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A number of our (Canadian) major banks require you to roll them up. When you bring it to them rolled up, they will then unroll them and count it anyways.
I guess like anything else, "bank has free to use coin machines" is a feature that you look for and maybe it ends up being a trade-off of some kind.
I switched to the Credit Union near where I work like 15 years ago, mostly for the convenience. I drive by it at least twice every single work day and it is a 10 minute round-trip walk, so if the weather is nice, I often do that.
They have a coin counting machine that automatically deposits in your account. Nice and easy.
Many banks either want rolled or charge a fee to convert change. Some will do it for kids but not adults. My credit union will let you to $100 per day without a fee unrolled in the machine.
2008 should have proven without doubt that many banks are run, owned and controlled by huge, turgid human turds with no actual value to society apart from slowly sucking in as many as your money as humanly possible
It seems the credit unions got the memo and still have the coin machines with no fees. I haven't seen them anywhere else. Love that I can turn in all our coins without a fee and I just deposit it while I'm there.
My credit union specifically asked me not to roll them. The few times I went to deposit I would go in beforehand and say I'm bringing in a bunch of coins so I wouldn't be stuck in the entry by the metal detector.
I believe coin counting services are typically reserved for business accounts at most banks. Personally, I use a scale to weigh out approximately $500 worth of coins and place them in a bank vault deposit bag.
For larger deposits, such as several hundred pounds of coins, the bank will not count them immediately at the branch. Instead, they will be sent to the bank's vault, where they will be counted. If there is any discrepancy between the reported deposit and the actual counted amount, the bank will adjust your account accordingly.
TD Bank used to have a big funnel thing you threw all your change into, printed out a receipt and the teller would either give you cash or deposit. Didn’t even need an account. It was amazing. Then some asshole sued because the machine would miss a penny every $10 or something tiny like that. No more machines. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Td bank did the office space thing. And got caught
TD Bank would pay almost $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit on behalf of customers who used the company’s coin-counting machines, according to a preliminary agreement now before a federal judge.
The deal, if approved by a federal judge in Camden, would include $7.5 million for consumers potentially shortchanged by TD's almost-1,200 Penny Arcades.
Same. All my banks have a coinstar-like machine in the lobby and I just give the teller my receipt and have it placed in my account. I’m worried about our northern neighbors.
> I’m worried about our northern neighbors.
Don't worry about us, I can't remember the last time I carried actual cash on me. Do you guys have email transfers down there yet?
You can transfer money from your bank account to anyone using their email address. I've been using it since about 2004. We don't need 3rd party apps to send money.
Aw nah, outside of using 3rd party apps (which I look people up using their email address), I don’t know of a way to easily send folks money via email. You got us there, Canada 🍁
Look, if you still use Bank of America after *all the insane shit* they have done and continue to do...
You have some serious reconsidering to do. They are a garbage company just like Wells Fargo.
Bank of America once charged me 6 overdraft fees claiming the 2nd caused the 3rd and so on. When I called and they told me this I asked "why stop at 6? If overdrafting fees cause more overdrafting fees you could just keep charging me til I owe you a billion dollars?" CS rep said it doesn't work that way, I said "that's right, it doesn't, so fix my shit now" CS rep said they can only waive 3 overdraft fees per customer per year, so I'd have to pay 3. I said "This is fraud, so how about you fix your fraud for 5, then waive the 1 real one since you just told me you can do that"
They never fixed it. I just stopped using that account with a negative $120 balance, preparing for the day they came after me. It's been almost 20 years and I've heard nothing but still fuck BofA
Are we telling BofA stories? Way back in the dark ages, Dad worked for an extremely large company that was one of the first to do Direct Deposit. BofA handled their payroll, somehow BofA took out their paycheck monies instead of depositing them. Checks were bouncing for mortgages, car loans etc. All banks waived their fees because of this fiasco, all banks except for BofA.
What.. sometimes it feels like we're SO far ahead of other countries tech wise...
We have an atm like machine at several shops. You put your debet card in, a thing opens where you dump all your papermoney and coins, it counts it, and automatically deposits it on the debet card inserted.. for free!
Edit:Netherlands
Jokes on you, at my local supermarket they have people positioned near the self checkout to berate you when you pay with more than a handful of coins.
"It fills the machine up too quickly"
"well constantly have to empty it"
https://preview.redd.it/azymvy04fs4d1.jpeg?width=918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1800b61d65559a117f867cb9df9e9da609c4b79f
Some of the self-checkout machines' coin slots open up, allowing you to dump in a handful at a time.
I have never seen a self checkout that takes coins. Is it like a basket/funnel that you pour your coins in and it counts them? Or like a slot where you put coins in one by one?
Our local Hy-Vee just got self checkouts for the first time, and also installed new machines in the regular checkout. The cashiers literally don't touch your money at all anymore. You can feed in bills (like a vending machine, but it can take about 5 bills at a time). The change receptacle is kinda like a cup. You can put an entire handful in at a time.
It's pretty neat actually.
If I were Walmart, that would be toward the top of my demand list if I was going to grant coinstar any space. Coinstar users are in my store already, I certainly don't want them spending that dough at my largest threat.
It's a machine that counts your coins and shows you how much of each was put in. The one around where I live takes (iirc) 11% of the total put in. The machine prints out a ticket that you take to the front desk to exchange for cash.
