# How Much Pocket Change **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463 "2004-05-10T15:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/21 "2004-05-10T21:13:29Z")
I have a Tasters Choice coffee jar half-full of coins sitting on my dresser. It never seems to get past the halfway mark, because I raid it often. I hate breaking a $20 for a morning coffee, so I often pick out just enough dimes and nickels for the coffee and tip before I leave the house. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/22 "2004-05-10T21:49:01Z")
I wait tables. To most servers, change is not money. I leave for work with however much change I have, and over the course of the day, I either get rid of it (most of the time) or acquire more (rarely, but it happens). Either way, the amount of change I possess varies wildly from day to day, and thus it is useless to count it along with my other money. I’d save it, which is what I used to do before I worked in restaurants, but getting change from the bartender every day is a pain in the ass (and doesn’t make the bartender too happy, either). So really, the question is irrelevant for me. Which means I probably shouldn’t be answering it, but I am anyway. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/23 "2004-05-10T22:05:41Z")
I leave the house with no coins in my pockets. Whatever change I accumulate during the day winds up in two places: Quarters go in a dish by the door for laundry, and everything else goes into the piggy bank. Whenever Mr. Pig gets full, I’ll shake him empty and head for the Coinstar. The last time I counted and rolled coins, I was sick with the flu and had nothing better to do. Otherwise, by the time you invest your time and buy coin wrappers (or sweet-talk some out of a bank) you may as well pay the 8% for Coinstar. Ironically, I get free coin-counting service through work, but Step One would be to find a branch that still has a coin machine. There may be five ATMs in the cafeteria, but the last time I checked on counting, I would have had to get a “vault bag” and ship my coins to a regional service center. When I asked what happened to the coin machines at banks, I was told that most people were taking their coins to the grocery store, so gradually, the clanking beasts were phased out. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/24 "2004-05-10T22:13:34Z")
No fixed amount. I try to spend pennies when I can. The rest I throw in a huge coin bank in the shape of a Pepsi bottle that I got for 7 bucks or so a few years back. It is about half full. A good mix of silver and copper. I will probably give it to Mom. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/25 "2004-05-11T00:19:23Z")
Heh, all of my change is in my car… Pennies go in ashtray, silver into a little black holder, which resembles sonic change things… but smaller. If I go somewhere, I’ll sometimes grab that out of my car (It’s pocket sized… about that of a cell phone…) if I know I’m going to use cash. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/26 "2004-05-11T01:49:24Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > If I go somewhere, I’ll sometimes grab that out of my car (It’s pocket sized… about that of a cell phone…) Wow…and I thought my Ford Focus was small… What? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/27 "2004-05-11T11:15:42Z")
Well, silly, it’s a clown car! ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/28 "2004-05-11T13:57:31Z")
I leave the house with several pennies in my pocket. I try to dispose of them whenever I pay for purchases that don’t end in 0 or 5 in the cents; that way I only get back nickels, dimes and quarters. I keep everything except for pennies in a large Coca-Cola bottle-shaped bank. It can hold about $1,500 to $2,000 once it’s full, but it takes me about three years to fill it to the top. When I do this I empty it all out, sort it, count it, roll it and take it to the bank. The pennies go in a separate smaller jar from which I get my pennies to replenish the ones I carry around with me. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/29 "2004-05-11T15:41:46Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > Well, silly, it’s a clown car! The size of a _cell phone_?? Must be for a flea circus. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/30 "2004-05-11T15:44:12Z")
> [@Phnord Prephect](#): > > I used to have a roommate who was obsessed with loose change. I don’t know why, but he ALWAYS kept his change. He probably still has most of it… reminded me of a dragon, with his huge horde of coins… He could just go to his stash and pull out enormous amounts of rolled coin. Saw him do $180 for bills once, and it barely dented the stash! He would pay $180’ worth of bills in _coins??_ :eek: :eek: I have a coin sorter purse from [the Vermont Country Store](http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/) that works for me. I never hang on to change very long. I’m surprised by how many cashiers comment on it. And whatever happened to Sackies, our new dollar coin? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463/31 "2004-05-11T15:53:35Z")
> [@Skelji](#): > > Quarters go in this life-size plastic parking meter piggy bank I have. The pole part is a clear tube about 3" in diameter. I have no idea how much is in there, but there’s almost a foot of quarters. I’ll count it all when it fills up. I have one of these too. It’s the tall one on this page. [http://www.wonderfullywacky.com/bank-parkingmeter.htm](http://www.wonderfullywacky.com/bank-parkingmeter.htm) I put all of my change in it at the end of the day and leave the house with none except whatever’s left in my car. I’m trying to be good this time and not cash out the bank until it’s full to the top. Last time it was almost $300 about a third full. -Lil [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-pocket-change/244463.md?page=1)