Mike Snider
Daniel de Visé
USA
Americans are holding an estimated $60-$90 in coins per household.
While some rare pennies are valuable, most are worth only a few cents.
Consumers can exchange coins for cash at banks, credit unions, or Coinstar kiosks.
Learn to love your coins.
That’s the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets.
American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all.
President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.)
Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash.
Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins.
To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power.
Most of us don’t realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise.
“People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,” McColly said. “It’s a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.”
USA
Americans are holding an estimated $60-$90 in coins per household.
While some rare pennies are valuable, most are worth only a few cents.
Consumers can exchange coins for cash at banks, credit unions, or Coinstar kiosks.
Learn to love your coins.
That’s the message from Kevin McColly, CEO of Coinstar, the company behind those coin-cashing machines you see in supermarkets.
American consumers made only 16% of their payments in cash in 2023, according to the Federal Reserve. A 2022 Pew survey found that two-fifths of consumers never use cash at all.
President Donald Trump has ordered the Treasury to stop minting pennies because their production cost exceeds their value. (Intriguingly, the same is true of nickels.)
Many Americans regard both nickels and pennies as more nuisance than currency. The typical household is sitting on $60 to $90 in neglected coins, enough to fill one or two pint-size beer mugs, according to the Federal Reserve. Americans throw away millions of dollars in coins every year, literally treating them like trash.
Why do we treat coins like trash? McColly thinks we should change the way we think about coins.
To state the obvious, coins are worth money. Coinstar converts $3 billion in coins into spendable cash every year, one coin jar at a time. The average jar yields $58 in buying power.
Most of us don’t realize how much our coins are worth. Thus, a trip to a coin-exchange kiosk (or a bank, or credit union) can yield a pleasant surprise.
“People underestimate the value of their jar by about half,” McColly said. “It’s a wonderfully pleasurable experience. People have this sensation of found money.”