It's useful if you have a metric fuckton of coins that you don't want to take to the bank, but it is kind of a scam because they take such a large percentage.
You count them first. If you google coinstar accuracy you'll find articles. The first result said 3/10 machined tested short changed them.
In my case I had $12 in rolled coins and a bunch of loose ones. I put just the rolled coins in and it counted out $9 and change. Maybe I was off a coin or two when I rolled those dimes and nickles, but no way I was off that much.
.
You’re also making it so those of us who reload and service the self-checkouts spend less time loading change each morning - and I’m gonna be honest, with places increasingly having 6-10 SCO machines, that’s a decent chunk of time saved. We appreciate that.
I was at HD the other day and the guy said just dump all your coins in. The machine counts it. Then add whatever additional amount in bills and it spits out some change again. Wouldn't have thought of that.
That's exactly how I do it! Yes, there will be times when more coins are moved back and forth than the minimum necessary. But my goal isn't to optimize the number of coins that go back and forth. It's to optimize the time spent, and the machine can process money faster than I can.
Yep, use up those coins as soon as you can.
Some people think if they save their coins it will "add up", but all it adds up to is a big headache when it comes time to cash in your stash.
My favorite strategy is to buy groceries at the self-service kiosk, pay partly in coins, however many I have in my pocket, and put the rest on my card.
If you want to slowly but consistently use up an inconvenient number of coins at home and you enjoy recreational math, try figuring out what combination of coins to take with you every morning that will allow you to pay the cents part of any cash transaction exact to the penny. (No, I don't mean shlepping ninety-nine pennies around in your pocket.)
Yeah but you assume we are only working with a pocketful of change at any time. I’ve worked two tipped jobs in my life and the coin management was something else! We really needed to have a system to avoid the coinstar fees, which is where tips like this are useful
I mean, it certainly "adds up" for me.
Ever since working a tipped job (been out of it for well over a decade though), I just throw my coins into a bucket...when the bucket gets kinda full, I sort it with a cheapo set of trays (that are probably older than my wife), and roll 'em up watching a movie.
Then I generally blow it all on something dumb but fun...usually ends up to be a couple hundred bucks too. So, it certainly adds up if you give it enough time!
> Some people think if they save their coins it will "add up", but all it adds up to is a big headache when it comes time to cash in your stash.
>
>
Does it though?
Most banks have free coin machines for members of the bank, and have no charge to them.
A friend of mine had to ask me for help wheeling in four 5gal water bottles on a dolly that his mother had filled with coins over the years and pouring them into the bank's coin counter. That was interesting but not exactly fun. In fact the bank had to empty the machine partway through.
I've used up $40 of change at self checkout and you just dump it all in at once, doesn't take long at all. Although like OP I'm in Canada and most self checks don't take cash at all.
Matter of fact most people barely use cash here anyway.
Depends how the machine takes the coins.
If you have to feed them one by one it will take forever. But other machines have a little funnel where you just dump the coins, or a little conveyor belt where you lay them, then the machine counts them pretty quickly. You'd probably be done in 30 seconds. Even with nickels and dimes.
Of course bringing your whole gallon jar full of swear nickels during rush hour, at a shop with only two machines would be a different story.
Long enough for the other machines to open up. Like the concept of "you don't need to be faster than the lion"
Taking forever at self checkout only hold up the line long enough for someone else to finish first.
Assuming it's one of those self checkout pits with a single line that we have here.
I have taken up this mindset when at self check out. I mean, otherwise you're gonna mentally stew about the broad in front of you with a heaping cart and you with four things. You just need one of 5-10 kiosks to free up, and you're not the only person with just a few items, they'll be out of your way within *seconds* most times.
The internet has made 5 minutes of waiting feel like a punishment and I'm tired of 5 minutes pissing me off so much lmao
Exception to the rule is if the time is consumed by arguing about something, then it's "fuck that person *and* whoever is with them", get tf *Out. Of. The. Way!*
I don't want to sound harsh but the whole "other people shouldn't pay with the money they have in coins because it would slightly delay my shopping experience" is a pretty foreign concept to me. Does it really matter if it takes you 2 more minutes to get to the self-checkout?
Maybe, but the fact it that taking all that extra time is rude (if holding up other people).
If you want to take 15 minutes w/o affecting anyone else, have at it. If people are waiting, then be a decent person and don't take and overly long time.
Depends on the age and dexterity of the person in front of you.
Some 90 year old arthritic woman who can barely move and gets angry when someone offers to count them for her? Fill up on gas, go home, get a sandwich, poop, wash your hands, take a shower, do some laundry, watch a full season of Malcom in the Middle, get back in the car, come back to the store and she MIGHT be close to done.
I used to just do it every week. Then I'd never end up accumulating $30 worth of quarters in the first place.
Whenever I was about to head out to the grocery store, I'd just grab a small handful of coins and stick them in my pocket. When paying, I'd spend 15 seconds shoving any random coins into the machine. Then I'd pay the remainder with some other form of payment.
I don't know if they've changed how they work, but if you load up the machine with coins but don't have enough to finish the transaction and have to cancel it, the machine will return your change as bills with change, instead of returning all the chance you put in.
