Not All Change Comes From Within: Quarters Under Quarantine
March 28, 2020 3:39 PM Subscribe
I need to do laundry. How can I get quarters without leaving my apartment?
The machines at our apartment are easy to use without encountering other people. But we do need to pay for it and we're running low on quarters. There isn't a change machine in the building. While going to a bank to get quarters may qualify as essential travel, we don't really want to risk it. Is there a way to get quarters delivered?
The machines at our apartment are easy to use without encountering other people. But we do need to pay for it and we're running low on quarters. There isn't a change machine in the building. While going to a bank to get quarters may qualify as essential travel, we don't really want to risk it. Is there a way to get quarters delivered?
Banks are still open, right? I would go and stock up on $25 worth of quarters, thru the drive thru if possible.
posted by tafetta, darling! at 3:46 PM on March 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by tafetta, darling! at 3:46 PM on March 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
A bank is going to be your best bet; once upon a time there was actually a startup that did this ($27 for twenty bucks worth of quarters on a subscription basis), but they collapsed years ago.
posted by aramaic at 3:49 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by aramaic at 3:49 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for the advice. Banks are open near us, but we're avoiding going out at all right now, including the grocery store. Is there a way to get quarters without leaving our apartment complex?
posted by Garm at 4:03 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by Garm at 4:03 PM on March 28, 2020
Is there a car wash nearby? They almost always have quarter machines.
posted by mezzanayne at 4:04 PM on March 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by mezzanayne at 4:04 PM on March 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
Best answer: Can you ask the building management to trade cash for quarters? Essentially you have a possibility of a closed system. You put quarters in and the mgmt takes them out and you buy them back again.
posted by countrymod at 4:13 PM on March 28, 2020 [14 favorites]
posted by countrymod at 4:13 PM on March 28, 2020 [14 favorites]
Do you have a friend, maybe someone who’s an essential employee and is having to go out to work right now, that you could send money and have them porch drop quarters for you? And you could sanitize the quarters before you use them?
posted by joycehealy at 4:15 PM on March 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by joycehealy at 4:15 PM on March 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
Where are you? Maybe someone here lives nearby and could bring you quarters. Mention here and/or post in MeFi Jobs?
posted by neroli at 4:30 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by neroli at 4:30 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
I was going to suggest something like what countrymod said, except ask your manager if you can use something like Venmo to prepay for quarters, which they would then remove from the machine and drop in your mailslot.
posted by oxisos at 4:41 PM on March 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by oxisos at 4:41 PM on March 28, 2020 [3 favorites]
I guess it depends on how big your building is etc. but we just got the coin box keys from the building manager and are going to swap cash for quarters for the duration and send the cash to the building acct ourselves. Or maybe write a check, now that I think about it, that would make more sense. Of course that involves interacting with all the neighbors, so we'll have to devise a system to do that with minimal contact...
posted by little cow make small moo at 4:57 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by little cow make small moo at 4:57 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I will be watching this thread avidly as I am about 7 loads away from no quarters myself.
I'm in Los Angeles in a small building; my neighboring small apart building laundry machines are capable of running via app. You download some app and put in a credit card # and then can start the machine. I've asked my landlord to look into this system (and am going to contact again and ask about some sort of system of the kinds others have pointed out here). I'm also considering asking the neighbors if I can use their machine if it gets dire.
posted by holyrood at 5:45 PM on March 28, 2020
I'm in Los Angeles in a small building; my neighboring small apart building laundry machines are capable of running via app. You download some app and put in a credit card # and then can start the machine. I've asked my landlord to look into this system (and am going to contact again and ask about some sort of system of the kinds others have pointed out here). I'm also considering asking the neighbors if I can use their machine if it gets dire.
posted by holyrood at 5:45 PM on March 28, 2020
Do you know on what day they collect the quarters from the washing machines? Could you buy quarters from the person who does that?
No offense, but I don't think it would be particularly ethical to use the car wash as a means of getting quarters for the washing machines. That really wouldn't be fair to the owner of the car wash business.
posted by SageTrail at 5:55 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
No offense, but I don't think it would be particularly ethical to use the car wash as a means of getting quarters for the washing machines. That really wouldn't be fair to the owner of the car wash business.
posted by SageTrail at 5:55 PM on March 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I would consider travel to a location of business that is still permitted to be open to conduct a transaction that is necessary for maintaining household cleanliness to be essential travel. If the fear is of the risk of being arrested or fined for violating essential travel rules rather than one of either contracting or spreading the disease or other inability to travel, you should contact your local government for clarification, but I'd be extremely surprised if they thought it was a problem.
posted by Aleyn at 6:12 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by Aleyn at 6:12 PM on March 28, 2020
In my old apartment complex, there was a soda machine that charged $1.25, but if you put in a dollar bill and then pushed the coin return button, it would give you your dollar back in quarters. Any chance there is a soda or vending machine near you? You could use hand sanitizer after touching buttons on the machine and on the quarters afterward.
posted by shortyJBot at 6:19 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by shortyJBot at 6:19 PM on March 28, 2020
In a pinch, you can wash underwear/undershirts/socks in the sink, and re-wear other clothes that are worn over them. You can order a drying rack through Amazon or from Wal-Mart/Target (I recommend the metal ones like this). Bonus: free humidifier in the winter.
posted by amtho at 6:52 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by amtho at 6:52 PM on March 28, 2020
Best answer: My initial thought was, "Get in your car, go through the bank drive-through, and get $10 or $20 in quarters. Wear rubber gloves while taking them out of the pneumatic tube, but them in a sealable container you've brought for this purpose, and 'launder' your money when you get home before using."
