Coinstar

[ely.cop.rock]

Was thinking about turning loose change at the Coinstar machines because you can get amazon gift cards. Didn't know if anybody else has done this.

[Meeklo]

I use Coinstar all the time to exchange for bills. It looks to be the same process for an Amazon gift card. It probably spits out a reciept with a code on it that tells Amazon how much money it's good for. I don't know if the Coinstar machines charge for Amazon gift cards like the do for bills.

[Lord_Stewie]

I used Coinstar before. After you empty out your jar the machine should give you a receipt and charges you as well depending on how much money you have (based on a percentage that I am not sure about). However, I did find that its much beneficial to use your own bank to deposit the money (Because your bank doesn't charge for the service) but it is a painful process because you have to ask the bank for the coin wrappers (which are free) and having to count your coins accordingly to equal the amount needed for the wrapper (i.e 10 dollars for quarters, 5 dollars for dimes, 2 for nickels and .50 for pennies they do involve a lot of counting).

[Dexter Morgan]

I've used Coinstar on numerous occasions. The only take a cut if you want cash, so I've always gotten gift cards.

One thing to note is the every year for at least the past three years, they run a promotion around the holidays where if you change in $40 of coins and opt for a gift card, they give you an extra $10 gift card. It's all done through the mail, so it's not instantaneous, but hey I'll take free $10 AMZ gift cards any day.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Lord_Stewie

I used Coinstar before. After you empty out your jar the machine should give you a receipt and charges you as well depending on how much money you have (based on a percentage that I am not sure about). However, I did find that its much beneficial to use your own bank to deposit the money (Because your bank doesn't charge for the service) but it is a painful process because you have to ask the bank for the coin wrappers (which are free) and having to count your coins accordingly to equal the amount needed for the wrapper (i.e 10 dollars for quarters, 5 dollars for dimes, 2 for nickels and .50 for pennies they do involve a lot of counting).

Your bank makes you put your change in wrappers? Whenever I take in change to my bank (Wells Fargo) I can just bring it in a big bag and they will run it through their change counting machine. They don't charge me any fee either. I brought in over $150 worth of change last year on 3 occasions and they never had a problem with that.

[LeAnn]

My bank doesn't charge a fee either (Wachovia), but I did roll the coins myself. I have never just taken the loose change up there... hmm... it would surely save me some time.

I have looked at the coin machines, but I couldn't bring myself to actually pay a fee for it, so I would just go to the bank.

[fatediesel]

I would only use Coinstar if I was getting a gift card because there is no fee for those. It looks like they have some decent merchants including Amazon, Lowes, itunes, and many others, so if you were going to spend money with those merchants anyway it's not a bad deal. I would never get cash there though, as they charge a horrible 9.8% fee.

[ely.cop.rock]

Yeah figured the change would keep a constant blu ray fund going through Amazon. I just didn't know if it gave a receipt or an actual gift card.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Your bank makes you put your change in wrappers? Whenever I take in change to my bank (Wells Fargo) I can just bring it in a big bag and they will run it through their change counting machine. They don't charge me any fee either. I brought in over $150 worth of change last year on 3 occasions and they never had a problem with that.

My bank is Wachovia and its owned by Fargo. The last time I did a coin deposit they literally told me they won't take the change unless I put them in wrappers myself and bring it back for deposit. It such a pain. You are lucky.

[Steve]

Thanks to those of you who posted that there's no fee if you get a gift card. I wasn't aware of this. I though there was always a fee so I never used the machines. Now that I know I can get an Amazon GC this is what I'll start doing.

[Porkchop Express]

Originally Posted by Steve

Thanks to those of you who posted that there's no fee if you get a gift card. I wasn't aware of this. I though there was always a fee so I never used the machines. Now that I know I can get an Amazon GC this is what I'll start doing.

Same here. I always intentionally avoided them assuming there was a fee. This is good news

[torres546]

If you have a TD Bank or Bank of Smithtown around, they have a coin counting machine. Its awesome, you even get to play game where you guess how much changed you cashed in. If you guess correctly, you get an extra 2 dollars, no joke.

[Moefiz]

We have one in our local Metro Bank, no fees once you have an account with them but if I use the one at the local supermarket, they charge a percentage.