I used to work next door to a grocery store with self check out lanes, and when it was dead and I had a lot of change I would just ring up something way more expensive than the change I had, and use it as a free coinstar.
I just use my change at local small businesses.
They almost always give out more change than they take in, which means they have to go to the bank to withdraw change for the till on a regular basis. You're saving them a trip.
Anyone who does this please be aware you are wasting a fellow human beings time, who, with retail being as it is, is probably busy and dealing with understaffing. Especially because I don't know a store in a world that pays somebody to just sit afk behind a returns counter or customer service desk with no other responsibilities. They have things to do.
Better tip: use Coinstar but get a gift card for Amazon or another option that you would use anyway. Then you don't get charged a fee.
Edit: apparently they charge a fee for that too now.
This is a good one I use all the time. My local Dollarama store has self-checkouts that accept coins. Once a month I go in and get soap, kitchen sponges or something similar, and dump all my coins into the machine.
Coinstar offers zero fees for gift cards.
And while I don’t buy gift cards all Willy Nilly, I’ll just keep my change until there is something I want and get full value without doing a stupid long grocery store transaction.
The one I last went to has amazon gift cards so you could get that then redeem it for a visa gift card in Amazon. Those also have fees to buy but it's a lot less than 12% or whatever coinstar is.
Cash? Debit? No thanks. I’ll use my CC and get my 5% cash back (and yes, I pay it off in full every month). It’s just free money back to me for things I’m gonna buy anyway.
The number one way to get your self checkout to error and require assistance is to use coins. The coin sorters inside jam constantly, even with just a few pennies depending on the machine. YMMV.
So yes, use your change, but this isn’t the best way, imo. I worked the front end of a Meijer and I spent all day everyday unjamming those machines.
You would be surprised. My friend worked as a technician for those machines and says they are made to actually take coins and not count everything. So you are losing there as well.
As an technician for self checkouts please for the love of all that is fuck do NOT lift the little flap to pour more change in (if there is a flap). You WILL jam the machine. You WILL lose the time you would have gained from using more coins having to get the attention of an associate and having them do what they need to do to figure out how much change you put in. You will more than likely be brought to service or a different SCO(self check out) to rescan everything. Tips from me to you!
The new registers for our local Hy-Vee don't even have a flap, just an open cup/funnel you just drop change in. Same for the regular checkout too, actually. They're getting better.
Lol I know right. It's for staff to feed more than ya know like a couple. But not feed it so much it will jam. It's just that lots of customers will do exactly what this post is talking about and dump a shit ton of coins in. Also people will just pull out their pockets and kinda just dump everything in. Keys. Lint. Paperclips. Paper. All kinds of stuff.
i've done exactly this (in the US). It's fine early morning when the self-checkout lines are slow. Don't be a jerk and do this when there's a long line of people waiting to check out.
My credit union started charging a 3% service fee for members using their coinstar type machine in the lobby. They suck.
I don't do, "there's a line of an old lady who wants to pay with a check, an old guy who has 45 coupons and wants to talk to the manager because one that expired in 1977 isn't being accepted, and one incredibly tired mother with 3 screaming kids she doesn't have the energy to control while trying to get shopping done."
I also don't do, "the kid scanning stuff did a shit job and squished something I needed to be handled carefully."
And I don't need to take my earbuds out and have a conversation about the produce I'm purchasing that day.
Finally, the lines almost always end up about the same length, only one side has 6 self checkout spots and the rest have 1 cashier.
Therefore, I happily self-checkout.
Do you push your cart around and pick up items from the shelf to put into your cart? That's free labor too. Why reject something that's faster and more convenient just to stand in a long line waiting for a slow cashier that's chatting with some random person in front of you?
I sincerely avoid coins. I won’t even bother to pick up a quarter on the ground. The few paper cash bills in my wallet or car are for emergencies or if a place doesn’t accept credit cards. If I get coins, I will give them to the grandkids as payments for small tasks as their mother insists they earn any cash recieved.
I used to live in an area with toll roads, and many toll booths were unmanned at night and therefore required exact change. Others were such minor deals they only had unmanned machines, and most had little 'No pennies please' stencils. I still save my pennies for those 4 or 5 times a year I travel back there and use ONLY pennies, even at the manned booths that cost .75
Dang the self checkout line must loooove u... like many other commenters are pointing out, maybe this is just in America, u can go 2 a bank and roll coins and get full value
My local Walmart is 95% Self checkout and mostly card only. I think I've seen one or two that accepts cash on the ones that are open in the past few months. Verify they have ones that accept cash BEFORE you do your shopping.
Adding on that here in the US (California) our Coinstar gives an option for a voucher that can be used at the check out of that store, on the same day only, for the full value of the coins. They can scan it just like a gift card. Saves everyone some time.
I use the coin star but opt for a gift card I will have no issue using, such as Amazon or credit at that store. it also spits out the silver coinage which is worth much more than regular coinage. That way I get the full percentage and then I take the silver coins to a coin shop.
Just went to coinstar the other day and saw their % take went up significantly. This is such a good idea with self checkout becoming more and more widespread
I will use coins as part of my purchase at the gas station. I will get $23 in gas. I pay with a twenty and $3 in change. I typically stick to quarters and dimes for the $3 so it is easy to count.
