# Woo Hoo! Thank You CoinStar & Amazon! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918 "2006-07-10T19:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/1 "2006-07-10T19:42:07Z")
I saw the commercials which advertised that if you take your change into a CoinStar machine, you can get free coin-changing if you get an [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) gift certificate. Today, I gathered up all of the change bowls lying around the house. There were four or five of them. I poured it all into a paper wine-bottle bag, and filled it up maybe a quarter of the way. I thought I had maybe thirty or forty dollars worth, which is enough to buy a few books. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad! The total was $154! I did a Happy Dance right there in front of the machine, visions of huge cardboard boxes with the trademark arrows on the side winging their way to my door. People were grinning at me, because I’m sure they thought I was an idiot. I can’t believe I had that much in change in those bowls! I just spent two hours selecting 12 “free” books. (Even better, I found some I’ve been wanting in the Bargain section! Oh, happy day!) What an awesome, awesome promotion. Now all of my coin jars are going to be Book Savings Accounts. Go, go, Gentle Reader! Go grab those change jars and hie thee to a CoinStar machine and recieve your bounty of books. It’s the best thing I’ve done all month! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/2 "2006-07-10T20:05:07Z")
Day-um, $154? Was it mostly quarters? Either way, the machine has to be several pounds heavier now, congrats. The service charge was the major deterrent to me using those machines, so now I might just have to locate one for the Amazon card. So does it just print out a voucher with a code on it to use on the website? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/3 "2006-07-10T20:09:08Z")
In case folks aren’t aware, you can go into any Commerce Bank and use their no-fee coin machine. Just in case you’d rather have cash over a gift card. That said, this _is_ a pretty neat way for CoinStar to make their money without it coming directly from their customer’s pockets. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/4 "2006-07-10T20:10:58Z")
That is a good combination because, otherwise, doesn’t CoinStar charge something like 10%? If that’s right, that’s a huuuuge premium to pay. Provided you were planning to spend some “coin” at Amazon anyway (and what Doper doesn’t read profusely?) then this is a match made in literary heaven. $154.00? :eek: Jeez, you gots some big ol’ bowls, Lissa. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/5 "2006-07-10T20:31:24Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Day-um, $154? Was it mostly quarters? . . .So does it just print out a voucher with a code on it to use on the website? Yeah. It printed out a paper reciept which had my code on it. It says it’s good for two years. (Heck, I didn’t have mine for two _hours_ before I turned it in!)\* From this reciept, I learned that I put in 3 dollar coins 312 quarters 438 dimes 346 nickels 1196 pennies. But, you know, when I had it all together, it didn’t really seem like that much. As I said, I thought it was, at most, going to be around $30 or $40. (The ball of change was about the size of a head of lettuce.) It only filed up one of those papger bags which fit a wine bottle about a quarter of the way. \*It says that “other restrictions apply” in about 10 states. See [Amazon.com Balance and Amazon.com Gift Card Terms and Conditions - Amazon Customer Service](http://www.amazon.com/gc-legal) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/6 "2006-07-10T21:04:50Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > That is a good combination because, otherwise, doesn’t CoinStar charge something like 10%? If that’s right, that’s a huuuuge premium to pay. Provided you were planning to spend some “coin” at Amazon anyway (and what Doper doesn’t read profusely?) then this is a match made in literary heaven. > > $154.00? :eek: Jeez, you gots some big ol’ bowls, Lissa. Yup, 8.9 cents per dollar. It doesn’t seem that huge while looking at it, but that can add up quick, thus encouraging my cheap self to hoard my change. It would feel weird to do the traditional solution and just take change to a bank teller. Thanks for the advice, Hal, I didn’t know banks had their own machines. However, Commerce Bank is only East Coast. If the cost of 3000 miles of gas is cheaper than 8.9% of whatever change I have, then maybe it’s road trip time. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/7 "2006-07-10T21:18:14Z")
Yeah, I saw those commercials too, so now I might head on down to the local Shaw’s and get myself a gift certificate. I actually counted up all my change the other day (planning on rolling it up myself and taking it to the bank…\*then[/]i I saw the commercial) and had about $63 worth. Too bad I can’t get it in a ThinkGeek certificate. 😃 I wonder if the machine has to be “upgraded” before it can do this, or if they are all connected to a big network and just needed an autodownload software patch. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/8 "2006-07-10T21:25:33Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > (The ball of change was about the size of a head of lettuce.) It only filed up one of those papger bags which fit a wine bottle about a quarter of the way. How big are your wine bottles? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/9 "2006-07-11T00:00:05Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > 3 dollar coins > 312 quarters > 438 dimes > 346 nickels > 1196 pennies Pshaw, that’s nothing! I did $162.68 on saturday, including 8268 pennies. They were in an old ammo can my stepfather had, and he said the only way I could have the can was if I took what was in it. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woo-hoo-thank-you-coinstar-amazon/363918/10 "2006-07-11T00:26:28Z")
Huh! My mother rolled up all the change I had in this medium sized mason jar, an ex-spaghetti sauce jar, and wound up with a bit under $100. So it doesn’t sound too nutty for Lissa to have wound up with $154. 😃