Pennies are an oft-overlooked coin when it comes to currency.
Since they’re only worth a cent, they’re not widely used in exchanges except for making change.
For example, you don’t usually pay for food with only pennies.
However, you may find yourself in a situation where you need $100 worth of pennies.
If so, you may wonder how many pennies are in $100.
How Many Pennies Are In $100?
There are 10,000 pennies in $100.
You can break it down by first understanding that there are 100 pennies in each $1.
If you have 100 of those dollars, the math becomes 100 x 100 which equals 10,000.
The total weight of 10,000 pennies is around 55.1 pounds.
That’s quite a hefty amount of change to carry around.
How many pennies are in $100? #ushistory #trivia pic.twitter.com/cX22Nct0Yq
— Wyatt (@WyattEiden) April 14, 2022
Carrying a single $100 bill is a lot more feasible.
Why Would You Need $100 Worth Of Pennies?
If you happen to have 10,000 pennies around, you may wonder what you can do with that $100 worth of pennies.
Here are a few reasons why you might horde 10,000 pennies or $100 worth of pennies.
1. You’re Using Spare Change
Perhaps one of the most common reasons why you might have 10,000 pennies is that you collect spare change.
Whenever you make a purchase with cash, there’s a very good chance that you’re going to receive a few pennies along with your change.
Since pennies tend to be worthless on their own, you may choose to put them in a bowl or jar.
Over time, that jar might start to fill with pennies.
You can also find pennies dropped in parking lots, around coin machines, and in other public places.
If you pick up lost change, your jar only fills all the more.
After some time, you might find your jar full of pennies.
A particularly large jar might hold 10,000 or so pennies.
At that point, you have a sizable amount just waiting for you to use.
Although it can take some time to collect pennies into any amount worth using, it is possible if you keep saving them up in a jar.
You might have $100 worth of pennies by simply collecting change.
2. You Want To Convert Them Into Cash
You might also have $100 worth of pennies because you have the intention of converting them into cash.
Most people who collect pennies in a jar usually do so for this purpose.
Paying for something in pennies is a pain for both you and the cashier.
It’s a bit cruel as well since the cashier has to individually count each penny to ensure you gave the correct amount.
Meanwhile, everyone in the line behind you is probably hating your guts.
A much better solution is to convert your pennies into cash.
There are a few ways you can do this.
Some coin machines might accept pennies, but not all of them do.
If you find yourself in a situation where no major coin exchanges will accept your pennies, you’ll need to use some creativity.
You can split your pennies into $1, $5, or $10 amounts.
Then take those amounts to different businesses and stores in your area.
You can ask to exchange your pennies for the cash amount.
Some stores might help you, but others might refuse.
That’s because you’re going to end up giving them a lot of pennies.
The sheer amount of pennies can fill their registers and take up space.
However, you might find some stores that will take your pennies and give you their equivalent in its stead.
$1 worth of pennies, for example, isn’t too terrible.
That said, if you’re exchanging $1 worth of pennies until you reach your $100, you will need to go to 100 different stores.
You might be able to go to the same store on different days, but you don’t want to become a nuisance either.
Either way, you can convert your coins into cash to make it easier to buy things.
3. You’re Putting Them In The Bank
You can also take your $100 worth of pennies to the bank.
There are two choices you have when you take your pennies to the bank.
The first is to convert them into cash.
A bank is going to be a bit more willing to convert your coins into cash than a store.
For one, it’s part of their business services.
Second, they also tend to have more space to store pennies than a standard store.
Third, they also have cash on hand that they can use to convert your pennies into cash.
Another great thing you can do with your $100 worth of pennies at the bank is to invest them.
It may seem silly to use pennies to invest, but money is money.
If you have $100 worth of pennies, you can put that $100 to work.
You might want to put it into a savings account or a CD account or work with your bank to find an investing strategy that works for you.
$100 can be a decent buy-in for some stocks.
Your collection of pennies can be a way to help set up wealth for the future.
4. You’re Collecting Them
A final reason why you might have $100 worth of pennies lying around is that you’re a collector.
It’s strange to think that something worth one cent could have a greater value, but that’s where the art of collecting comes into play.
Some pennies can sell for several thousand dollars at an auction.
A few details like the color of the penny, its condition, and the particular trait that makes it collectible add to the value.
Typically, the older the penny is, the more valuable it is.
That’s largely because there are very few old pennies left in circulation.
Everyone is familiar with Lincoln’s face on the penny these days, but before Lincoln, a penny had the profile of a Native American on it.
Those pennies were common in the 1800s.
Certain types or mistakes on the penny can also make them valuable.
You might be looking for the next great penny to add to your collection.
An avid coin collector might have $100 worth of pennies.
If your pennies are particularly collectible, their actual worth may be even higher than that.
Why Don’t Vending Machines Allow Pennies?
When you want to buy something from a vending machine, you’ll quickly discover that they don’t accept pennies.
At most, they accept quarters.
Many new vending machines prefer to use a credit card or some other type of card to make a purchase.
Considering that vending machines used to be coin-only machines that offered snacks, you may wonder why they don’t accept pennies.
The problem has to do with the amount of space in a vending machine.
A vending machine only has so much space to store coins and cash.
When someone pays for something with pennies, they will be using a lot of pennies.
That’s because vending machine snacks cost anywhere from 0.50 cents to over $1.
A quarter can handle that easily, but you’re going to need a lot of pennies to make up the same value.
Vending machines just don’t have the space to hold all those pennies, so they only accept quarters or cards.
Conclusion
If you have 10,000 pennies lying around, you have $100 worth of pennies.
There are a few things you can do with those pennies based on your goals.
However, you can’t use them on vending machines.