My small north west bank (US) has a coin machine in the lobby. I just go in, dump all my coin into it and it gives me a receipt that I take to the cashier and they give me cash for free. Also, I worked at a casino for a while and people brought in a lot of change all the time. We would take it, run it through our coin machine and give them cash with no charge. Fuck coinstar.
LPT: Just get a gift card instead of straight cash at a Coinstar.
If this still applies when I was using them years ago, Coinstar took a fee for straight cash, but gave the full amount if purchasing gift cards.
I'd just get Amazon gift cards because I shop on Amazon all the time.
No need to spend time trying to use up coins in small amounts and make sure you have your coins with you for every day transactions.
But otherwise, gas stations take change down to the cent. That's better than going to a self-checkout. Whatever amount of coins you have, you can spend it all at a gas station without having to figure anything out.
A lot of banks have a coin machine and you can take the amount and transfer it to ur account or cash it. Fuck anyone trying to take huge amount of coins to a cashier.
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I know this doesn't apply to all, but I just take mine to the bank..
A number of our (Canadian) major banks require you to roll them up. When you bring it to them rolled up, they will then unroll them and count it anyways.
I guess like anything else, "bank has free to use coin machines" is a feature that you look for and maybe it ends up being a trade-off of some kind. I switched to the Credit Union near where I work like 15 years ago, mostly for the convenience. I drive by it at least twice every single work day and it is a 10 minute round-trip walk, so if the weather is nice, I often do that. They have a coin counting machine that automatically deposits in your account. Nice and easy.
Many banks either want rolled or charge a fee to convert change. Some will do it for kids but not adults. My credit union will let you to $100 per day without a fee unrolled in the machine.
2008 should have proven without doubt that many banks are run, owned and controlled by huge, turgid human turds with no actual value to society apart from slowly sucking in as many as your money as humanly possible
Banks are a business just doing what businesses do, which is making as much money off of you as they can get away with
What other business do you bring your money to and dont buy anything? Banks are leeches.
I mean, banks may not offer physical goods, but they offer services...
It seems the credit unions got the memo and still have the coin machines with no fees. I haven't seen them anywhere else. Love that I can turn in all our coins without a fee and I just deposit it while I'm there.
>a coin counting machine that automatically deposits in your account I like that!
My credit union specifically asked me not to roll them. The few times I went to deposit I would go in beforehand and say I'm bringing in a bunch of coins so I wouldn't be stuck in the entry by the metal detector.
Your bank has a metal detector?
America Moment™️
I believe coin counting services are typically reserved for business accounts at most banks. Personally, I use a scale to weigh out approximately $500 worth of coins and place them in a bank vault deposit bag. For larger deposits, such as several hundred pounds of coins, the bank will not count them immediately at the branch. Instead, they will be sent to the bank's vault, where they will be counted. If there is any discrepancy between the reported deposit and the actual counted amount, the bank will adjust your account accordingly.
I found out the hard way that as of 1984, my bank's drive-thru teller does not accept angry, unauthorized guinea pigs sent through the vacuum tube.
They didn't say anything about angry unauthorized hamsters, though.
TD Bank used to have a big funnel thing you threw all your change into, printed out a receipt and the teller would either give you cash or deposit. Didn’t even need an account. It was amazing. Then some asshole sued because the machine would miss a penny every $10 or something tiny like that. No more machines. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Td bank did the office space thing. And got caught TD Bank would pay almost $9 million to settle a class-action lawsuit on behalf of customers who used the company’s coin-counting machines, according to a preliminary agreement now before a federal judge. The deal, if approved by a federal judge in Camden, would include $7.5 million for consumers potentially shortchanged by TD's almost-1,200 Penny Arcades.
Still worth the little loss to not have to roll that crap. They should have just added a fee and disclaomer
Same. All my banks have a coinstar-like machine in the lobby and I just give the teller my receipt and have it placed in my account. I’m worried about our northern neighbors.
Our credit union does this as well.
> I’m worried about our northern neighbors. Don't worry about us, I can't remember the last time I carried actual cash on me. Do you guys have email transfers down there yet?
Email transfer? We have bank transfer and apps like Zelle, Venmo, and PayPal but I’m not sure what email transfer is :)
You can transfer money from your bank account to anyone using their email address. I've been using it since about 2004. We don't need 3rd party apps to send money.
Aw nah, outside of using 3rd party apps (which I look people up using their email address), I don’t know of a way to easily send folks money via email. You got us there, Canada 🍁
Bank of america requires you to roll your coins. They stopped taking them as is some years ago
Look, if you still use Bank of America after *all the insane shit* they have done and continue to do... You have some serious reconsidering to do. They are a garbage company just like Wells Fargo.
Bank of America once charged me 6 overdraft fees claiming the 2nd caused the 3rd and so on. When I called and they told me this I asked "why stop at 6? If overdrafting fees cause more overdrafting fees you could just keep charging me til I owe you a billion dollars?" CS rep said it doesn't work that way, I said "that's right, it doesn't, so fix my shit now" CS rep said they can only waive 3 overdraft fees per customer per year, so I'd have to pay 3. I said "This is fraud, so how about you fix your fraud for 5, then waive the 1 real one since you just told me you can do that" They never fixed it. I just stopped using that account with a negative $120 balance, preparing for the day they came after me. It's been almost 20 years and I've heard nothing but still fuck BofA
Are we telling BofA stories? Way back in the dark ages, Dad worked for an extremely large company that was one of the first to do Direct Deposit. BofA handled their payroll, somehow BofA took out their paycheck monies instead of depositing them. Checks were bouncing for mortgages, car loans etc. All banks waived their fees because of this fiasco, all banks except for BofA.
