New World Record Penny Cash-in

FLOMATON, Ala. - June 22, 2005
Coinstar, Inc. customer, Edmond Knowles, today broke the world’s record for the largest ever personal penny collection with a cash-in of 1,308,459 pennies (or $13,084.59) at Escambia County Bank’s Coinstar machine in Flomaton, Alabama.

The pennies, which Knowles stored in four 55-gallon and three 20-gallon oil barrels in his garage, weighed more than 4.5 tons. The collection set a new world record as well as broke Coinstar’s existing record for the most pennies cashed-in by a customer. The previous Coinstar record was 1,048,013 pennies (or $10,480.13) set in November 2004 in Barberton, Ohio.

Knowles started his collection because he appreciated the value of a penny. “It takes pennies to make money. They’re worth something or they wouldn’t make them,” he said. But after 38 years, he’s tired of Lincoln heads. “No, I don’t ever want to see another penny… perhaps I’ll collect a few dimes.”

Sixty-two-year-old Edmond Knowles began collecting pennies in 1967, shortly after he got married and began a family. Initially, he started adding pennies to a small jug from his wages as an employee at Flomaton’s local gas station. After he bought the station in 1986, he stepped up his effort by buying the pennies generated by the store’s business each day. Pennies from Ed’s Service Station and life-long contributions from family/friends turned a glass jug into a five-gallon can, then into several 55-gallon drums. Now, after 38 years, he views his penny collection as a retirement fund to supplement his social security.

When his wife suggested he should cash them in while he was still able, they realized it would take some time and effort. His local bank, Escambia County Bank, was coincidentally in the process of installing a Coinstar machine, which was provided through Financial Supermarkets, Inc., Coinstar’s marketing partner for financial institutions. Coinstar, Inc., the leader in self-service coin counting, has more than 12,000 kiosks and its patented technology makes the service reliable and easy to use. Coinstar machines count up to 600 coins per minute, saving consumers the time and effort of sorting and rolling their accumulated coins.

”The Coinstar machine is a great service and allows us to provide our customers with a simple way to cash in their coins,” said Jim McCutchin, vice president and cashier, Escambia County Bank. “In Edmond’s case let’s just say our tellers are breathing a sigh of relief that we got the Coinstar machine installed instead of having to count all that change by hand.”

Knowles plans to use the new found wealth for retirement, home repairs and emergency medical expenses.

Coinstar estimates there is more than $10.5 billion in loose change sitting idle in American homes. To date, Coinstar has helped consumers in more than 290 million transactions convert their loose change into more than $10 billion in spendable cash.