If you've uncovered a small fortune in loose change under your couch cushions, Coinstar now gives you the option of exchanging your coins for electronic gift card vouchers for some of the most popular brands around. You just put your change in, select the gift card you want and the machine prints out a receipt with a unique code that you can use the same way you would a physical gift card.
Coinstar limits how much change you can swap out for a gift card so it pays to know what the limits are for each one. We've highlighted five of the most popular picks, along with the minimum and maximum limits for each one:.
Some banks offer free coin counter machines in their branches. If you're not a customer, you might have to pay a fee to have your coins counted.
Most banks will also ask you to roll the coins yourself. You can request free coin wrappers from the teller. Tip: The next time you're at the grocery store or cruising the aisles of Walmart, for instance, head to the self-checkout area and use your change to pay for your purchases.
If you're lucky enough to have a bank that offers a coin counting machine in its branches, you need to look at how the bank's fee compares to the one Coinstar is charging to see which is the better deal.
Coinstar also allows you to donate your loose change to charity, which is a great way to give back. Plus, the donations are tax deductible -- save the donation receipt for your tax records.
With Coinstar, the fact that it's convenient and you can write it off on your taxes are two pluses worth considering. Most banks provide free coin rollers to customers who want to deposit large amounts of change.
You'll still have to put in a little work to wrap the coins yourself, but it does eliminate the costly alternative of using Coinstar. When it comes to figuring out what to do with your change, be sure to factor in how long you think it would take you to roll those coins against the fees that Coinstar or your bank would charge.
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These offers do not represent all available deposit, investment, loan or credit products. Fortunately, there are other ways to avoid the Coinstar fee, or at the very least, reduce how much Coinstar takes.
Before you choose the gift card option, review the list of participating restaurants and retailers. Options are limited for Coinstar alternatives. Some banks have change counting machines, although fewer and fewer banks these days provide them. To avoid the Coinstar fee, there are two ways to cash your coins for free. First, you can sort and fill your own rolls of coins and take them to your bank to deposit or exchange for cash.
Visit your local branch first and ask them for the paper coin sleeves. Most banks will provide them for free, or you can buy them at an office supply store. The other option is to drive to one of the few banks that still have coin counting machines.
It might be worth the trip if you have a lot of change to roll. Most banks provide the machine to customers free of charge, but some charge a fee to nonbank customers. Compare that to the time and effort it will take you to sort your change and drop it into rolls or drive it to a bank with a counting machine. Coin machines have been relegated to smaller regional banks and credit unions. The following banks have coin-counting machines:. I had already precounted and rolled the coins prior to visiting the machines emptied the coins from the wrappers into a jar , so I knew the amount I had.
Not only did I have to pay the CoinStar fee when collecting my money, but neither CoinStar machine accurately counted my coins. Be careful out there. I work at a casino and have brought in large amounts of change to the cage to be converted to cash. Money is money, right? That could be an option for those who live by a casino. The closest one to me is 5.
If you have one, why not try it? He always paid in cash and taught me to do the same. Thanks for sharing your tips with us. I found that to be crazy. The banks I do business with do not charge anything so I avoid the Coinstar fees by going to my bank when cashing in my coins. As a side note, I kind of love coins. Pennies and Kennedy half dollars are my favorite to hang on to. Consider yourself lucky. I was getting Amazon gift cards at coinstar every time my change jar filled.
I looked forward to it. Then they took the feature away at least in NJ this gone. Just the horrible fee which I refuse to pay. Sad they took it away in NJ. Always check old coin rolls, especially if they were saved by your parents or grandparents. They could be worth a LOT of money! Thanks for the reminder. I tend to look at all years just to see if there is anything lurking around. Where do you cash in your silver coins dated before ?
Just been filling up jars. Glad I found this via Pinterest. We have a tin of nickels a friend gave my husband as a gag gift when we moved 13 years ago. After just lugging it through another move, I have been trying to remember to find a coin machine and take the tin box in, but always forget. Obviously, my guardian angel had a hand in this, helping me to forget until I ran across this information.