What.. sometimes it feels like we're SO far ahead of other countries tech wise... We have an atm like machine at several shops. You put your debet card in, a thing opens where you dump all your papermoney and coins, it counts it, and automatically deposits it on the debet card inserted.. for free! Edit:Netherlands
I can’t find any banks near me that don’t require them to be prerolled
I tried that, they didn't have a machine for that. Pretty much blew me off. Fuck bank of America.
That's cause you are using bank of America instead of a real bank or credit union.
Same..my credit union just dumps them in a machine and deposits it in my account
Jokes on you, at my local supermarket they have people positioned near the self checkout to berate you when you pay with more than a handful of coins. "It fills the machine up too quickly" "well constantly have to empty it"
Sounds like a them problem
No need to thank me for the job security.
All I'm hearing is "we just can't handle all this money. Steal instead."
>Oh I'm sorry, am I already doing too much of your job for you?
"Would you rather have someone count it or empty the machine, this is the money I have to pay with"
https://preview.redd.it/azymvy04fs4d1.jpeg?width=918&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1800b61d65559a117f867cb9df9e9da609c4b79f Some of the self-checkout machines' coin slots open up, allowing you to dump in a handful at a time.
Heads up, as someone who filled the machines with coins at self check, this can jam the machine or miscount your coins.
i tried doing this at target and the machine ate all my coins
That makes more sense now, I was picturing it being a huge pain in the ass to put in a single coin at a time.
I'm picturing me next in line behind the person inserting one coin at a time. The strain from rolling my eyes might make my brain implode.
I would never do this because I'm not keeping people waiting behind me. It's rude.
If it's self-checkout, there's usually multiple machines, right?
Never once seen this and used tons of self checkouts.
I have never seen a self checkout that takes coins. Is it like a basket/funnel that you pour your coins in and it counts them? Or like a slot where you put coins in one by one?
The self checkouts near me are mostly credit only, with a single cashier who can accept cash.
Same. Sometimes, there is a slot for bills and it returns change, but they are usually broken and you have to go to the normal lane to pay cash.
That's funny, I've never seen one that didn't take coins. Usually a slot, but some have a bigger receptacle.
Our local Hy-Vee just got self checkouts for the first time, and also installed new machines in the regular checkout. The cashiers literally don't touch your money at all anymore. You can feed in bills (like a vending machine, but it can take about 5 bills at a time). The change receptacle is kinda like a cup. You can put an entire handful in at a time. It's pretty neat actually.
I use Coinstar and get an Amazon gift card. No charge, get full value for the coins.
no charge? the one by me charges something like 10-15% even when redeeming for amazon
I've never had a charge when getting a gift card. The Coinstar at Walmart however doesn't do Amazon cards. ATV least the one near me
I don't think any of the Walmart ones offer Amazon.
If I were Walmart, that would be toward the top of my demand list if I was going to grant coinstar any space. Coinstar users are in my store already, I certainly don't want them spending that dough at my largest threat.
I'm 100% sure that's exactly how the conversation went.
CoinStar has recently changed this policy, unfortunately, and now takes a percentage for all gift cards
Nooooo! I used to dump my coins in coinstar and get the dominos gift card.....haven't done it for awhile tho
Don't worry, Dominos also accepts cash.
Amazon is 5% now. There are a couple gift cards that are true no-fee but they suck.
Coinstar says Amazon is "up to 7%".
Yeah last time I looked the only no fee ones you could get were to Applebees and I would rather throw away money than eat at Applebees
Is Coinstar a US thing? cuz it sounds like a scam
It's a machine that counts your coins and shows you how much of each was put in. The one around where I live takes (iirc) 11% of the total put in. The machine prints out a ticket that you take to the front desk to exchange for cash. It's useful if you have a metric fuckton of coins that you don't want to take to the bank, but it is kind of a scam because they take such a large percentage.
They just changed this :(
I doubt it. Those machines seem to cheat you. If you have time next time, count the coins first and note the discrepancy.
The entire point of using Coinstar is to not count the coins
I'm aware, but people have and the machine's count is often wrong.
I think that's why TD Bank got rid of their free coin machines. Because people were complaining the machines were wrong
Did the machine count them wrong or did the people count them wrong?
The machine.
Just wondering how they verified that since they would not have access to the coins after the machine counted them? How much were they off by?
You count them first. If you google coinstar accuracy you'll find articles. The first result said 3/10 machined tested short changed them. In my case I had $12 in rolled coins and a bunch of loose ones. I put just the rolled coins in and it counted out $9 and change. Maybe I was off a coin or two when I rolled those dimes and nickles, but no way I was off that much. .
You’re also making it so those of us who reload and service the self-checkouts spend less time loading change each morning - and I’m gonna be honest, with places increasingly having 6-10 SCO machines, that’s a decent chunk of time saved. We appreciate that.
