take my pile of change to the post office and stuff it all in the machine, and get as many stamps as I can. That is one of the few vending machines that accepts pennies.
Comment by Maria — October 13, 2008 @ 8:54 am
The bank down here won't even let us roll coins anymore! They make you bring in the loose coins to run through the machine, but they also charge you a fee. Smaller than coinstar, but still, isn't that their job? It's a bummer :(.
Comment by Tara Diane — October 13, 2008 @ 4:17 pm
I love how you documented each item -- what a hoot. I'm surprised you don't have a paperclip in with your coins. That's my most common find.
I used to get tips in change (coffeehouse tips) and I would usually toss all of it into a very large container when I got home from work. This was my vacation money. I usually had $300 - 500 by not even trying to save.
Comment by Kristin — October 13, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
I have so much change in boxes and jars around my house that I really need to take them to a coinstar.
Comment by emielli — October 14, 2008 @ 5:14 am
After you count your change, your hands smell like pennies.
Not a good thing.
Comment by Kelley CSmith — October 14, 2008 @ 10:42 am
I am a coin hoarder and i've done this for a few years. I keep two jars - one for pennies and one for silver coins. The pennies seems to add up a lot quicker than anything else, and rather than rolling them, i take a huge jug of pennies to the coinstar. Never get more than 30 bucks for a large amount. I roll all the silvers and marvel at how much money is potentially lost between couch cushions.
Comment by powlita — October 16, 2008 @ 9:06 am
I used coinstar to get an amazon.com certificate (avoiding the fee) which covered the extra batteries/etc I got with my digital camera, so I consider that practical :)
Comment by thursday — October 16, 2008 @ 10:37 am
If you happen to be located next to a casino (we have several Native American casinos nearby), they will happily exchange your coins for bills (of course hoping that you spend it there).
My boyfriend and I have identical coin jars and as soon as one is full, we take them to the casino and cash them in. The person who gets the most cash gets to buy dinner.
Comment by SimplySara — October 17, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Lots of people find loose change in their sofas. Not many find a sofa in their loose change! ;D Excellent!
Comment by Lisa — October 20, 2008 @ 12:32 pm