This was more than just a passing irritation. After interviewing 1,500 strangers outside San Francisco grocery stores in 1989 and 1990, Molbak became convinced that he wasn't the only one bottling up change at home. The first sorters debuted in San Francisco in 1994. No one, including Molbak and the folks at the U.S. Mint, really knows the size of the market for Coinstar's services. One explanation, proposes James Epps, a coin analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, is that children who feed piggy banks tend to become coin-hoarding adults.
Many people stockpile pennies because they are more trouble to carry and spend than they are worth.
And banks, which don't like to bother with coins either, make it tough or impossible for consumers to exchange them. Even if Molbak is right about the size of America's hoard, it remains unclear whether his machines can generate enough volume to support a consistently profitable business. He foresees big profits, though he won't say whether he has collected any yet. Meanwhile, competitors are encroaching. Cash Technologies has put 24 CoinBanks in Los Angeles bank branches, and plans to install hundreds more.