I was at HD the other day and the guy said just dump all your coins in. The machine counts it. Then add whatever additional amount in bills and it spits out some change again. Wouldn't have thought of that.
That's exactly how I do it! Yes, there will be times when more coins are moved back and forth than the minimum necessary. But my goal isn't to optimize the number of coins that go back and forth. It's to optimize the time spent, and the machine can process money faster than I can.
Home Depot?
Yep, use up those coins as soon as you can. Some people think if they save their coins it will "add up", but all it adds up to is a big headache when it comes time to cash in your stash. My favorite strategy is to buy groceries at the self-service kiosk, pay partly in coins, however many I have in my pocket, and put the rest on my card. If you want to slowly but consistently use up an inconvenient number of coins at home and you enjoy recreational math, try figuring out what combination of coins to take with you every morning that will allow you to pay the cents part of any cash transaction exact to the penny. (No, I don't mean shlepping ninety-nine pennies around in your pocket.)
Yeah but you assume we are only working with a pocketful of change at any time. I’ve worked two tipped jobs in my life and the coin management was something else! We really needed to have a system to avoid the coinstar fees, which is where tips like this are useful
I mean, it certainly "adds up" for me. Ever since working a tipped job (been out of it for well over a decade though), I just throw my coins into a bucket...when the bucket gets kinda full, I sort it with a cheapo set of trays (that are probably older than my wife), and roll 'em up watching a movie. Then I generally blow it all on something dumb but fun...usually ends up to be a couple hundred bucks too. So, it certainly adds up if you give it enough time!
> Some people think if they save their coins it will "add up", but all it adds up to is a big headache when it comes time to cash in your stash. > > Does it though? Most banks have free coin machines for members of the bank, and have no charge to them.
A friend of mine had to ask me for help wheeling in four 5gal water bottles on a dolly that his mother had filled with coins over the years and pouring them into the bank's coin counter. That was interesting but not exactly fun. In fact the bank had to empty the machine partway through.
Another LPT: if you do this, you can lift the flap of the coin slot and dump all the coins in rather than feeding them through one by one!
I rarely shop at Walmart but they have self checkouts that accept change so I just ran $120 worth of change through a self checkout last week
Yowza! That’s a lot of coins.
If someone ahead of me in self checkout was paying with $30 worth of quarters I would lose my mind.
Most self checkouts by me don't need the coins individually fed into them.
I've used up $40 of change at self checkout and you just dump it all in at once, doesn't take long at all. Although like OP I'm in Canada and most self checks don't take cash at all. Matter of fact most people barely use cash here anyway.
Depends how the machine takes the coins. If you have to feed them one by one it will take forever. But other machines have a little funnel where you just dump the coins, or a little conveyor belt where you lay them, then the machine counts them pretty quickly. You'd probably be done in 30 seconds. Even with nickels and dimes. Of course bringing your whole gallon jar full of swear nickels during rush hour, at a shop with only two machines would be a different story.
Good thing there’s usually more than 1 register at self service registers 🙄
All 6 of them people are paying with a bucket of nickles and dimes. There's 42 people behind you waiting.
If there's 42 people in a self checkout line where you shop, you need to go at a different time
That shit sounds hilarious. Fucking 42 people waiting would stretch to the back of the biggest of stores.
Seriously! How long must that take?
Long enough for the other machines to open up. Like the concept of "you don't need to be faster than the lion" Taking forever at self checkout only hold up the line long enough for someone else to finish first. Assuming it's one of those self checkout pits with a single line that we have here.
I have taken up this mindset when at self check out. I mean, otherwise you're gonna mentally stew about the broad in front of you with a heaping cart and you with four things. You just need one of 5-10 kiosks to free up, and you're not the only person with just a few items, they'll be out of your way within *seconds* most times. The internet has made 5 minutes of waiting feel like a punishment and I'm tired of 5 minutes pissing me off so much lmao Exception to the rule is if the time is consumed by arguing about something, then it's "fuck that person *and* whoever is with them", get tf *Out. Of. The. Way!*
I guess, but them doing that ultimately holds up the whole line.
solution is just to do this during non-peak times.
I don't want to sound harsh but the whole "other people shouldn't pay with the money they have in coins because it would slightly delay my shopping experience" is a pretty foreign concept to me. Does it really matter if it takes you 2 more minutes to get to the self-checkout?
Maybe, but the fact it that taking all that extra time is rude (if holding up other people). If you want to take 15 minutes w/o affecting anyone else, have at it. If people are waiting, then be a decent person and don't take and overly long time.
But diluted amongst several people to the point any single person has no reason to be annoyed.
Depends on the age and dexterity of the person in front of you. Some 90 year old arthritic woman who can barely move and gets angry when someone offers to count them for her? Fill up on gas, go home, get a sandwich, poop, wash your hands, take a shower, do some laundry, watch a full season of Malcom in the Middle, get back in the car, come back to the store and she MIGHT be close to done.
I used to just do it every week. Then I'd never end up accumulating $30 worth of quarters in the first place. Whenever I was about to head out to the grocery store, I'd just grab a small handful of coins and stick them in my pocket. When paying, I'd spend 15 seconds shoving any random coins into the machine. Then I'd pay the remainder with some other form of payment.
I have totally done this. Pockets loaded up with coins. My 10 yr old loves to help insert the change. Hey, money is money.
