# Why don't banks have coinstar-type machines for customers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777 "2003-12-08T22:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/21 "2003-12-09T13:27:49Z")
My bank has one, and it’s a regular machine, not a CoinStar machine, either. You dump your change in, get a receipt and go to a teller and get your money. No fee, either. You get your full amount. It’s a county employee credit union, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![PhilAlex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@PhilAlex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhilAlex)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/22 "2003-12-09T13:50:53Z")
I’m even cheaper than commasense. I put my coins every night into a plastic tray with grooves for each coin. (I have to sort manually. The fast way is to make a “cylinder of coins” then use two fingers to extract the largest diameter coins first. Twoonies, Loonies, Quarters, Nickels, Pennies, then dimes. When a column fills, I insert a pre-made roll (3 cents each) I “cash” them by spending them at the variety store where I buy my phone cards. I also keep a few rolls in my car to pay for parking and such. Many parking lots here have coinstar machines to take any denomination of coins. I’ve paid a $8 parking fee in nickels. (And yes, you can re-use the rolls. I don’t bother, except for those plastic PLASTICHANGE ones.) ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/23 "2003-12-09T14:04:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\*Call me a cheapskate, but I think charging 9-10% for sorting coins should be a crime, and that the people who happily pay it are idiots who deserve to be ripped off. (Hmm… those two sentiments may not be entirely consistent. Oh, well.) > > \*\* No, the people who happily pay it are folks whose time is valuable. \*\* Could \*\* I spend hours upon hours rolling coins, or sorting them out as I get them? Sure, but isn’t my time more valuable than the 9 cents per dollar I shell out? I know that there are coin-sorters that one can buy, but frankly, putting every coin in its place at the end of the day would be a royal pain for most people. Throwing a handful of coins into a jar? No hassle whatsoever. Rolling $100 worth of coins (just for an example) would probably take me a few hours–hours that I could spend doing something else. Or I could pay $9 to have it done for me. It’s not the choice that everyone would make, but I don’t think that making it qualifies one as an “idiot,” nor do I find it a rip-off. I could also spend hours upon hours raking and bagging my leaves in the fall, but I’d rather pay a neighborhood kid to do it and spend my time doing something else. Ditto with snow shoveling. These are all tasks that I \*\* can \*\* do, but if someone’s willing to do them for me for a not-too-outrageous fee, then more power to them. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/24 "2003-12-09T14:24:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Billdo \* > **Moe** , some of the banks in New York City have begun to have them, including the aggressive invader from your neck of the Island, North Fork Bank. You may want to try an NFB branch. Actually, based on the other comments in this thread, I think it was Commerce Bank, the other bank popping up like weeds here in New York City, where I saw the machines. But it could have been North Fork Bank as well. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/25 "2003-12-09T14:30:36Z")
I am in Philly and have used the Commerce Bank change machines and I am not a Commerece Customer. I walked in and dumped $230 dollars in coinage in there and jammed up the machine. Then they had to fix it. Then they gave me the money. It was pretty sweet. I have nothing new to add. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/26 "2003-12-09T14:46:05Z")
How many pennies fit in the rolls PhilAlex is talking about? 3 cents each seems like it would be a significant percentage. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/27 "2003-12-09T14:56:22Z")
I think he means the paper rolls cost 3 cents each. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/28 "2003-12-09T14:57:05Z")
FTR, if you live in central Illinois, the Toronto Road branch of [Prairie State Bank & Trust](http://www.psbank.net) will allow you to walk in with a jar (or, in my case, a bucket) of coins. The teller will go back and do this for you. I’m an account holder, but they’ve never asked me to verify that I’m a customer. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/29 "2003-12-09T15:16:48Z")
**BiblioCat** , I was perhaps unclear with my question. If they hold 50 pennies, 3 cents cost for the roll is 6% overhead, not much less than CoinStar even if your labor is value-less. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/30 "2003-12-09T16:05:17Z")
Yes, I got that as soon as I posted. Nevermind. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/31 "2003-12-09T16:07:56Z")
