I have a bucket full of pennies.
I recently weighed the bucket, both full and empty. And then I weighed 100 US pennies on a postage scale. I think I have about $270.
I'm looking for good ideas for converting all the pennies to bills? I have
these ideas from BankRate.com.
I live in southeastern PA, a local bank that has no charge coin counting in the lobby is TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank). I've seen and also heard their lobby machines break down frequently. And that's just with some kids (and adults) dumping in a coffee-can full of coins. Not 5 gallons of coins.
The 152 pound bucket -- this is the weight when full -- would be unwieldy to carry into a branch, I'd realistically need a hand cart. And I suppose I'd draw the line at having to do that. So I'm looking for good alternatives.
Being a cheap skape, I want to avoid all transaction costs associated with this, i.e., no Coinstar, no 2% conversion fees as the bankrate write up mentions, and no paying a fee for the bank to sort and wrap. As a retail customer, how do I easily convert 150 pounds of pennies to clean, crisp, easy to fold bills?
It's maybe wishful thinking on my part, ... there is a federal mint and a federal reserve bank in center city Philadelphia. Do either of these institutions have a program to take in large amounts of pennies like I have? Or do large banks have some means other than lobby coin counting machines to handle something like this?
Any good ideas appreciated!