I don't know if they've changed how they work, but if you load up the machine with coins but don't have enough to finish the transaction and have to cancel it, the machine will return your change as bills with change, instead of returning all the chance you put in. I used to work next door to a grocery store with self check out lanes, and when it was dead and I had a lot of change I would just ring up something way more expensive than the change I had, and use it as a free coinstar.
Most of the time, I only see card only for self-checkout.
I do this because im poor. Whenever I don’t have cash/money on my card I just use all the coins i’ve saved up for groceries.
TIL: Money can be exchanged for goods and services
I'm sorry, what is this 'change' you describe? Is it something to do with that 'cash' I've heard about?
So your financial institution doesn’t have one of those change counting machines that you can dump your change in to?
Mine bank is online only so no. My previous bank used to have a change machine but then added a fee to it and then got rid of it all together
I just use my change at local small businesses. They almost always give out more change than they take in, which means they have to go to the bank to withdraw change for the till on a regular basis. You're saving them a trip.
I never use cash. No cash, no coins. 🤷
Pro tip, return said item and you'll get paper money back! With no coin star fee!
Anyone who does this please be aware you are wasting a fellow human beings time, who, with retail being as it is, is probably busy and dealing with understaffing. Especially because I don't know a store in a world that pays somebody to just sit afk behind a returns counter or customer service desk with no other responsibilities. They have things to do.
Better tip: use Coinstar but get a gift card for Amazon or another option that you would use anyway. Then you don't get charged a fee. Edit: apparently they charge a fee for that too now.
It’s 5-7% now 😢
Well that sucks.
I do this where I live in Spain. We have really annoying .01€ &.02€
This is a good one I use all the time. My local Dollarama store has self-checkouts that accept coins. Once a month I go in and get soap, kitchen sponges or something similar, and dump all my coins into the machine.
Can you use coins, then pay the rest with debit?
What are yall buying with cash?
The grocery store I went to asked me to stop doing that. I was putting in about 30 to 40 dollars worth of change each visit, though.
Coinstar offers zero fees for gift cards. And while I don’t buy gift cards all Willy Nilly, I’ll just keep my change until there is something I want and get full value without doing a stupid long grocery store transaction.
Not anymore in the US
The one I last went to has amazon gift cards so you could get that then redeem it for a visa gift card in Amazon. Those also have fees to buy but it's a lot less than 12% or whatever coinstar is.
Cash? Debit? No thanks. I’ll use my CC and get my 5% cash back (and yes, I pay it off in full every month). It’s just free money back to me for things I’m gonna buy anyway.
This just reminded me I left all my spare quarters for the vending machine at home today :(
The number one way to get your self checkout to error and require assistance is to use coins. The coin sorters inside jam constantly, even with just a few pennies depending on the machine. YMMV. So yes, use your change, but this isn’t the best way, imo. I worked the front end of a Meijer and I spent all day everyday unjamming those machines.
I keep mine in my car's door pocket & use it for fast food.
When I lived in a city center I saved mine for meters!
You would be surprised. My friend worked as a technician for those machines and says they are made to actually take coins and not count everything. So you are losing there as well.
My local coin star has an option to turn your spare change into an Amazon gift card with no loss in conversion. I mostly use that.
Cash is nigh-unusable here in Sweden. // edit: what is a "coinstar" anyways?
It's a scam kiosk in US stores for the lazy
I'm from the US and I've never heard of coin star
Jealous
Don't torture the human cashiers, torture the robot cashiers. I want this on a T-Shirt.
As an technician for self checkouts please for the love of all that is fuck do NOT lift the little flap to pour more change in (if there is a flap). You WILL jam the machine. You WILL lose the time you would have gained from using more coins having to get the attention of an associate and having them do what they need to do to figure out how much change you put in. You will more than likely be brought to service or a different SCO(self check out) to rescan everything. Tips from me to you!
The new registers for our local Hy-Vee don't even have a flap, just an open cup/funnel you just drop change in. Same for the regular checkout too, actually. They're getting better.
Why would they have a flap if you aren't supposed to use it?
Lol I know right. It's for staff to feed more than ya know like a couple. But not feed it so much it will jam. It's just that lots of customers will do exactly what this post is talking about and dump a shit ton of coins in. Also people will just pull out their pockets and kinda just dump everything in. Keys. Lint. Paperclips. Paper. All kinds of stuff.
Roll that shit! I love having a fat stack of rolls to take to the bank. Change isn’t really a thing anymore, bar shrapnel used to fill my jar up.
So you just torture everyone behind you?
i've done exactly this (in the US). It's fine early morning when the self-checkout lines are slow. Don't be a jerk and do this when there's a long line of people waiting to check out. My credit union started charging a 3% service fee for members using their coinstar type machine in the lobby. They suck.
[удалено]
I don't do, "there's a line of an old lady who wants to pay with a check, an old guy who has 45 coupons and wants to talk to the manager because one that expired in 1977 isn't being accepted, and one incredibly tired mother with 3 screaming kids she doesn't have the energy to control while trying to get shopping done." I also don't do, "the kid scanning stuff did a shit job and squished something I needed to be handled carefully." And I don't need to take my earbuds out and have a conversation about the produce I'm purchasing that day. Finally, the lines almost always end up about the same length, only one side has 6 self checkout spots and the rest have 1 cashier. Therefore, I happily self-checkout.
