When I’m buying something, I tend to use a credit card. It’s easier to keep track of expenses when you put it on a card and it’s often faster too.
But there are those times when cash is preferable. I try to use cash at smaller stores, to give them a break on the merchant fees, and at places when cash might be faster, like farmer’s markets and festivals. When you use cash, you tend to get a few coins back. I usually stick them in my pocket and then toss them in a box when I get home.
Eventually, that box gets full. And I need to turn it into something useful. The quarters usually go into the car, which for some reason I think needs quarters even though we have EZPass and I probably haven’t fed a parking meter in over a decade. Actually, the quarters usually go to the fire department holding boots at intersections or a sports team looking to raise money.
When it gets really really really full, I go to Coinstar.
Do you know how much Coinstar charges you to count coins?
11.9%!
ELEVEN POINT NINE PERCENT!!!
That’s ridiculous!
Here are some cheaper ways to get your coins counted:
Table of Contents
Get Your Kids to Count Them!
Ha! This tip is like those clickbait articles that tell you there’s one secret way to do something and it turns out the secret is some BS answer.
Kids are expensive and while Coinstar will charge you 11.9%, my son will do it for free!
Take that Coinstar!
(Disclaimer: Kids are expensive so don’t go having kids so you can get cheaper coin-counting)
Finding Banks with Free Coin Counting
Banks used to offer free coin counting way way way back in the day.
TD Bank used to have a “Penny Arcade” where you’d dump in the coins and they would count them for you. Then there were questions of the counting accuracy, TD Bank got sued, and they “reassessed” their offering. Supposedly, if you counted $300 in coins (that’s a TON of coins!), it could be off by as little as a nickel to as much as $43.10!
Sadly, coin counting machines aren’t that accurate and a lot of banks don’t want to deal with that headache… especially since fewer and fewer people are counting coins.
Chase, Citi®, Bank of America, Capital One, TD Bank, PNC Bank, BB&T, and many other national banks do not offer coin counting. 🙁
The last major bank that offered free coin counting was BB&T but they took down their machines last year. Nowadays, you have to look for a smaller local bank or credit union – that’s simply too difficult for us to maintain a list.
That said, if you wrap the coins in those coin wrappers, banks will accept them as long as you don’t bring an “unreasonable” amount.
Ways to Use Coinstar for Free
Coinstar will charge you that absurd 11.9% fee if you want the money back in bills (and coins).
There are other ways to get paid that do not incur that sizable fee.
Convert to an Amazon Gift Card
Coinstar will give you your funds as an Amazon gift card for no fee. They used to offer all kinds of gift cards, from movie theaters to Home Depot, but now it’s just Amazon.com.
The only rule is that the eGift Card has a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $1,000. By the way, if you have $1,000 in change, you have way too much change.
The eGift card prints like a regular coin receipt except there’s the gift card number on it. You can apply it to your account at Amazon.com.
Donate it
You can donate all of your coins to one of the charities Coinstar has partnered with:
- American Red Cross
- Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
- Feeding America
- The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
- The Humane Society of the United States
- The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- United Way
- World Wildlife Fund
For Laughs: Check the Coinstar for mistakes
Remember how TD Bank was allegedly not great at counting coins? It’s because counting coins is hard. Coins get stuck, coins get missed, and sometimes they misclassified as non-coins. When you use a Coinstar, regular coins fall through the cracks. Or get stuck in the cracks.
So one enterprising gentlemen started checking Coinstars for errors… he goes to random Coinstar machines and checks them for missed coins, stuck coins, and other hangups.
When Coinstar counts change, sometimes it doesn’t read a coin right and it spits it down at the bottom. With all the noise of counting, a person dumping coins may miss the loud clang when a coin falls through. So you can check the coin collection at the bottom to see if one fell through!
Coins can get stuck inside the machine at various points due to dumb (un)luck.
You won’t get rich doing this but I’m going to start sending my kids over to the machine while we check out because they’ll be far more jazzed about finding a nickel than I will be.
Free entertainment!
Marian Jones says
Unfortunately as of December 2018, BB&T took all their machines out. They only accept rolled coins.
Boo!
Rob says
I run a cash and carry business and over time I collected bags of coins because it became too many to wrap. I’m pretty sure I have over $1,000 in coins. Just because you have more than $1,000 in coins doesn’t mean you’re insane. Their just coins.
Fair enough!
George says
My credit union (Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union) has change machines. The service is free for its members.
Barry Moe says
I guess I missed out on the days of free coin counters … By the sound of all the inaccuracies … It could be a GOOD thing !!
Oh well to heck with it … I’ll just keep ’em all for a few more decades … Then they’ll be worth a MINT for their rarity !!!!!!
Barry Moe says
They could put all the old ones back in operation … In Casinos !!!
You’re gambling with your money in there anyways !!!!
David J Gill says
What the heck is wrong with Coinstar? That 11.99% fee must have cut back business in a big way.
Sometimes people don’t care and are willing to pay, but there are great alternatives.
Brian Walters says
Use the self-serve checkout at Walmart and other stores. After scanning your items just start feeding the machine your change (it handles a stream of coins from your hand easily). When all your coins are in and counted, click the button “Pay Using Another Method” and pay the balance with a credit card. It is good for a handful or two of coins before the built-in coin counter gets bogged down (if it isn’t busy then wait for counting and keep feeding as much as you want).
Great idea! Thanks Brian!
R says
This is so clever!
Thanks Brian and Thanks Jim.
Make$ a lot of s”cents”
Aloha Ron
PAUL C WAKE says
Interesting banks now are whining about a coin shortage. Got what they deserved. Way to go Chase / B of A.
Fred Pinkerton says
Coinstar does not allow counted coins value to be converted into Amazon Cash–this is a national policy.
https://www.coinstar.com/amazoncash
All you can do is insert US paper currency into the machine for a “no fee” credit to Amazon Cash. The Coinstar stated policy explicitly excludes using coins to add value to your Amazon Cash account. Please correct this inaccuracy.
You are referring to a different program entirely – my post is talking about getting a voucher for Amazon “store credit.”
Charles says
I dump my coins into a giant plastic jar and when it gets full, I count and roll up the quarters and dimes and take them to the bank. For the pennies and nickels, I let CoinStar do its thing for the fee.
Also, in an attempt to resolve a coin shortage, WAWA is is running a special for every $100, they give you a free hoagie sandwich plus they don’t charge a fee…you have to count and roll them tho.
james brannon says
I have over 7,500 unrolled pennies that I need to get rid of without paying a fee. Any help?
Sounds like you need to take them to a Coinstar 🙂
Byron says
Here’s a trick for you. The self check machines at most Walmarts will accept that change. Sure, we’re all familiar with the coin slot, but most don’t realize that if you lift up the piece of plastic the slot is cut into — there’s a coin chute underneath. This is how the associates load change into the machine in the first place.
1) scan your items.
2) dump your change in that chute and let it count.
3A) insert sufficient paper currency to cover the remaining balance (if any.)
—— OR ——
3B) select the “Pay Another Way” button, then insert your credit/charge card to pay the remainder.
—— OR ——
3C) select the ‘Cancel Transaction” option. The machine will shoot out the whole dollar value of your change in paper currency, and the partial dollar in coin.