Dont Forget Coinstar as a Dump Option

madwest

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Jun 24, 2011
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Wisconsin
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Don't Forget Coinstar as a Dump Option

I've dumped on Coinstar quite a bit this past year and used the fee-free gift card options (No fee when you cash in for a card or eCert from Coinstar®.).

I've spent over $800 at Amazon.com
$300 at JCPenny
$200 at Sears (Sears takes Land'sEnd gift cards, Rumor is that KMart does also)
$175 at ToysRus
$100 at Chili's

We occasionally shop at Old Navy, but I haven't done a Coinstart cert for there yet.

Lowes is on the edge of being in driving range for me but I'm more of a Menard's man for routine stuff. I almost decided to buy a new dishwasher recently, but I ending up fixing the one I had instead. If I would have bought one, it would have been at Lowes - with a Coinstar cert.

If I had a Krogers, Albertsons, or other grocery near me, I would buy all of my groceries with coinstar dump certs. Anybody who shops at those groceries should keep that option in mind.

I especially like dumping dimes into Coinstar - I don't have to search them first. The silvers fall to the reject slot:icon_thumright:.
 

To use a coinstar straight out it charges a % of the amount of coins sorted being 3%-10% depending on the machine.
The E-certificates does this take the total amount of coin dumped and apply all to a gift card from one of these locations? or does it take the % the machine charges to sort and apply this amount to an E-cert?
 

ACK!!! after further reading

* Fee for our coin counting service is 9.8 cents per dollar counted in USA; 11.9
cents per dollar counted in Canada. Fees may vary by location. You can get free
coin counting when you turn your coins into a card or eCertificate
 

There is no fee if you choose the e-certificate option

That's right. If you put $100 in and choose the fee-free gift card, you get a $100 Lowes gift card - no fee whatsoever.

If you choose to get cash, they give you a certificate for $90.20 that you cash at the store you're in (9.8% fee).
 

I don't know how the coinstar machines work (as in what technology it uses to sort the coins) so I'm not sure how comfortable I would be tossing coins I didn't already search, especially since one silver dime is like 2 bucks.

I do like the idea of using coinstar for the gift certificates though. One less time the bank gets mad at you haha. Only thing I'm not sure about is what happens when you get an uneven amount such as say $63.22. Does that exact amount go onto the gift certificate or does it have to be an even amount like 25 or 50?
 

I agree you just need to unwrap the coins and whatever coins may get rejected may be silver.
 

Another option with coinstar is to unplug the modem. It needs to communicate with a home office to complete the e-card option. Just dump as if you are choosing an e-card. The e-card transaction will never be completed. After 2 tries, it will issue a receipt for your total with zero fees to be cashed in at the service desk.
 

Another option with coinstar is to unplug the modem. It needs to communicate with a home office to complete the e-card option. Just dump as if you are choosing an e-card. The e-card transaction will never be completed. After 2 tries, it will issue a receipt for your total with zero fees to be cashed in at the service desk.

I've had that happen naturally twice for me - different times, different machines. I requested the e-card and ended up getting a fee-free cash certificate.

The second time that happened, I thought I would take advantage of the situation and went to my car for two bags of cents. On that run though, it gave me the e-card.

Personally, I wouldn't unplug the modem. But I can confirm that it would work as DD says.
 

Another option with coinstar is to unplug the modem. It needs to communicate with a home office to complete the e-card option. Just dump as if you are choosing an e-card. The e-card transaction will never be completed. After 2 tries, it will issue a receipt for your total with zero fees to be cashed in at the service desk.

Oh GREAT, something else to look for now! It was bad enough for this feeble old mind trying to keep track of 7,197 coin dates, oddities, and variations. Throwing in the modem connection on the Coinstar is really pushing the envelope. Guess which one curiosity just moved to the head of the list:evil4:.
 

Do you want to buy a $650 dishwasher? add sales tax and you're paying nearly $700...
I think I would bring 28 boxes of pennies to coinstar just for the hell of it, start buying pennies up 2 months prior and dumping it goes..

of course this is a joke, but a good idea indeed :)
HH
Buff
 

Do you want to buy a $650 dishwasher? add sales tax and you're paying nearly $700...
I think I would bring 28 boxes of pennies to coinstar just for the hell of it, start buying pennies up 2 months prior and dumping it goes..

of course this is a joke, but a good idea indeed :)
HH
Buff

The only thing that would be rejected would be some foreign and steelies. If you're lucky, maybe a silver dime.
 

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