**nineiron** : In addition to placing a high value on your time (which is, of course, entirely your perogative), you significantly overestimate the time it takes to roll coins, IMO. First of all, there’s no difference in time spent between tossing your coins in a jar and placing them in the hopper of an inexpensive coin sorter like the one I linked to. Then placing them in wrappers, as I mentioned, is the work of a few seconds. Second, even if you keep using your jar, sorting and rolling $100 of coins, unless they are all pennies (and then they don’t need sorting) probably won’t take more than about half an hour, unless you’re very stupid (which I doubt, based on the quality of your writing) or very uncoordinated (which you may be, for all I know). **PhilAlex** gave very good instructions for manual sorting. The minimum number of rolls to make US$10 is ten (all quarters) and the maximum is 200 (all pennies). Last time I cashed in coins, I had about $140 in less than 20 rolls. To take more than \*\*one \*\*hour to sort and wrap 20 rolls of coins would mean spending more than three minutes per roll. A chimp can do it faster than that. Also, three cents for a penny roll is indeed 6%, but for a quarter roll is 0.3%, so the average overhead is much lower than those usurious Coinstar machines. But that’s if you’re buying the wrappers. I’ve _never_ done that. I just go into the bank and ask for a bunch of coin wrappers. I get a handful of each denomination which usually lasts me more than a year. (BTW: if any of us really valued our time highly, would we spend it here, writing lengthy messages on subjects like this? Oh, the cures for cancer I could have discovered if it weren’t for the SDMB!) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/32 "2003-12-09T16:10:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*Roll coins? Write your account number on them? Where do you people bank? The tellers at my credit union just take my jar of loose coin back to their change machine and dump it in. \*\* I’ve always had to do that where I bank. Like the **Yabob** , I just try to avoid accumulating coins in the first place and spend them as I go. As for the Coinstar machines, the very idea of them might run contrary to one of the cornerstones of banking philosophy. Which is that money in all denominations must be treated with respect and accouted for properly and accurately. By offereing a “coins for cash” machine, the bank is saying, in effect, there’s “real” cash, i.e. paper money in denominations of $1 or higher, and then “coins”, which are worth so little that people are willing to pay to have them converted to “cash”. And this could lead some to expect that the bank might become careless in its bookkeeping of small amounts. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/33 "2003-12-09T18:12:49Z")
The jar of coins once paid for the skiing and drinking portion of a trip a buddy and I took from the East coast to Lake Tahoe. My credit union will sort and tally them for free. ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/34 "2003-12-09T18:13:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by commasense \* > \*\ ***nineiron** : In addition to placing a high value on your time (which is, of course, entirely your perogative), you significantly overestimate the time it takes to roll coins, IMO. \*\* > > No, I spent many years (not all at once!) rolling coins, and I guess maybe I took my time doing it, since the three minutes per roll you mentioned didn’t sound unreasonable to me. Just call me Chimpy. > \*\* > Second, even if you keep using your jar, sorting and rolling $100 of coins, unless they are all pennies (and then they don’t need sorting) probably won’t take more than about half an hour, unless you’re very stupid (which I doubt, based on the quality of your writing) or very uncoordinated (which you may be, for all I know). **PhilAlex** gave very good instructions for manual sorting. > \*\* > I’m neither stupid nor uncoordinated; I just don’t like to spend my time rolling coins. > \*\* > The minimum number of rolls to make US$10 is ten (all quarters) and the maximum is 200 (all pennies). Last time I cashed in coins, I had about $140 in less than 20 rolls. To take more than \*\*one \*\*hour to sort and wrap 20 rolls of coins would mean spending more than three minutes per roll. A chimp can do it faster than that. > \*\* > Pass the bananas, then. 🙂 > > \*\* > Also, three cents for a penny roll is indeed 6%, but for a quarter roll is 0.3%, so the average overhead is much lower than those usurious Coinstar machines. But that’s if you’re buying the wrappers. I’ve _never_ done that. I just go into the bank and ask for a bunch of coin wrappers. I get a handful of each denomination which usually lasts me more than a year. > \*\* > When I was a coin-roller, I would never dream of paying for coin rolls. In fact, I was quite surprised to see that they are for sale in some stores, when I always assumed the only way to get them was from the bank, for free. > > \*\* > (BTW: if any of us really valued our time highly, would we spend it here, writing lengthy messages on subjects like this? Oh, the cures for cancer I could have discovered if it weren’t for the SDMB!) \*\* True, but wouldn’t you rather pay a few cents on the dollar, and then spend the saved time on the SMDB enjoying yourself? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/35 "2003-12-09T18:19:55Z")