At least I will understand my options when I hit the grocery store machine. Just out of curiosity, what do you suppose the Salvation Army does? You know their Christmas bell-ringing stations probably get loads of coins. For LGE Credit Community customers, some of them have machines like this in them that dont charge, Looks like its time to switch banks! What if I need to buy gas for my car on the way home?
What if I needed to pay a bill, etc? I would basically be screwed out of money any way you look at it. Nice work world. Well, as indicated at the bottom of the post, many Walmart stores have CoinStars in them and they allow you to use that money against your purchase at the store with no fee, so you could buy formula. If you need to buy gas, you need to go to a bank and see if you can cash out the coins. I use Coinstar to get gift cards for Lowes, so my coins become my home improvement fund.
I turn them in once a year and use the money to buy things for the house. I use my coins to fund my Amazon purchases.
Just last night while I was working in front of a coin machine a boy came in and leaned up against the machine and pulled out his phone and was carefully looking around to see if any one was watching him! I talked wifth other people being concerned about the amount of cash if he was up to something that is why he only took a small amount of cash not to bring any suspicion on him! I am still wondering if this is a new way of robbing?
My son says maybe there is an app out there that can allow the machine to give that money out! Fuck you this is a bunch of nonsense. This is just a troll go get people to go to your bull shit site. Avoid, avoid, avoid! Some love donating to the red cross and others love Unicef.
That is correct, but no all people are members of credit unions since they require a common bond between members. Some are state employees or you have to support a certain organization. Ah, thank you for letting me know they updated it unfortunately they made it worse. These e-cards can they be used to make a payment at say Lowes or Best Buy or just to make a purchase.
For coin rollers, buy a bag with a nice selection of sizes pennies, quarters, etc. Same thing goes for your grocery store service counter that accepts payments for utility bills. No one would do that and these companies know it. Coinstar is occasionally a bait and switch scheme! I have used Coinstar many times, since there is no fee for exchanging coins for eGift certificates, especially for my favorite one, Amazon. I started up the screen, tapped on eGift certificate, tapped on Amazon, and sent my coins into the kiosk.
There is no other option. Coinstar decided that was how I get my money. After reading this article2abiut bypassing the fee with coinstar, I find myself sitting dazed and confused. Because there was nothing about bypassing the fee in the article. There is no bypassing…i love reading articles that give you zero, none, nil, nada unformation then before you read this nonsense.
It is money! Banks love money, they will take it. Actually, bypassing means getting around and using the gift card or charity option is exactly that. You are getting around the fee by choosing a different option. Yes, you can roll your coins and as far as banks not taking your coins, there are many. I bank at the be of a and I just took in my coins for cash paper money back and they told me that it would take 5 to 7 working days which is ridiculous I have an account there checking and savings and have had it there for a while.
They send them out to be counted and then added to your account. Thank you for your informative article. My bank is difficult about unfilled coins as well. Some Walmart stores actually have Coinstar counting machines in them that you can use for purchases at Walmart with no fee. The voucher you print out at the coinstar machine can be used against a purchase at Walmart. But you still have to pay the cash out fee Also, it would be great if coinstar offered a walmart e-gift card option.
Does every Coinstar provide option of Gift cards? I went to one in Loblaws, Ontario and there was no mention of gift card option. There was a disclaimer of I was wondering if the machine gives option of gift card after counting is done. Any feedback is appreciated. Instead of rambling on for paragraph on paragraph repeating the same statement about how coinstar takes a convenience fee of This reads like a paper written by a middle schooler trying to reach a word count.
Sorry you feel that way Nora. I appreciate you taking the time to not only read the article, but then take the time to comment. Instead of Coinstar, I use the self checkout at Meijer or Wal-Mart to deposit my coins to pay for transaction. If I want the dollar bills from the coins I inserted I simply take the paid for merchandise to customer service for full refund.
That way I get my money back without fees. When your food bill is I just tried this today. Not much. Publix have coin counting machines, but those charge a fee, too. A smaller one, though: nine percent. Adam Elder is a writer in San Diego. So, Coinstar machines: big business in small coins, huh? How much does Coinstar machine earn?
What the hell does Coinstar do with all that change? What happens at the Brinks warehouse? Do banks take loose change anymore?
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