Since I am moving soon, I decided that it is time to turn in the change to Coinstar (for Amazon gift card). How much did I get out of it all, in US dollars? I’ll take guesses through tomorrow or so, then post the answer in a spoiler box.
Background on me. I live in New Jersey and I hate to deal with change. Whenever I get it, I toss it in a mug or beer pitcher. I frequently cull the quarters so that I can do the laundry. The current collection started over 12 years ago when I moved here. I rarely use debit cards, so it is usually cash for groceries, fast food, beer, etc. If you feel that you need more details, ask away.
$0.60 a day sounds reasonable, which would be about $2,600 over 12 years. But you have probably halved the value by taking out most of the quarters. So let’s say about $1,300.
I got it in Amazon gift card credits with 0% taken away. If I had gone for cash, it would have been around a 9 or 10 percent skim for Coinstar. My bank doesn’t do this, so this was my only option outside of rolling them myself. Considering the amount of coins that I would have to roll, that was not an option for me. I think that Amazon is hoping that I won’t redeem all of the value of the gift cards, so that is how they make their skim.
I will say that there have been some freakishly close guesses to the amount that I redeemed. As I said earlier, I’ll post the amount inside a spoiler box some time tomorrow. Although considering the response so far, I may just post the total and put the thread to rest.
Given the volume you are apparently cashing in (or have cashed in), were you allowed to do it in one shot, did the machine limit what you can cash in at once, or did you fill the machine’s own hopper?
