coinstar

shanks82 · January 25, 2004 3:25AM

What is with coinstar? how much do they charge you and has anyone had a good experience?

XpipedreamR · January 25, 2004 3:31AM

It's around 9%, a total ripoff.

jeffnpcb · January 25, 2004 3:32AM

Check with your local bank on accepting change first. Avoid sending quarters through CoinStar! No machines in our area, but all the major bank branches accept and handle it for you. They just don't like to tell people that information on a volunteer basis!

nwcs · January 25, 2004 3:32AM

I think it's closer to 8% here. But it's a decent cut. It's convenient if you have a lot of loose change you don't want to wrap, roll, or figure out how to spend.

AmericanSilverEagleCoins · January 25, 2004 3:35AM

I put over $400 a few weeks back. No way was I going to hand roll those suckers. Cost me about $35. My bank just opened a coinstar type machine free for account holders, 5% for non-account holders. I will be able to get my coins cashed for free.

Baley · January 25, 2004 3:36AM

I love the coinstar at my grocery store for my coffee can of cents and nickels, with a few dimes.
Dump em in, print ticket, spend ticket at checkout counter like cash.

the 7.5% they charge me for their service is well worth skipping the trouble of counting and rolling the coins. Plus I "seed" the coinstar with a few Indians, Buffalos, to "give back to the hobby" and let someone have the excitement of finding something unusual in their change.

Of course, I also don't mind the fee Paypal charges for their service, either. My time is valuable, they save me inconvenience and trouble and I happily pay the fee.

I understand that some people don't want to pay for these services, and that is their right also.

DaveG · January 25, 2004 3:37AM

I don't use the CoinStar machines myself, although some folks like them for their cents, where the 8% charge makes sense when compared to the time spent wrapping them.

I love it that other people use them, though. I see many more older coins in circulation (silver, too!) than I used too.

jdimmick · January 25, 2004 3:38AM

It was 8% here locally last I knew. The Food Lion store where I buy groceries is flooded with people turning in coins. The store will not accept large bulks of coins, and inform the public that they have to use the machine. I refuse to use it, If I have a bunch of change, then I turn it in at the bank.

However, The Food Lion I shop at is also centrally located to say the disadvantaged group of folks as well, and I think they use it becuase they frankly dont have bank accounts, and its the only way to turn in large amounts of change. Same thing for the check cashing centers, they thrive in areas for the same reason.

CarlWohlforth · January 25, 2004 3:46AM

We have gotten very fast at rolling coins. It may make sense to use the machines for cents. However I could never do that. I do have an extra half hour to spend rolling coins once every few months. We have to earn over $1.30 in order to save $1 because of taxes (even more to spend a dollar because of sales tax). So I always say a dollar saved is $1.30 earned.

XpipedreamR · January 25, 2004 3:55AM

From the Coinstar website...

<< <i>Coinstar charges an 8.9% processing fee in the United States, a 9.8% processing fee in Canada, and a 7.5% processing fee in the U.K. For our United States customers, this means you'll pay approximately 9 cents for every dollar of coins counted. Our customers tell us they are willing to pay a small service charge for the convenience and time-savings of not having to sort, count, roll and haul their coins to the bank. >>

pontiacinf · January 25, 2004 4:17AM

i just go behind idots and take all the change rejected...gotten 6.35 in silver so far

wallstreetman · January 25, 2004 4:32AM

I use it for everything but Quarters on up.

Blade · January 25, 2004 4:51AM

Everyone here should try their bank. All I need to do is bring in the change in a bag. They put it in a bank bag, include my account info, seal it with a plastic locking strip and send it to their central processing facility for counting. No service charge and I end up with access to the funds in 5-7 days. Coinstar maybe for cents, but this is just as convenient without the fees.

shanks82 · January 25, 2004 4:52AM

what do you mean coin star rejects coins?

BAJJERFAN · January 25, 2004 4:53AM

AFAIK we don't even have them here. I would think twice about accumulating large amounts of change if I had to pay nearly 10 cents for every dollar. As long as my bank accepts them I will deposit my little mini hoards.

Next time you go to your bank get $100 in $1 bills. Go to the bathroom and start counting and throw every 10th one in the crapper and flush it cuz thats what yer doing when you use Coinstar.

Thats wut I tell my kids when they pay $18 ISF fee at the bank cuz they can't keep their checkbook balanced. Go withdraw $18 and flush it down the terlet cuz thats wut you got for your money.

Also when I take my change to the bank it is counted and deposited on the spot. I guess there is something good to be said for living 50 years behind the times.

