[DavidPeiffer]

My mom took change into her metro area bank last week because they were giving 10% over face value for change. She got an extra $9.

Nobody keeps change as an investment, but compared to interest rates the bank was offering on savings accounts, this was an incredible return. I'm curious if anybody with accounts at other banks tried withdrawing change to deposit in this bank?

[PacketPaul]

Yup. Father in-law had this quarter collection. For whatever reason he spent decades collections quarters from each of the states and had well over $500 worth of quarters. None of us wanted his quarters. He was able to sell them at 3 quarters per dollar, a 25% profit!

[WalterBright]

That's a 33% profit. Anyhow, considering inflation, he still lost money.

[rrobukef]

Most hobbies cost money and have almost zero return.

[bluGill]

Depending on the age their might have been more value to collectors. Some coins contain far more than face value worth of metal

[throwaway0a5e]

Anything new enough to be part of a "state quarters" collection isn't going to be old enough to have that much silver.

[ars]

As a percent it was a great return, but as an absolute number it's rather poor. How long did the whole process take her (including collecting the coins and getting to the bank)? Half an hour? Longer?

There's just not enough money in that to be worth it.

[DavidPeiffer]

For sure, it's not a business model by any means, really just a quirk of the times.

In this specific case, she had all the coins that accumulated over a year or so, and just took the big jar in on her errands. Probably added 10 minutes or so.

$9 isn't a big deal for her, but for someone who is unemployed with low earning potential, $9 (or milking the incentive structure) would mean a lot more.

[patmorgan23]

How much did she burn on transportation to turn in the coins