Now that TD Bank won’t let non-customers use their Penny Arcade for free, I’ve had to go out and buy a whole bunch of coins wraps to take care of my coin jar. The process is oddly fun and meditative, and I got to wondering, how do you wrap your coins? There’s several techniques out there and mine is pretty basic.

First I pour out all my coins on the table. Then I grab the wrapper for the type of coin I want to wrap. I first start with quarters because they’re bigger and work my way down in size. As for the actual wrapping itself, I will make a bunch of little equal piles to add up to the amount that goes into the wrapper. For quarters, I make 4 stacks of 10, because the wrap holds $10. For pennies, I make 10 stacks of 5, etc.

Next I puff out the wrapper and place it vertically on top of the table. I start dropping in the little stacks, trying to get them to land flat. When they don’t, I drop more coins down, poke my finger down or jiggle it to get them to go flat. Once the wrapper is filled up, I slide it off the table surface and hold onto the bottom of it with my index finger so the coins don’t fall out. Then I lift the whole thing with both my index fingers and turn it horizontal. I pinch the ends of the wrappers once, then twice. Then I tap both ends on the table and squish it to make it all tight. Then it’s on to the next wrapper.

What’s your wrapping technique? Do you use any tools or counters or funnels? Sound off in the comments.

I do all my banking through USAA and they don’t have any physical branches, so I’m a little bit worried about cashing them in. I’m going to try some banks. I hope they won’t require me to be a customer in order to get change. If so, maybe the grocery store is interested in exchanging for a bunch of wrapped coins. As for Coinstar, I refuse to do it because paying someone to make change for me is just so wrong.

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