Striker · January 25, 2004 5:58AM

Shanks82-Those Coinstar machine will sometimes reject coins that are slightly bent or have other things wrong with them that makes the machine not recognize them. I've used the machine once. I had over $200 (this was about 2 years ago) in change and the banks around here wouldn't take them unless they were wrapped, though the do now. There were about a dozen or so coins that it rejected but accepted the second time I put them through with the execption of one bent cent.

flaminio · January 25, 2004 6:14AM

I don't think it's a ripoff -- time is money, and if your time rolling is worth 8.9%, it's a good deal for you. Many banks, including mine, don't have a coin counting machine and so for some it's a good resource.

Me, I take my coins to the casino. They love to take my money...

Shamika · January 25, 2004 7:11AM

I've used Coinstar for cents. I hate the way copper makes my fingers smell funny.

cladking · January 25, 2004 8:35AM

My bank accepts unrolled coin and takes only a few minutes to count it. There is no
charge. Most slug rejectors are set to exclude silver coins or wrong diameter, or wrong weight
coins. Each denomination coin has a unique electronic signature and those which differ are
excluded. Otherwise they'd get lots of counterfeits, slugs, and foreign coins.

Outhaul · January 25, 2004 8:49AM

Like I've stated before in these "Coinstar" related threads...It's a service like any other service and it is OPTIONAL. If you don't like it, don't use it...but don't knock it or the people who avail themselves to the service.

Everyone has his or her own reason for using this or any other "pay-for" service. I used to do quite a bit of traveling in and around London. I would hail a cab and off I'd go. A friend asked why I paid two-pounds for a taxi when it's only 20-pence to take the bus? I told him it was because I didn't want to wait for the bus and then STILL have to walk two-blocks to my destination. I paid for the convenience, it was worth it to me. Just as Coinstar is apparently worth something to someone or they wouldn't be in business.

Just my eversohumble opinion

Cheers,

Bob

mercurynut · January 25, 2004 9:30AM

Why drop your money in one of their machines when you can go to the bank and keep all of your money and not pay the fee.

windwhispersintrees · January 25, 2004 9:45AM

I've never seen a machine in Massachusetts, but then again, haven't been looking for one.
I don't accumulate change. I try to use coins when paying for things, instead of using a big paper bill and getting lots of coins back in change. If I have enough coins for a few rolls or more, I wrap 'em and deposit them at my local bank. I love those people...nothing like the service of a small local bank.

NoGvmnt · January 25, 2004 10:35AM

1. I live in Illinois, we have a tollway.

2. My bank will count it free of charge if I deposit it into my account.

3. That $9 you are paying coinstar to count your $100 in change could go for a lottery ticket that COULD MAKE YOU A MULTI-MILLIONAIR!!!

Jim

flaminio · January 25, 2004 10:55AM

<< <i>Why drop your money in one of their machines when you can go to the bank and keep all of your money and not pay the fee. >>

Because my bank doesn't have a coin counting machine? Because they don't accept deposits of coins unless they're rolled? Stop being so provincial -- TWIAVBP and different locations have different services.

BAJJERFAN · January 25, 2004 11:18AM

So do you have to write your name and number on the roll in case it comes up short? Or do they just take the loss? Seems like it would be easy to roll up a bunch of slugs or knockout tabs and pass them off as coins. Then again I can't picture why a bank would not have a counting machine.

flaminio · January 26, 2004 12:21AM

<< <i>So do you have to write your name and number on the roll in case it comes up short? Or do they just take the loss? Seems like it would be easy to roll up a bunch of slugs or knockout tabs and pass them off as coins. Then again I can't picture why a bank would not have a counting machine. >>

Last time I took a bunch of rolls to the bank -- and it was about ten years ago -- I did indeed have to write my name and my account number on every roll. Huge PITA. While my branch doesn't have a counting machine, there must be one somewhere because it did turn out that my count was not correct -- they added 25c to my account

.

As to why a bank wouldn't have a counting machine -- I don't know either. But at least out here in California, it does seem that few do. Maybe they're in cahoots with CoinStar? (There's some good conspiratorial fodder for you!)

nwcs · January 26, 2004 12:24AM

At my bank they still require name/account number on rolls. And they do not accept anything but rolls for deposit.

nwcs · January 26, 2004 12:25AM

>As to why a bank wouldn't have a counting machine --

I'm sure they all do, but whether they use it for this purpose or not is another matter.

BAJJERFAN · January 26, 2004 1:01AM

I just talked with a coworker whose wife worked at a bank and when a customer brought in rolls of coins they were required to break them open and run them thru a counting machine LOL. Go figger!

For me I would just quit accumulating change.

coinstar

Comments

Leave a Comment