My boyfriend has a huge flower vase full of coins. We regularly dump our change into it and fish out change we need for the Metro or the vending machine at work.
While my boyfriend was away on a business trip last month, I got it into my head that I didn’t want to lug this big vase to our new house, so I wanted to be sneaky and deposit it into my account and give him the money. But it turns out, that wasn’t going to happen.
1. I’m not good at being dishonest. – I told boyfriend that I didn’t want to move the vase because it was heavy. I told him I would take it to the bank, and if the fee was too high, I would take it to a Coinstar machine for an Amazon gift certificate.
2. Banks suck. – I tried going to Chevy Chase Bank because years ago, I had a post that they did free coin counting. Well, not anymore. It’s a flat $3.00 for amounts under $100.00, or 7% of anything over $100.00. My own bank happened be across the parking lot, so I waddled over there with the vase and they politely told me that they only take rolled coins. (Suddenly I was overcome with the urge to short all the rolls and deposit them.) But I digress. I walked out.
3. Coinstar was my last resort. – I went to the supermarket, which had a machine. (Where I had just been 20 minutes before, buying kitty litter before the banks opened.) I tossed in all the coins, and it took about 10 minutes for it to count the coins. Apparently I was feeding them in too fast. Once I was done, I walked away with a eGift Card for Amazon.com as originally planned.
I’ll be running a guessing game giveaway starting tomorrow. Please enter for a $5 Starbucks card. (There’s a story behind that too.) You’ll be guessing how much money was in the vase.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll go with $38.00. I just have a hunch about that number!
Hold your horses there Rachelle.
I will post the contest tomorrow with clues about the size of the jar, etc.
I’ve always told myself if my current bank doesn’t take my change, I will instantly close my account and leave.
It’s a silly concept to me that a bank won’t take money to deposit into an account. I realize why they don’t want it, but that doesn’t mean I have to do business with them.
As for the amount in your jar? I’m guess 102.07.
Man Mapgirl, these people really want to guess!
I dont mind watching a movie on a late sunday afternoon and rolling my change.
there is a video on You Tube where a guy tried to get his car out of lockup by paying the tow company 88 dollars in pennies. Eventually the cops were involved but to make a long story short, Federal law mandated that they accepted the pennies as pennies are legal tender.
You have to post a picture of the vase!!
My guess is that a credit union would have done it for free.
No picture and you can posts your guesses again today now that the official notice has gone up.
I collect coins myself. I usually fill up several quart size containers before heading off to the bank. Luckily my parent’s bank still accepts unrolled coins. They only do it on one day a week but they are cool. It is a local community bank and they recognize a need when they see it. I know of several people who have opened accounts there as teenagers because they accepted their coins.
And man do coins weigh a TON!!
I used to dump coins at Commerce Bank, where it was not only free but if you guessed within a dollar the amount you were dumping, you’d win a prize—a piggy bank shaped like a ‘C.’ Which held approximately $55 to $60 worth of coins, so every time I’d go back to dump the coins, I’d win… another piggy bank! Whee!
I’m pretty sure it’s still free at TD Bank (fomerly Commerce Bank), I have an account there and haven’t seen any changes since the take over except for the red to green.
Our Coinjar has been filling up much more slowly over this past year…..this recession sure is tough to deal with…..My guess is $92.48
Thanks for your blog!