Coin Banks / Fun(d) Raisers

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These can be used to collect ballots, coins, and/or bills. The are secure because you must destroy the can to get the valuables out, so you'll know when the bank has been raided.

And they're reusable. When it's time to collect, just unscrew the plastic cover and re-install it in a new can. [You can sign the old can with a permanent marker to detect unauthorized substitutions.]

These are special for a number of reasons:     

  •     First, they attract attention.

  •     Second, because they look like a vending machine slot, they trigger all those pleasurable unconscious associations you got from candy bars and video game machines and sodas.

  •     Third, the cans and logos are attractive.

  •     Fourth, they're waterproof, stain resistant, and wrinkle resistant, so they stay looking nice for a long time.

  •     Fifth, they're subtle. A soda can is a fairly natural thing to be holding in your hand. If you're fundraising, they seem more like a suggestion than a demand.

We don't manufacture these yet, but you can make a generic one by using the slider against the upper ledge of the sleeve to put a slot into the side of your can like this:

Demo Video

You can use rivets to lock-in the slot cover.

This Youtube video shows how a $0.03 rivet is installed, using a $15 rivet gun.

If you haven't made a can lid that's unopened, then you can get by with just riveting on a used can lid, after removing the lid, like this.

The blue lid version is made by opening the top using a can opener, procuring a plastic lid, and cutting a slot in the top.

A long coinbank can be made by: (i) pricking airholes in the bottom of one or both cans with a pushpin, (ii) opening the top of the inner can with a can opener, (iii) removing the top of the outer can with the Aluminator, (iv) shoving them firmly but carefully together until you meet strong resistance, and (v) making a slot in the cans' side while using the Aluminator to brace them and guide the slotting.

When making the side-slot for the long coinbank, be sure to make the slot a few millimeters below the upper rim of the inner can. If not, there will be insufficient internal bracing, and you'll bend the can walls.

This also makes a handy swear jar.