Best thing to do with huge bottle of 1 and 2p coins? 10 November 2022 at 4:23PM in Savings & investments 65 replies 9.8K views

EarthBoy

elsien said:

Bridlington1 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Most (all?) banks will have coin-counting machines - but only for use by the staff, not usually the public.  Check with the bank first, but usually they'll accept coins if you bank with them.  Sort them out so you've a bag of 1p's, a bag of 2p's etc. and take them to the bank.  They can just weigh them and know how much is in there.  Actually, you may not even need to separate them, depending on whether the bank has a coin-sorter or just a weighing scale.

Like I say, phone up to check beforehand, but usually your own bank will accept them.

Quite a few banks have limits to the number of bags of coins you can deposit each day (usually 5 or 6 I've found) so I would avoid the hassle of bagging the coins up if I were you. Just find a bank with a coin counting machine and pour the whole lot into it.

No, do it a bit at a time. If you pour the whole lot in and overload the machine It has a hissy fit, spits all the coins back out again and then closes down  leaving you to scoop all the coins back into a bag and take them home again.
My NatWest branch you can only use the coin machines for paying in if you have an account there. So the OP need to check with their own and their Nan’s bank to see what facilities they have. Then potentially take them in over a few sessions.

That's exactly what I've found at my city centre HSBC. If you put too many coins in at once the machine clogs up and stops working. Even if you put them in more slowly the machine can only accept a limited amount and once it gets full a member of staff has to come and change the bag in the back of the machine which collects the coins. 

If you're taking a really large quantity of coins, then you should expect it to be rather a slow process. 

Apodemus

Similar problem, but I have a bottle and a half of old sixpences.  What on earth does one do with these?

elsien

Apodemus said:

Similar problem, but I have a bottle and a half of old sixpences.  What on earth does one do with these?

This time of year flogging them to go in home-made Christmas pudding sounds like a fairly safe bet.

eskbanker

Apodemus said:

Similar problem, but I have a bottle and a half of old sixpences.  What on earth does one do with these?

EBay?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115593728547

MX5huggy

Check each one before 1946 they were half actual silver and before 1920 solid silver. 

I dropped a carrier bag of copper coins in a local charity shop they seemed grateful, there’s hardly a bank open round here never mind one with a coin sorter. 

baser999

Simply for the convenience I’d use the machine in the local supermarket - does after all have a car park which the local bank might not. 

Appreciate they charge a commission but it’s not much surely?

alibean121

I’ve always loved piggy banks and bottles of coins since I was a child. Always been fine tipping them into the HSBC coin machine. As you’ve been told, pour them gently a bit at a time, let the machine whir and process before you tip more, if it starts spitting out every coin then stop and give it a rest. I’ve never had to take coins back home with me when trying to use it. Just be gentle and patient. You might want to decant some into Tupperware or carrier bags or something for your back if nothing else!

diystarter7

Why not give them to a charity shop, ask nan if she wants to do that. It'll be a feel-good factor for all and a few quid for the person that buys it and money to a good cause.
(saves the time/trouble and goes to a good cause)
Or give them to a school/etc to raffle off and they will make hundreds for a worth cause.

Millyonare

Use a coin machine at a big hypermarket, such as Coinstar at Asda. There are search engines with locations.

Guess = £70.

Bobblehat

frugalmacdugal said:

Albermarle said:

frugalmacdugal said:

annabanana82 said:

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

don't just walk into a bank with the bottle to use a coin counter and expect coins to flow out of it, the neck will get clogged up and need a poke now and again with a screwdriver or something.

Don't expect to get £100s from it.

Will we start a 'Guess the amount?'

My guess £68.72.

I have a similar sounding bottle filled with 20p's. It's almost full and currently has around £500 so my guess is £103.18

Hi,

that sounds good, be ready for Christmas.

1s and 2s don't really amount to much, but throwing in 5s and 20s fairly bumps it up, some bottles'll take 10s aswell.

As this is a Savings forum, I am obliged to point out, that cash savings with no interest are currently being decimated by inflation 

Hi,

maybe the 'interest' came from seeing the 'giant' bottle fill up.

Maybe the "interest" came from emptying the bottle in the first place!