Cool change: the classic rubber coin pouch
Ohio-made Coin pouches are part of Stay’s curated selection of U.S.-made household and gift items.
Ohio-made Coin pouches are part of Stay’s curated selection of U.S.-made household and gift items.
A young couple bought three coin pouches from Stay at Market on Chocolate in Hershey one Saturday this summer, one for each of three older children. I had the pleasure of handing each child a quarter to put in the pouches.
I don’t recall ever having owned one myself when I was young, but seeing and touching a classic rubber coin pouch always happily takes me back to more innocent times.
We introduced coin pouches earlier this year as part of our curated selection of U.S.-made household and gift items. We started with pouches labeled “Coffee Money,” “Pizza Money” and “Snacks,” then added “Taco Money,” “Book Money,” “Candy Money,” “Thrifting Money” and “Santa Money.”
For customers of a certain age, seeing the coin pouches brings back fond memories of owning one as a child or of a parent or grandparent who did. For today’s children, they are a curiosity that often needs to be explained to them (we are increasingly a cash- and coin-less economy, after all) but which they intuitively recognize as kinda cool.
How cool? Frank Sinatra, singer of “Three Coins in the Fountain,” is said to have always carried a Quikoin in his pocket.
Our kids each got coin pouches — green with white lettering on the front — years ago when we visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
The Quikoin-brand coin pouch originated only 20-some miles from the hall of fame, in Akron, Ohio, introduced in 1951 by family-owned Quikey Manufacturing, according to an article on Cleveland.com. The Promotional Products Association International named the Quikoin one of the top five promotional products of the 20th century.
Quikoin is sold through distributors. I assume the coin pouches Stay is selling are made by Quikey. We buy them from Three Potato Four, a husband-and-wife-led product and graphic design studio near Philadelphia. Stu Eli, one of the owners, told me earlier this year that they are made in Ohio. As I publish this, I have yet to confirm with Eli that the manufacturer is Quikey.
$3 worth of quarters and dimes
Mike Burns is the president of Quikey. His grandfather actually conceived of the coin pouch as a way to hold onto the two keys (one for the door, one for the ignition) that many vehicles required. The coin pouch holds approximately $3 worth of quarters and dimes, but some people use them for storing earrings, guitar picks, even condoms.
Restaurants, banks and other businesses used to hand out the coin pouches bearing their logos or a memorable message, the article noted. Not only does the coin pouch keep a company’s logo near at hand, but the logo won’t wear off because it is made with colorized rubber during production.
“When you hand it to a baby boomer,” Burns said, “they’ll smile and rub it or open it and smell it. Then they’ll tell you a story, like how their Uncle Jim had one stuffed with quarters and would hand them out to the kids. People relive these moments when they see a Quikoin. It’s an instant time-travel back.”