Let's play 'Guess how much?'

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I decided it was time to clean out the various containers in which I collect loose change and turn it in for spending money at GenCon. It's been three years since I last did this. I have no idea how much its worth, but I thought it might be fun to guess and see how close anyone comes.

Here's all the info I can provide:

* On my bathroom scale, which measures to the tenth of a pound, the total weight is 18.8 pounds (roughly 8528 grams). That includes the weight of 1 plastic two liter bottle and 1 plastic 1 liter bottle.

* To avoid jamming the counting machine, I went through and removed anything that wasn't a coin. There are no screws, nails, keys, or other foreign items in the mix.

* The containers are filled entirely with American pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. There may be the odd Canadian quarter in there, but I didn't see any. There are no dollar coins.

* I use my debit card to operate the laundry machines, but I do occasionally supplement that with quarters taken from the change jars. I do not buy a newspaper in the morning, or have any other habits I can think of that would skew the distribution of coins.

So, how much am I going to be able to spend on beer at GenCon?

 

[Jdvn1]

So, how much am I going to be able to spend on beer at GenCon?

Not enough.

Another round for everyone!

 

[Jamdin]

$21.42

 

[Thunderfoot]

Taking into account mass versus weight, I would hypothesize that you have fewer dimes than pennies and more nickles than dime... I would also theorize that you have more qurters than nickles, but few quarters than pennies.

At a weight of 18.8 pounds I would guys in the neighborhood of $43. Mostly becuase of the weight versus mass argument. Pennies may be plentiful, but they don't weigh enough, nickles are more dense than dimes and dimes take up less mass, quarters are by far the densest, heaviest, largest and more costly coinage. Of course if you have a few half-dollars it might skew things, but I doubt you could fit those in an unaltered soda bottle.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

None, because you dont drink beer?

 

[Dioltach]

In Europe we now have coins of 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 euro and 2 euros. This means that if you keep all your change in your wallet, you have a lump in your back pocket that's so big you can't sit down. So about a fortnight after the euro was introduced, I decided that it wasn't worth it and just started throwing my loose change in a bowl and then taking it to the bank after 6 months or a year. The first time I had almost 200 euros, the second time a bit less. Then my wife's brother had a baby, and I decided that I'd put all my coins in a piggy bank and give it to him on his birthday. Again, it came to almost 200 euros. I started again after that, and promised my wife she could have the change at the end of the year, but after six months the piggy bank was full: almost 350 euros.

The moral of the story: those fiddly little coins all add up. You might be richer than you thought.

 

[GlassJaw]

At a weight of 18.8 pounds I would guys in the neighborhood of $43.

No way. It will be way more than that. I wouldn't be surprised if it went over $100. I use the Coin Star machine every few months or so and routinely drop in $20-$40 worth and I don't have anywhere near 18 lbs. That's even with the Coin Star fee.

Coin Star is fun too.

 

[Jdvn1]

$214

 

[LightPhoenix]

My guess would be around $115.

 

[Jdvn1]

The moral of the story: those fiddly little coins all add up. You might be richer than you thought.

I do the same thing, except I keep and spend 50 cent pieces and bigger.