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Coinstar

November 8th, 2006 at 05:43 pm

You've probably seen these machines already in some local supermarket- mean, green, coin counting machines. I watched
Coinstar in action once when a friend emptied out his big tin of coins. His reward was a cash voucher good for use at only at that same supermarket. I also noticed a 10% commission fee, which I felt was pretty hefty. It has been brought to my attention now that Coinstar offers other payout options, some of which do NOT take a commission fee. The goodies include gift cards to Starbucks, Borders or Waldenbooks, itunes; or "ecertificates" to amazon.com (and other retailers that I'm forgetting). I am debating between getting a Starbucks card (a personal indulgence reward) or the amazon.com reward that will be useful for Christmas shopping. Hmmm....

Overall, I feel Coinstar has made the right move in the right direction. Instead of being just a conduit for those who are too lazy to count up loose change in their piggy banks (and ending up costing you some money to boot) you now get a useful counting service that reimburses you 100% for all those pennies and nickels (and quarters/dimes) that you so faithfully saved in the jar.

Posted in Savings | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Coinstar”

  1. Broken Arrow Says:
    November 8th, 2006 at 05:57 pm 1163008651
    1163008651

    That sounds great, although I am still personally boycotting CoinStar. Not that I have anything against their business, but it still seems like a good way to lose money in general. Gift cards will still force you to spend somehow, but yeah, anything is better than that ridiculous 10% comission.

    Of course, since I use mostly plastic, it isn't hard for me to proclaim such bold words. Stick Out Tongue

  2. jersey jen Says:
    November 8th, 2006 at 06:05 pm 1163009141
    1163009141

    yeah, i like the new
    Text is CoinStar and Link is coinstar.com
    CoinStar machines. either way, you don't get your full cash value back.

    i converted my coins to
    Text is Amazon.com and Link is
    Amazon.com e-certificate back in July, it also happened that i was getting something from there.

  3. all4money Says:
    November 8th, 2006 at 06:32 pm 1163010771
    1163010771

    I love my credit union! They just put in a change counting machine similar to coinstar but I get full credit for no charge at all. Once I dump all the coins in, I get a printed receipt for the full value and then I just take that to the teller and make a deposit into any of my accounts. Maybe a bank or credit union near you have the same feature?

  4. Bookie Says:
    November 8th, 2006 at 10:44 pm 1163025890
    1163025890

    I count and roll my own change. The credit union has never questioned it as part of my regular savings deposits.

    On the other hand, I am available to count and roll change for those who need the service -- for a mere 10% of the total.

    Smile

  5. Amber Says:
    November 9th, 2006 at 02:49 am 1163040586
    1163040586

    I never used those things, when I worked part-time at Albertson's people used that machine constantly paying the 9.75% (at that time) but we actually provided them with the cash, however I take my change to my bank who charge zero for this service

  6. paigu Says:
    November 9th, 2006 at 03:06 pm 1163084795
    1163084795

    I have Bank of America and the last time I brought in change for them to count, they *kindly* told me to count and roll my own coins....wasn't very happy but that is consistent with the level of service they usually provide me =(

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