The jar of coins once paid for the skiing and drinking portion of a trip a buddy and I took from the East coast to Lake Tahoe. My credit union will sort and tally them for free. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/36 "2003-12-09T18:21:37Z")
Um, yeah, what **Otto** said. I take my can o’change to the bank, they dump it into the machine, I get bills back. Easy. I don’t remember the last time I rolled coins. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/37 "2003-12-09T18:54:12Z")
Like **nineiron** , I thought empty coin rolls were always free at the bank. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I had my paper route and really needed the service… but that reminds me, even way back then (early 80’s) the bank teller would count the coins while in the wrapper with a machine – she (back then it was always “she”) could always tell me if if I were under or over by a penny. Additionally she was always able to tell me there are _x_ number of Canadian pennies/dimes/whatever in the roll (in Michigan it seems like it’s only the banks that don’t take Canadian coins \<$1 on par). ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/38 "2003-12-09T18:59:35Z")
They’re probably still free in banks, but you gotta remember fewer people are going into banks nowadays. They can get cash from ATMs, and they can manage their accounts online. It’s not that people never go into the branches, but there are probably fewer reasons for them to do so. And if they’re not already going in there to conduct business, they’re probably not going to make a special trip just to pick up free coin wrappers - they’ll go to the dollar store and grab 'em there. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/39 "2003-12-09T19:28:28Z")
Sorry for my delay in replying. The boards seem to be flying lately, until I hit “reply”. **Billdo** , “Moe, some of the banks in New York City have begun to have them, including the aggressive invader from your neck of the Island, North Fork Bank. You may want to try an NFB branch.” Well, I’ve been with Chase for a few years and I don’t believe this coin issue is enough of a nuisance to make me switch. BUT, if you mean that NFB has them available to the general public, account holders and non alike, well I’m listening. **RC**"Coinstars charge a fee to do the counting. Banks do not. Why would anyone use the machines in a bank, if they get a better rate by giving it to the teller? Where on Eastern LI, Moe, BTW? I’m originally from Southold." 1st answer (to you and others who’ve made similar comments) - I did not literally mean in my OP “Coinstar” machines issued and operated by the private company that makes them. I just referred to them to illustrate that the technology is there (and probably has been for some time). In fact it seems (though I don’t really know) that the technology is pretty basic relatively speaking for the year 2003. Having to roll your own coins and manually write the account number on each and every roll seems like something my grandfather should be telling about in attempting to illustrate how easy us kids have it today. Now I’ve used coinstar machines, and honestly I don’t have a terribly big problem with paying 9 bucks on the 100 to save the time required for rolling. I also don’t have much of a problem with sitting in front of a TV, or popping on a CD one weekend afternoon and mindlessly rolling away the hours. But it just seemed so silly that banks don’t typically have some machine behind the counter that tellers could just simply dump your jar of change into for quick counting. (Besides shouldn’t those be considerably more accurate than the human manual coin rolling process where it can’t possibly be uncommon to miss a coin or 2 hear and there). I mean, it’s good to hear that some banks are starting to have this, but it just seemed so silly that it was not standard, that I figured there must be some valid reason (beyond anything I could possibly have known as a layperson in behind-the-scenes banking issues) Oh, and 2nd question: well, I’m from Merrick (Nassau county), so understand that when I refer to my current town (Lake Ronkonkoma) as Eastern LI, it’s from a perspective that everything Suffolk is eastern LI. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777/40 "2003-12-09T19:36:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*Aha! I was right! > > _Penny Arcades are simple to use and located next to the teller counter at Commerce branches. Customers simply pour their loose change into the machine’s coin tray and push the start button. In seconds, they receive a receipt that can be exchanged for cash, or the funds can be deposited directly into a Commerce account. The new Penny Arcades are free of charge, unlike coin counting machines found in area grocery stores that charge a usage fee of up to nearly nine percent to count change._ > > Pretty cool, huh? \*\* Yes! > [@](#): > > \*Commerce is the only bank in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware that provides customers with access to free, self-service coin counting machines. \* Do’h! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-banks-have-coinstar-type-machines-for-customers/217777.md?page=3)