‘She counted it all by hand’: Penny-pincher cashes out $1000 of coins at the bank, depositing it handful after handful to avoid paying service fees, beating the bank at their own game

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Feb 2, 2025 11:00 PM EST

This dude was down on his luck financially but discovered a giant jug of loose change in his apartment. To make ends meet, he decided to cash it out at the bank, but they hid service fees up the yazoo that this man couldn't afford. Lucky for him, he had all the time in the world to maliciously comply. 

Remember those Coinstar coin-counting machines? When I was a kid, I was obsessed with them. My dad is a pay-in-cash kind of guy, yet was never one to get too attached to coins, so every day, he'd come home from work and empty the coins from his pocket into a bowl by the front door. Being the busy guy that he was, he would happily relinquish the bowl (and its monetary contents) to his kid daughter once it started getting too full—to save from the inconvenience. But for me, that bowl of coins was like a hidden treasure and I'd rush to the Coinstar and relish the clicking sound it made as it counted up my winnings. 

As a kid I never realized the machine takes a pretty big cut of the money as a 'service fee,' but the guy in this next story was well aware of the losses and could not afford a 10% fee. He needed every penny of his coin jar accounted for… Read on for the details of this penny-pinching malicious compliance that earned this hearty saver his money's worth. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10461432576
    via Olichel

    Perhaps the bank teller in this next story should have considered their opponent before challenging him with a $50 fee. Some of us need that $50—especially when we're cashing out coins to pay some bills. 

  • "My Bank Try to Rob Me of My Hard-Earned Money"

    Back in the early 2000s, I was collecting all my change in one of those big plastic water jugs (for water dispensers). I had it about 60% full and needed to cash them in to make ends meet, so I lugged this thing into my local bank. Now, I learned the hard way
    via Monsignor1979
  • prior to this, that the bank would not accept pre-rolled coins. They told me there was no way to verify that the rolls contained actual coins, and that they would have to rip everyone of them open to verify. After the explanation, it made sense. But, it
    via Monsignor1979
  • was kind of frustrating since I spent the money and time to roll all these coins up thinking I was helping them out. So, this time I kept them all loose in the jug. I also know they have one of those coin counting machines, because
    via Monsignor1979
  • I seen them use it the last time, and it made light work of all the coins they had unwrapped from the rolls. But, it been a few years since I last did this, so here I was waiting in line for the next available teller
    via Monsignor1979
  • with my jug of loose change (probably weighing 40-50 lbs worth). When my time came, I waddled the jug up to the base of the teller desk and told them I wanted to cash it in. This is when they told me that they charge something like a 10% fee to count
    via Monsignor1979
  • Cheezburger Image 10461437184
    via Fly View Productions

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • the change. I turned my head to the right where there was a small room and sure enough, that same coin counting machine was sitting in there. I said "You aren't counting it, you're just pouring it into that machine and it'll count it for you."
    via Monsignor1979
  • They simply replied "It's just our policy, sir" I then said "You're my bank, isn't that a service you're supposed to provide to me?"
    via Monsignor1979
  • And they said "We charge the same rate for everyone." So, I asked how much change they would take without charging me the fee, and they said "$50".
    via Monsignor1979
  • So, I knelt down, tipped the jug over, and poured as much of it into my hand as possible and put a couple handfuls worth onto the counter. Looking perturbed, she counted it all by hand and gave me maybe $22 and some change.
    via Monsignor1979
  • Cheezburger Image 10461437440
    via Alla Aramyan

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • I put it into my wallet, grabbed my jug, and dragged it to the back of the line behind two other customers. When it was my turn again, I waddled up there, knelt down and place a couple handfuls of coins on the high counter. When I
    via Monsignor1979
  • stood back up, you could tell she was pretty perturbed about what I was doing and eventually just gave in. She told me to bring the jug over to the swinging door at the end of the desk and with the help of another teller, they started pouring it into the coin machine.
    via Monsignor1979
  • I made the point to tell them that I knew almost to the cent how much was in there, so don't try to pull any fast ones on me. About ten minutes later, it had chewed through all the coins and the total came to within a few bucks of my
    via Monsignor1979
  • own count (might have had a handful of Canadian coins in there or some likely miscount due to worn coins). I remember it ended up be over $1,000 in pocket change but I can't recall the actual total.
    via Monsignor1979
  • But, that was the last time I saved coins. Nowadays, I hear most banks won't do this at all and will just refer you to those coin counting machines you see at hardware stores or Walmart that rob you of a large percentage of the total.
    via Monsignor1979
  • TL:DR My bank wanted to charge me 10% to cash in my large jug of loose change, so I attempted to cash it all in one handful at a time to avoid the charge until they finally gave in and counted it all for free.
    via Monsignor1979
  • Deep-Interest4807 I did a similar thing a while back to avoid the fees, the banks policy at that time was you could put up to 50 dollars thru there coin counting machine as long as you deposited in your account, once you hit 50 dollars it was 10% of the total. So i spent 2 weeks putting 49.99 a day through the machine until i got all my change through.
    via Deep-Interest4807
  • AutumnSunshiiine I use my coins in the self- checkouts at the supermarket. I save them up through the year and then spend them in January. No fees that way!
    via AutumnSunshiiine

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customer service bank relentless justice cash malicious compliance well played client cash only coins bank teller payback funny money cash out
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