Sep 4, 2024 - News

Minnesota: Where banks will still count your coins

Kyle Stokes

Illustration of pennies stacked to form a question mark shape — Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios

Minnesota is apparently unique for more than just "gray duck" and our electors' spurning of Ronald Reagan: An unusual number of banks here will still count spare change for free.

That's one nugget from a New York Times Magazine story this weekend.

The big picture: The Times story is about the costly absurdity of the U.S. Mint continuing to produce pennies. Most of them flow from merchants to consumers' spare change jars, never to recirculate again.

Unless they're counted and converted into handier currency.

Zoom in: Many banks no longer offer automated coin-counting. In most states, they use Coinstar, a private company that charges a fee for the service.

Fun fact: Minnesota is an exception, according to the Times.

Execs described Minnesota as "'historically a bad state' for Coinstar" where "a disproportionate number of Minnesotan bank locations still handle coins for free," the magazine reported.

Zoom in: Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank — which has the largest share of the Twin Cities market — does offer coin-counters at a "vast majority" of Minnesota branches, assistant VP Caitlin Hurley told Axios.

Wells Fargo — which has the second-largest share — pulled its coin-counters nationwide in 2017.

The intrigue: Coinstar is no fan of the penny, either. The coins take up space in its machines and bring little return.

Go deeper: Read the New York Times Magazine's story

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Minnesota: Where banks will still count your coins

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