Man Cashes in 1.3 Million Pennies at Coinstar Machine for New World Record

June 23, 2005

This news item seemed quirky enough to take note of:

Alabama Man Sets New World Record Cash-In of Largest Penny Collection; More Than 1.3 Million Pennies Cashed In Using Coinstar Machine at Local Escambia County Bank

And I thought my uncles were weird!

Some�intriguing things about the story:

The guy collected these pennies for 38 years and had them stored in his garage in four 55-gallon drums and three 20-gallon oil barrels. They weighed more than 4.5 tons.

Coinstar says there is over $10.5 Billion in loose change sitting around people's homes in the U.S.

According to today's release, a Coinstar machine can count up to 600 coins per minute, and the story only mentions one machine at this guy's local bank in Flomaton, Alabama. I'm�wondering, did the guy stand at the machine for�36 hours�spilling in coins?

1,308,459 pennies is only $13,084.59. I guess if I saw $13,084.59 lying on the ground I would pick it up (unless it was all in pennies) -- but still, that doesn't sound like such a great payoff for all the hassle involved!

AB -- 6/23/05

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