topic Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately? in Community Chat

Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

gidgetgh — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:24:47 GMT

I've used them for years and always choose the gift card option because it's fee free. Most recently I went probably two months or so ago and did this.

I went this morning and the options were cash, for a 10% fee, or donate to charity. Gift cards are no longer an option. I brought my container of change home. I'm going to call my bank and see if they offer this service.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

proudlyfromNJ — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:29:42 GMT

We had a hard time finding a bank that has this. Husband won't use any one of them that has a fee. Like Coinstar. He finally joined a bank that has this free service, just for this.

Turned out out to be TD Bank that had faulty machines. Supposedly they are replacing them.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Plaid Pants2 — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:30:36 GMT

At my bank, I have to bring in the coins already rolled and in the wrappers, to be deposited in to my account.

There is no machine that I can dump my coins in to for $.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

bri20 — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:31:28 GMT

My bank offers this service for free for customers.

If you are a non-customer, there is a small fee - maybe 5%?

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Say Nay — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:42:52 GMT

I put them in rolls myself then take them to my bank. I wouldn't pay a fee just to have their machine sort coins.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

MaggieMack — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:44:08 GMT

I have never used Coinstar. The two bank chains that I use both have coin counting machines so I always use them. I typically have a pretty good idea of how much money I'm hauling in. Neither of these banks want rolled coins. If you bring rolls in, they just open them, guess they don't trust the rollers!

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Say Nay — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:47:33 GMT

@MaggieMack wrote:
I have never used Coinstar. The two bank chains that I use both have coin counting machines so I always use them. I typically have a pretty good idea of how much money I'm hauling in. Neither of these banks want rolled coins. If you bring rolls in, they just open them, guess they don't trust the rollers!

That's interesting. I never had any issues with my bank or my credit union accepting pre-rolled coins.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

missy1 — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 13:48:48 GMT

Yes. Not everyone has a bank that accepts rolled coins, or has one of those machines.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Financialgrl — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:11:40 GMT

My Credit Union has free use of a machine like Coinstar. You enter an account number and the amount gets deposited into your account and spits out a receipt. If you want cash, you then must use your debit card to access it at the ATM.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

SydneyH — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:16:45 GMT

My bank has one in all of it's branches, customers can use them for free.......

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

deepwaterdotter — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:27:15 GMT

Kiosks at different locations offer different redemption offers. If you go to the Coinstar website, you can find a listing of locations and the services offered at each kiosk.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Ladybug724 — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 14:58:48 GMT

@proudlyfromNJ wrote:
We had a hard time finding a bank that has this. Husband won't use any one of them that has a fee. Like Coinstar. He finally joined a bank that has this free service, just for this.

Turned out out to be TD Bank that had faulty machines. Supposedly they are replacing them.

What is a TD bank?

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

proudlyfromNJ — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:04:41 GMT

It's the name of a bank. Stands for Toronto Dominion. Had to google that. It goes by TD.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Deb1010yetagain — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:11:43 GMT

They did an investiigative report last week on the TODAY show and found the coinstar machines to be highly inaccurate. The testers deposited exactly $300 worth of coins and the machines were off by as little as a few pennies to a whopping $53. TD bank was featured and said they were going to take the machines offline whiile they fixed them.

http://www.today.com/money/coin-counting-machines-may-be-shortchanging-you-t84226

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

Say Nay — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 17:03:04 GMT

@Deb1010yetagain wrote:
They did an investiigative report last week on the TODAY show and found the coinstar machines to be highly inaccurate. The testers deposited exactly $300 worth of coins and the machines were off by as little as a few pennies to a whopping $53. TD bank was featured and said they were going to take the machines offline whiile they fixed them.

http://www.today.com/money/coin-counting-machines-may-be-shortchanging-you-t84226

It isn't the Coinstar machines. It's the machines in the banks that were inaccurate.

Snip from the article:

"...Though the Coinstar machines delivered accurate counts, several bank machines shortchanged the Rossen team by various amounts.

Edgar Dworsky, editor of Consumer World, said he was "shocked" at the result from coin machines at the banks: "If you are a penny off paying your mortgage, they are going to slap you with a late fine. And here they are giving you less for your money? Not right."..."

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

gidgetgh — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 19:38:57 GMT

I went on their website and found a kiosk at a credit union near us that still offers the gift cards. We went by there this morning and I converted my coins to an Amazon gift card- no fees. We aren't customers at that credit union.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

SahmIam — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:18:13 GMT

My local Walmart, Giant and Food Lion all have Coinstar and all offer a wide variety of gift cards.

I took a big jar of coins in last night and received a Sephora GC as my choice.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

gidgetgh — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 22:40:32 GMT

@SahmIam wrote:
My local Walmart, Giant and Food Lion all have Coinstar and all offer a wide variety of gift cards.

I took a big jar of coins in last night and received a Sephora GC as my choice.

@SahmIam- our Kroger and Walmart stores did, but now, their Coinstar machines offer cash or charity donation only. In our area, there was a Kroger that was pretty far from us and LGE credit unions that still had Coinstar machines that still offer gift cards. I guess they made a change.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

SahmIam — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:34:33 GMT

@gidgetgh I wonder why? I guess they wanted to keep more of the $$$ for themselves.

Re: Has anyone used Coinstar lately?

DJs mom — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 15:26:23 GMT

@The Monkey on My Back wrote:
@Deb1010yetagain wrote:
They did an investiigative report last week on the TODAY show and found the coinstar machines to be highly inaccurate. The testers deposited exactly $300 worth of coins and the machines were off by as little as a few pennies to a whopping $53. TD bank was featured and said they were going to take the machines offline whiile they fixed them.

http://www.today.com/money/coin-counting-machines-may-be-shortchanging-you-t84226
It isn't the Coinstar machines. It's the machines in the banks that were inaccurate.

Snip from the article:

"...Though the Coinstar machines delivered accurate counts, several bank machines shortchanged the Rossen team by various amounts.

Edgar Dworsky, editor of Consumer World, said he was "shocked" at the result from coin machines at the banks: "If you are a penny off paying your mortgage, they are going to slap you with a late fine. And here they are giving you less for your money? Not right."..."

@Say Nay is correct. I saw the piece on the Today Show. The coinstar machines were accurate and the banks shortchanged.