Do you push your cart around and pick up items from the shelf to put into your cart? That's free labor too. Why reject something that's faster and more convenient just to stand in a long line waiting for a slow cashier that's chatting with some random person in front of you?
Take your change to a bank, or your bank. Typically no charge to roll and or count, accept and exchange
I sincerely avoid coins. I won’t even bother to pick up a quarter on the ground. The few paper cash bills in my wallet or car are for emergencies or if a place doesn’t accept credit cards. If I get coins, I will give them to the grandkids as payments for small tasks as their mother insists they earn any cash recieved.
Scotiabank and RBC both take rolled coins up here in Canuckistan
TIL there are not banks in Canada
you can also walk into the bank and use a teller to put all of it into your bank account
Also free to change at a credit union/small bank
Cashing programs? Why not use your bank? I get that using the check out is easier than the bank but what are these chasing programs you speak of?
I use coinstar in the US - usually get Outback gift certificates in $30 denominations - no skimmed 11%
Luckily my credit union has a free to use coin machine. I go there every 2-3 years now as we use less and less paper money every year.
really what about all the other ones? last time.injustbdid Starbucks gift card bout 3 months ago
I used to live in an area with toll roads, and many toll booths were unmanned at night and therefore required exact change. Others were such minor deals they only had unmanned machines, and most had little 'No pennies please' stencils. I still save my pennies for those 4 or 5 times a year I travel back there and use ONLY pennies, even at the manned booths that cost .75
Dang the self checkout line must loooove u... like many other commenters are pointing out, maybe this is just in America, u can go 2 a bank and roll coins and get full value
Damn, I wish I had seen this sooner. I just cashed out $22.00 in pennies last week. I wonder how much change the self check out can hold?
Hell, I’m just sitting on my change like a dragon waiting for the day I run out of beer money
Coinstar should make a self check cash register, one with the hopper where you can pour your whole mason jar of coins.
Why not take them to a bank, they don’t normally charge to convert coins to cash
My local Walmart is 95% Self checkout and mostly card only. I think I've seen one or two that accepts cash on the ones that are open in the past few months. Verify they have ones that accept cash BEFORE you do your shopping.
Adding on that here in the US (California) our Coinstar gives an option for a voucher that can be used at the check out of that store, on the same day only, for the full value of the coins. They can scan it just like a gift card. Saves everyone some time.
I use the coin star but opt for a gift card I will have no issue using, such as Amazon or credit at that store. it also spits out the silver coinage which is worth much more than regular coinage. That way I get the full percentage and then I take the silver coins to a coin shop.
I get a gift card for the full value, usually steam for some fun money
I just fill up an Amazon gift card which doesn't charge the 10% fee.
Just went to coinstar the other day and saw their % take went up significantly. This is such a good idea with self checkout becoming more and more widespread
I have never once seen a self checkout that takes cash of any kind.
I do that too! I never have more than a big handful at a time but it usually brings my total down a couple bucks and I pay the rest with my card
The real LPT is don't get coins. Or if you do, use them right away.
Use coinstar for your pennies. It’s worth it.
Those machines usually charge 11% of what you put in. Ouch. Follow OP’s advice.
I will use coins as part of my purchase at the gas station. I will get $23 in gas. I pay with a twenty and $3 in change. I typically stick to quarters and dimes for the $3 so it is easy to count.
My small north west bank (US) has a coin machine in the lobby. I just go in, dump all my coin into it and it gives me a receipt that I take to the cashier and they give me cash for free. Also, I worked at a casino for a while and people brought in a lot of change all the time. We would take it, run it through our coin machine and give them cash with no charge. Fuck coinstar.
A lot of them only take cards, but that’s a great idea for the ones that take cash.
LPT: Just get a gift card instead of straight cash at a Coinstar. If this still applies when I was using them years ago, Coinstar took a fee for straight cash, but gave the full amount if purchasing gift cards. I'd just get Amazon gift cards because I shop on Amazon all the time. No need to spend time trying to use up coins in small amounts and make sure you have your coins with you for every day transactions. But otherwise, gas stations take change down to the cent. That's better than going to a self-checkout. Whatever amount of coins you have, you can spend it all at a gas station without having to figure anything out.
Or just take them to the bank. Sheesh.
Imagine using your money as money. What a revolutionary life pro tip.
So you’re the asshole in front of me.
Some stores in the US will do it for free, but you get a card to the store, not cash.
A lot of banks have a coin machine and you can take the amount and transfer it to ur account or cash it. Fuck anyone trying to take huge amount of coins to a cashier.
Our CoinStars will give 100% in Amazon gift cards. As long as you actually use them, and don't leave them in a drawer, it's a good deal.
If you usually use a debit card, why would you have change in the first place? I can't even remember the last time I got change for something.
What is a coinstar?
how does anyone have any change anymore? i use card for everything and whenever im using cash im leaving the change as part of the tip
I just use the coinstar machines and choose a gift card instead of cash. No extra charge.
People still have change?
How are people accumulating so many coins? I don't think I've used cash for anything in like 5+ years.
My counter tip, is to break big bill($100's) at the cash grocery store...