As I mentioned, my bank (credit union) won’t even take the home-rolled coins any more. If you walk in with a bunch of them, they’ll point you to the coin machine over in the corner and you have to go dump them in yourself. There’s no fee if you’re an account holder and a nominal fee if you’re not. I think it’s 3% for non-members.
Contrary to what Chotii said, the machine in my bank has a rejected coin slot, for bent or damaged coins or foreign coins, so if something won’t go through, you still get it back. The machine doesn’t keep it.
Banks here in Northern Ireland have pre-printed plastic bags to be filled with a certain value of smaller coins, these are then weighed by the cashier.
My sister works for a charity so she gets the coppers now. Its funny to hand her hundreds of coins to count and then get a nice thank you note from her afterwards
I’m with you. For small purchases I’d rather not deal with the hassle of a card. And some places that take a lot of small transactions don’t take plastic at all (Tim Horton’s comes to mind)
That’s a great idea for buying groceries or clothing, but not so hot for a can of pop from the vending machine or lunch at the many cash-only places. Or the fair number of places that either post a minimum charge to use plastic, take Visa/MC but not debit, or charge 49¢ to use a card instead of cash.
Which, incidentally, is generally a violation of the Merchant Agreement the store is bound by (agreements can and do vary, but businesses which have negotiated an agreement under which they CAN impose a minimum charge, usually also pay a higher per-transaction fee for that privilege). Not that I don’t understand the reasoning behind placing such minimums, but MC/Visa are less understanding on this score than I am.
But they are for a debit card, even a debit card with a Visa logo - it goes in the system like an ATM transaction at a competitor’s bank, with the 49 cents as the “transaction fee”.
I’m not sure this is true; I’ve never encountered this and I use my debit card for nearly everything. Certainly, if it’s processed as a CC then the rules for CC acceptance apply.
My bank has 2 Coinstar machines in the lobby, free for clients to use 24/7, of course you cant exactly turn in the ticket when the banks not open but you could use the machine at any hour.
That’s not necessarily unreasonable. I assume the times given are one-way. So, 10 minutes of time plus 10 minutes of driving. I’ll assume city driving, and that 10 minutes is actually about 3 miles. Average cost of driving (including fuel, insurance, depreciation, etc.) is maybe $0.50/mile. And ten extra minutes of his time (not to mention the time spent in line at the bank, which wil be longer than at the Coinstar machine) is worth $1 if he has a minimum-wage job. Certainly 10 minutes of my time is worth a lot more.
So, he’s spending an extra $2.50 or so to save about… $3. Not exactly a testament to laziness.
Personally, I have never used a Coinstar machine, but I’d have no problem with the gift certificate option. It is nearly certain that I’m going to spend a few hundred bucks a year at Amazon, so it works out just fine.
The first thing th consider here CJJ, is that Coinstar is not only Coinstar, it’s Coinstar Redbox. They are the same company. And another thing is that those coin counting kiosks that u see in the banks also belong to coinstar and they are free because the bank agrees to cover the fees. And they are placed in a grcocery store strategically so that when a customer dumps his change into the machine it offers to waive the fee if you elect a gift card for that grocery store. And of course u were just about to buy some groceries so u turn around do just that GENIUS business plan
I used to throw my change in a jar. It accumulated so fast it became a PITA to get rid of it. I then decided to change my buying habits. I keep my change in my pocket and I use it every chance I get. Yes, I’ve taken 99 cents out of my pocket rather than get back another coin.
Ya know what? The system works. I don’t accumulate coins. Problem solved.
You don’t even have to do it “every chance you get”. If you simply put your change back in your pockets along with your car keys, etc, you will be motivated to pay exact change when you realize you are accumulating a lot of coins.
Damn, once again I am sucked into a zombie thread. When will I learn?
Anyway…am I to understand that Coinstar gives you the option of taking your cash in gift cards with no penalty charged? Do they have a wide selection of cards available?
As for me, I save all my quarters and my wife saves all the pennies (don’t ask how many we have). So it’s just nickels & dimes I ever have to turn in.
mmm
