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David Bowie reference aside, perhaps you too, as a way of sticking it to the man for subjecting you to the indoors on a gorgeous day, start coming up with inane ideas, looking for good Family Guy quotes online, and doing other pointless things. Essentially, anything to make the time go faster and to avoid the work you really need to be doing.
I've been staring at this pile of pennies that has managed to grow quite large over the past few months. I'd like their net worth of $4 to be in paper form, so I thought about those TV ads for Chevy Chase Bank that advertise their Change Express coin change machines. Because am I really going to use these labor-intensive paper coin rolls to cash in? Nope.
A little research showed that D.C. Metblogs beat us to the punch a few months back. Though Wayan recounted a good experience with the machine and graciously mentioned cookies and Powerball, he didn't note where any of the machines were located. And according to a Chevy Chase representative, they aren't located in every branch. So we thought we'd pull up a few addresses for you. Make use of this fine summer day that you're having to spend inside a cubical: round up all your change, and zip off to one of these Chevy Chase branches around the city in the near future. The Chevy Chase hours aren't all that splendid, but the service is free for both customers and non-customers, and your wallet will thank you.
1800 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-463-1470
Fax: 202-463-1473
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6 / SAT Closed
1700 K Street
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-296-7601
Fax: 202-296-7604
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6
925 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-408-1657
Fax: 202-408-1662
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6
1717 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-467-4188
Fax: 202-467-4684
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6
901 New York Avenue
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-289-7924
Fax: 202-289-7927
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6
3519 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, DC 20008
Phone: 202-537-2273
Fax: 202-537-2276
Lobby Hours: M-F 9-7 / SAT 9-4
650 F Street
Washington, DC 20004
Lobby Hours: M-F 8-6
For other locations, visit Chevy Chase Bank's website, check the "Change Express (branch only)" option in their Mapquest-powered locator and type in your info; they'll give you the search results for a lovely Change Express machine near you.
Photo from www.chevychasebank.com. We love you, CCB.
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i use commerce bank on conn ave at S st. it's open 7 days, and even if you are not a member (i'm not) they do FREE (no charge, no hassle, nothing) coin exchange. pour you money into the machine, it sorts it, prints out a reciept and you bring it to the teller who give you cash. good times. neat fun.
The machines can be hit or miss, though. A couple of months ago, I decided to haul a huge chunk of change (very heavy) to a CCB coin counter. It was broken. I was then sent to another branch in the neighborhood -- broken. And again. And again. I'd recommend calling before hauling.
I took my change to the Chevy Chase in Cleveland Park a few months ago. The machine was on the fritz, but eventually it worked out. The bank employees were very helpful. Certainly beats forking over a percentage to the Coinstar folks.
Back when I was living in Memphis the Kroger grocery chain had these machines installed, but added a clever twist. If you opted for the cash they kept a small percentage (I think 5%) as a service fee. Or you could choose a 'Kroger food voucher' that if you used it that day on a purchase of groceries that cost more than the voucher there was no service fee. Pretty cool idea I thought because I always chose the voucher.
The only draw back to their machines was the noise they made. It sounded like a car being chewed up in a garbage disposal.
TC
They may be hit-or-miss, but it is usually miss. I'd say these are broken about 75% of the time I try to use one. It is a total pain in the ass, because you have to cart around a big bag of change multiple times before you discover one that actually functions.
Here's a much better way to get rid of those unsightly piles of spare change:
http://makingchangeforkatrina.org/Home
The Sun Trust (former Riggs branch) at the corner of 20th and Penn NW also has a free coin machine. I've used it a few times and have never seen it out of service.
Yeah, you guys are way behind on this. My college buddies and I have been doing this for months. Great excuse to go out for a meal.
In the Shoppers in College Park they have one of these aesthetically pleasing ones. The company is based in Rockville so mabye it has a chance at invading the district.
Also the PNC on the north side of Penn between 19th and 20th. I went to my local PNC and the guy redirected me to that one. Works like a charm, if you're lucky enough to hit a location with a working machine.
CoinStar machines are usually the grocery store ones. Had those back home and they do take a fee if you get cash as opposed to a voucher for the store.
My credit union in Columbia, SC a few years ago had a machine that did the same thing for free but for account holders only.
See, I'd rather use Coinstar for iTunes or Amazon giftcards. (They don't take a cut if you use the giftcard option.)
Kudos to Chevy Chase Bank for these machines. It almost makes up for the annoying Ben Franklin TV ads, with the horrible Ben Franklin actor.
Although whenever I've gone into the branch on Farragut Sq., I'm usually harangued into opening an account. The rest of them seem to leave me alone.
Watch out for the one at 17th and K. They try to give you a HARD SELL on their accounts if you're not a member of CCB.
Nicole, thanks for the shout-out! CCB does ask if you are an account holder (I am not) but I've not found them to give a hard sell or have broken machines. Of course I only go to the McPherson Square branch so my survey is quite limited.
As others noted, both Commerce Bank and PNC offer coin changing for free to non-account holders. Several area grocery stores have fee-changers who take 5-10% of the coinage if you elect for cash.
Can you tell I hate change and yet somehow collect way too much of it? Please, will we ditch the penny already?!