I don't consider being in your car as "leaving home" for hygiene purposes as long as you don't get out of the car and don't physically come in contact with anyone, and legally, though I don't know the rules in your state, acquiring money is considered essential by the experts I've consulted this week.
I'd written this and was about to hit send when I remembered that not everyone drives. But honestly, this seems MUCH safer than any of the other options. I'm afraid I've got no clue what to suggest for someone without a car and all other options require less hygienic interactions. I have multiple contacts working in banks, and they are being extremely vigilant with regard to hygiene. (I'd trust something handed to me from a grownup at the bank much more so than a teen at a restaurant drive-through, but YMMV.)
(And not only would the soda pop machine seem to be less hygienic, but it strikes me as unfair to the people who need beverages for them to not be able to get change owed to them.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 7:14 PM on March 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
I don't consider being in your car as "leaving home" for hygiene purposes as long as you don't get out of the car and don't physically come in contact with anyone, and legally, though I don't know the rules in your state, acquiring money is considered essential by the experts I've consulted this week.
I'd written this and was about to hit send when I remembered that not everyone drives. But honestly, this seems MUCH safer than any of the other options. I'm afraid I've got no clue what to suggest for someone without a car and all other options require less hygienic interactions. I have multiple contacts working in banks, and they are being extremely vigilant with regard to hygiene. (I'd trust something handed to me from a grownup at the bank much more so than a teen at a restaurant drive-through, but YMMV.)
(And not only would the soda pop machine seem to be less hygienic, but it strikes me as unfair to the people who need beverages for them to not be able to get change owed to them.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 7:14 PM on March 28, 2020 [4 favorites]
It's not cheap, but you can buy coins from the US Mint. Look for the circulating America the Beautiful Quarters Program rolls and bags. It's $34.95 for $25 worth of quarters, plus shipping (next day is available at a premium).
See, e.g., the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park 2019 Rolls and Bags.
posted by SpringAquifer at 7:38 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
See, e.g., the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park 2019 Rolls and Bags.
posted by SpringAquifer at 7:38 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
Doesn't directly answer your question but if you haven't already asked the building manager to turn off the meters because it's really hard to get quarters? The worst thing that can happen is they say no. Maybe your other neighbors also ask.
posted by bleep at 7:50 PM on March 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
posted by bleep at 7:50 PM on March 28, 2020 [6 favorites]
I'd contact the building management and see if you could buy coins from them. Not all buildings handle laundry in house, many places contract the machines out and it will be a third party doing the collecting but it couldn't hurt to ask. You could e-transfer/ write them a cheque and then they could put the quartrers in your mailbox.
If building is using slide mechs you can't really turn them off.
For information sake: Coins don't rust. Toss any quarters you get into a sock, squirt in some dish soap and then agitate the sock in a few inches of water in the kitchen sink. Then run water into the sock until it runs clear. You can then dump them out on a towel to dry. I used to do this every week after making rounds collecting coins from machines.
posted by Mitheral at 8:13 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
If building is using slide mechs you can't really turn them off.
For information sake: Coins don't rust. Toss any quarters you get into a sock, squirt in some dish soap and then agitate the sock in a few inches of water in the kitchen sink. Then run water into the sock until it runs clear. You can then dump them out on a towel to dry. I used to do this every week after making rounds collecting coins from machines.
posted by Mitheral at 8:13 PM on March 28, 2020 [2 favorites]
If you can find a building with many vending machines, they often have change machines.
posted by H21 at 9:10 PM on March 28, 2020
posted by H21 at 9:10 PM on March 28, 2020
Are you discussing this with your neighbors? In my building, someone sometimes leaves a stack of six quarters - the amount we pay for each load - on one of the machines. I've used them sometimes and replaced them sometimes.
This could be a good time to start taping notes near the mailboxes with your email addresses - maybe you could develop a barter community.
posted by bendy at 10:19 PM on March 28, 2020
This could be a good time to start taping notes near the mailboxes with your email addresses - maybe you could develop a barter community.
posted by bendy at 10:19 PM on March 28, 2020
Definitely check with your building management on the status of getting the quarters out of the machine. If there is someone outside of the building coming in to do it you want to know, and if they stop coming in the slot in the machine that stores the quarters will become full and it will stop accepting money.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:19 AM on March 29, 2020
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:19 AM on March 29, 2020
You could wash your clothes in your sink or bathtub, like people do when they're travelling.
posted by at at 11:35 AM on March 29, 2020
posted by at at 11:35 AM on March 29, 2020
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posted by pinochiette at 3:45 PM on March 28, 2020