Rolling my own ...

[Football_Bat]

Coins, that is. 8)

I have a buttload of quarters in a 5-gallon bottle and another buttload in a big pasta pot. About eight years' worth of savings. I have no idea how much money that is.

I looked at the Coinstar at the local supermarket and it's a ripoff — 8.9 percent — or will give me a gift card for the full amount redeemable at a partner store. My batting average on gift cards is over the Mendoza line, but not by much. My bank (the godless BofA I evidently owe my soul to) will roll them and deposit them in my account for free, but will charge me to keep the rolls.

I'd just as soon roll them myself if it weren't so much trouble. Do they sell DIY rolling machines?

 

[KG]

They do sell DIY machines, but that would really eat into your savings. Here are a couple of cheaper alternatives.

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1121

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1123

 

[JackReacher]

Take a picture. Post it here. See whose guess is the closest.

Winner gets half.

 

[Football_Bat]

Take a picture. Post it here. See whose guess is the closest.

Winner gets half.

Loser gets the other half. A real win-win. ;D

 

[mustangj17]

My credit union offers a free coinstar. There may be one in your neck of the woods that does the same.

 

[dooley_womack1]

The Fabulous Poodles just got their first royalty check in 14 years and don't know why.

 

[Football_Bat]

The Fabulous Poodles just got their first royalty check in 14 years and don't know why.

Good stuff. A happier Joy Division for sure.

 

[Buck]

My bank (the godless BofA I evidently owe my soul to) will roll them and deposit them in my account for free, but will charge me to keep the rolls.

Why would you want to keep the rolls? Just take the coins to the bank and deposit them. Let them worry about it.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

BoA charges for counting change!?! Man, I'm glad I'm with a locally-owned bank. They do that for free if you've got an account.

 

[User 1019]

They do sell DIY machines, but that would really eat into your savings. Here are a couple of cheaper alternatives.

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1121

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1123

Damn. I had no idea those coin tubes were $16!

If that's the case, I'd just count the **** by hand.

 

[playthrough]

BoA charges for counting change!?! Man, I'm glad I'm with a locally-owned bank. They do that for free if you've got an account.

Hell yes. Not counting change for free is big-bank absurdity.

Whenever I see someone using a Coinstar machine at a grocery store I want to scream. What a racket.

 

[Buck]

The bank will roll the coins for free. You just have to deposit them.
It's free. You deposit the coins, you withdraw usable money.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

They do sell DIY machines, but that would really eat into your savings. Here are a couple of cheaper alternatives.

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1121

http://www.banksupplies.com/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/38_1052_347/products_id/1123

Please. Those DIY machines don't cost too much at Big#Mart, end up paying for themselves and are much easier to deal with than those things. Just take a handful of coins, put 'em in the top and let the sorter put the coin in tube wrappers.

 

[I Digress]

I always count and roll my own. I like it, although the pennies suck.

 

[spnited]

Commerce Bank (Now TDNorth) has a free coin counting machine.
Dump it all in, get a receipt for the full amount, take it to the teller, get cash.

And you don't need an account there to use it.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

As somebody who has never rolled coins, what's to stop you from shorting the roll a coin or two? Does the bank weigh it or something?

 

[ArnoldBabar]

F_B, if it helps, my dad filled a giant wine keg with coins once. If I am remembering right, I think the jar was 10 or 12 gallons, and the take was about $3,000.

 

[Buck]

As somebody who has never rolled coins, what's to stop you from shorting the roll a coin or two? Does the bank weigh it or something?

I was teller when I was a youngster, right before and right after college.
The branch at which I worked did not have a coin machine. We excepted rolled coins from customers, but the customer's account number had to be on every roll.
The teller opens a roll from a customer and it's short, he/she takes the difference from the customer's account.

 

[I Digress]

As somebody who has never rolled coins, what's to stop you from shorting the roll a coin or two? Does the bank weigh it or something?

Yep, account number on roll...I always check to make sure they lengths match when I'm done... you know, that all the quarter ones match and so forth.. I take great delight in sticking Canadian money in them.

 

[Football_Bat]

I would still prefer to physically possess the quarters, rather than put them in the bank, which I could easily do — well, not that easily, considering I have gallons of them.

I will have pictures up soon and, thanks to Ryan Sonner's idea, the contest will commence.