from my vast experience, i would venture a guess at about $30-40 in nickels and dimes (if i remember the size of that jug accurately). then again, i'd try harder if there was a prize for the closest guess ;)

love how irving is just sitting there. peering over the counter.

you should by nickel and dime..oh nevermind.

and i think it's commerce bank.

btw, irving just called me to let me know that he has already dumped the jug and counted while you were at work, so i'm disqualified (from the contest that doesn't exist).

but he asked that other readers call him and he'll arrange a deal with the highest bidder to split the prize (from the contest that doesn't exist).

also, he doesn't want a new litter box - he wants a pair of binoculars to better check out neighborhood.

hmm, where is there a commerce bank? the only one i have seen is on the UWS.

who said this was a contest? this is friendly blogger help! hmmph. contest. if you guess right you get the joy of being a good guestimator.

in regard to irving: the poor boy spent most of yesterday looking more bewildered that usual, wondering where that loud 6lb piece of fur was. i couldn't quite figure out if he was edgy or content, but then again, he's always like that.

there is a commerce bank off the F train Ft. Hamilton Stop, where we live. It is on the circle on the bottom of the park where Prospect Park SW meets up with the entrance to Ocean and the beginning of Coney Island Ave. There is an entrance to that F stop about two blocks away.

http://bank.commerceonline.com/information/branch_locations/index.cfm is a list of Commerce locations. I'd watch out, though... the little girl who guides you through the process of dumping your coins into the machine seems a lot like the spawn of the devil to me. My guess is $54.

Coinstar. It's all about Coinstar. A ten-minute trip to the local Stop & Shop and I'm five to ten dollars richer each month. This is especially handy before the paycheck is deposited.

don't you need to pay to use the coinstar? i'm not sure if i've seen one of those in brooklyn. i'll have to look.

of course, i could be lazy abd just wait for the commerce bank in park slope to open (2005!).

i think irving is on his way to the store to buy cat treats right now.

The Coinstar just automatically sucks out 10% or something, but it is soooo worth it if you don't have to schlep your jar very far.

Actually, I was about to call it a "jug," then realized that it was possible that this is a southern term. We Mississippians would never refer to that receptacle as a "jar."

Totally changing the subject: what do you call the thing you put your groceries in and push around at the store? I have recently learned that my term is hideously southern.

either that or he decided to just steal my quarters and is en route to vegas.

hmmm...i have a jug. i thought jugs had handles, while a jar doesn't? i have a beer jug that used to hold my change, but it was really big and it took to long to fill and, well, i need immediate satisfaction.

we call it a shopping cart, i think. though it's rare you actually get a shopping cart/basket in nyc-- the lanes are too narrow. usually you get stuck with a little basket that you carry. unless you're a little old woman, in which case you have a granny cart that you own and your soul purpose in life is to run over people's feet.

It is a buggy here. I do not know why. A friend from St Louis came to visit me, and at Target as we were checking out, this man said, "Can I have your buggy?" My friend said, "No, but you can have my shopping cart." This went back and forth for a bit.

O regional variations! How I love thee.

I feel like there is coin machine in the C-town on 9th street. Or there used to be...

there is a commerce bank on 14th st and 5th ave. not too bad from your office and or the f.

I thought the whole point of saving change was so you could buy a big glass gallon jug o' wine and not feel like a cheap wino bastard? Pshaw with your measly apple juice jar. (Don't jars have wide mouths?)

a buggy? hmm. maybe i'll use that term when next i purchase some pop [that was sarcasm].

ey! just b/c it's your birthday today miss cynthia, doesn't mean that you can diss my apple juice jar. hmmph. it's big enought o hold a nice 10 or so lbs of change but small enough to fill in several months, which means that my self esteem is a bit higher. and we all need that sometimes.

happy birthday!

Irving is too funny! Would you carry your pop in a bag or a sack?

hmm...i'm going to guess lower than anyone else and say it's about $25. But...can't really tell how big that jar is!

I've never heard of a buggy... only shopping carts. I thought that buggies were those old VW Beetles -- Punch Buggies, we used to call them.

Commerce Bank takes none of your money away, so I'd say it's worth it to go there rather than a Coinstar machine.

Personally, I keep my change in a pickle jar... I think apple juice comes in a bottle, although that could be a jug. I don't know. I don't think you'd be wrong to call it a jug.

My friend Rachel dumped her very large jug of quarters, etc at the Coinstar at the Key Food on 5th and Sterling. Had enough in there to buy a Nikon D70 body. Feel free to hate her.

I took 3 years worth of change to the bank last year. It was $990.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Hmm... no pennys, eh? I'm going with $37.35.

$28.15
do i win anything if i get it right?

Final count: $54

holy cow! i blame the bush administration for all these conservative estimates.