[ely.cop.rock]

Originally Posted by Lord_Stewie

My bank is Wachovia and its owned by Fargo. The last time I did a coin deposit they literally told me they won't take the change unless I put them in wrappers myself and bring it back for deposit. It such a pain. You are lucky.

Somebody at the bank was probably lazy and did not want to do their job. Idiots. Yeah will start cashing change in for gift cards and try and keep a positive account balance through amazon.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by ely.cop.rock

Somebody at the bank was probably lazy and did not want to do their job. Idiots. Yeah will start cashing change in for gift cards and try and keep a positive account balance through amazon.

I used about 2 different locations and they gave me the same instructions. Believe me when I say it wasn't fun wrapping up my coins accordingly.

[ely.cop.rock]

Still sucks, I know the Huntington's in the area you can just drop change off and they count in the big machine. Did you coinstar to turn some change in last night, they just provide a receipt with a gift card number. Pretty painless, will keep doing.

[silversnake]

I have an old watercooler jug that I put all my loose change in and when it gets too heavy to lift, I dump it all out and count it all by myself. It's tedious, it's long, but I don't lose anything by paying fees.

[ThaiTeaGal]

Originally Posted by Lord_Stewie

I used Coinstar before. After you empty out your jar the machine should give you a receipt and charges you as well depending on how much money you have (based on a percentage that I am not sure about). However, I did find that its much beneficial to use your own bank to deposit the money (Because your bank doesn't charge for the service) but it is a painful process because you have to ask the bank for the coin wrappers (which are free) and having to count your coins accordingly to equal the amount needed for the wrapper (i.e 10 dollars for quarters, 5 dollars for dimes, 2 for nickels and .50 for pennies they do involve a lot of counting).

Where do you bank at? A couple months ago my mom and I were wrapping all our coins to deposit in her savings account at One West Bank (formerly Indy Mac Bank) and the teller wouldn't accept our coins. She said that there's a limit of 4 rolls per visit. They charge beyond 4 rolls. My mom and I had over $225 worth of coins. After that day we went every week to deposit 4 rolls until every roll was deposited into her savings account. My mom told the teller that she was unaware that there was a limit of 4 free rolls per visit, and the teller told us that that's the standard policy at every bank in the U.S.

Hmm...I remembered in high school I used to deposit a lot of wrapped coins and the teller accepted everything without any charges. But a couple years ago I tried to deposit my wrapped coins at Bank of America and the teller said the same thing that there was a 4 roll limit. However, she said that this policy was only at all Bank of Americas and she wasn't sure if this was standard at all banks across the U.S.

[Lord_Stewie]

Originally Posted by irenecivic05

Where do you bank at? A couple months ago my mom and I were wrapping all our coins to deposit in her savings account at One West Bank (formerly Indy Mac Bank) and the teller wouldn't accept our coins. She said that there's a limit of 4 rolls per visit. They charge beyond 4 rolls. My mom and I had over $225 worth of coins. After that day we went every week to deposit 4 rolls until every roll was deposited into her savings account. My mom told the teller that she was unaware that there was a limit of 4 free rolls per visit, and the teller told us that that's the standard policy at every bank in the U.S.

Hmm...I remembered in high school I used to deposit a lot of wrapped coins and the teller accepted everything without any charges. But a couple years ago I tried to deposit my wrapped coins at Bank of America and the teller said the same thing that there was a 4 roll limit. However, she said that this policy was only at all Bank of Americas and she wasn't sure if this was standard at all banks across the U.S.

I bank at Wachovia. I am not aware of the 4 roll limit, as a matter of fact I just deposited around 160 dollars worth of coins in my account.

[ThaiTeaGal]

Originally Posted by Lord_Stewie

I bank at Wachovia. I am not aware of the 4 roll limit, as a matter of fact I just deposited around 160 dollars worth of coins in my account.

I don't have an account with Wachovia. Only Chase and Bank of America. Oh well, I don't deposit wrapped coins that often, so when I have a lot of wrapped coins again, I'll check out Wachovia or Wells Fargo then.

I tried Coinstar in the past, but I didn't like the fee they charged.