Coinstar Hunting Tips and Tricks

[Monstarules]

You rock guys! Keep on rescuing coins one by one!

 

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[jr98119]

These are all great ideas. Problem is that suddenly coinstar attendants will be inundated with people who "didn't get credited for large dollar coins" where they didn't have that complaint before. They'll get suspicious and we'll have to think of new ways to get into the machines!

 

[Monstarules]

It's not the attendants, it's the employees of the stores! Additionally, if you can build relationships with the people, you can be more up front with them. Share what you find with them, such as rings, Ikes, maybe a silver or two each time you go. I mean, you also gotta space out your visits smart like. Try and get to the dirt cup every 2 weeks. You may also want to find out the schedule of the Coinstar employee who cleans the machine out. Getting there a day before him will definitely affect what you find in the dirt cup, or the plastic jug...although a lot of them will just dump silver, some of them are avid collectors, and some of them give away what is in the dirt cup!

 

[barneyb71]

How many of us have looked to see if coinstar is hiring in your area? I have, I might be qualified for the job. I have never seen a coinstar employee working in a machine. I would definitely approach them and try to make small talk. Try to build up a relationship with them, and really hope they aren't a collector.

 

[Monstarules]

You could always do that, but remember, the stores often clean the dirt cup out at least once between the Coinstar persons' visits. Coinstar usually has a set schedule: bi-Weekly, weekly, or monthly, dependant on the location.

 

[TxAg]

Okay, got thrown a curve today. Took my bag of cents plus 2 Ikes to a different store. A lady was dumping coins ahead of me and left some clad change in the Reject Tray which I promptly pocketed. Dumped in my coins and the inventory list on the screen shows 2 dollars counted! Apparently some Coinstar machines do accept large dollar coins.

 

[Monstarules]

That's impossible. They all literally do not take Ikes. There must have been 2 dollar coins in your change, or 2 dollar coins that were stuck and got knocked loose.

 

[ivan salis]

ok --try this --in America --Canada coins are useless ..being steel based they stick to the magnet and clog the machine ...get friendly and tell the folks that clean the machine that you "collect" Canadian coins and have them "save the Canada coins for you when they clean off the magnet .(give the a coffee can with you name on it to put the coins in--check in weekly ) .once you get oh say 50 to 60 bucks gathered --look online for a Canadian coin store that sells US silver coins -- us a few bucks --us money to up mail the Canada coins to them --use the coins to buy us silver and back ship it to you --once it arrives sell off a bit of the us silver to cover your mailing cost up bond --the rest is 100% free us silver

 

[Monstarules]

-snip, repeat post, delete please-

 

[BigWaveDave]

To all you guys here, what Monstarules speaks of is the glorious truth.
Silver chain with locket pendant, 2 gold earrings, one also had a diamond, Ike's, squished souvenir pennies, dirty clad (a lot of it).... and silver!

Here is a pic of the guts of a coinstar.... you see the dirt cup is actually labeled for easy identification!


Tilt your head to see better....or tap on the pic.....sorry bout that.

 

[Monstarules]

Post those pics of your silvers and Ikes dave!

 

[BigWaveDave]

Just a small sample...


Got more....some posted previously, others not pictured or documented

 

[Avago]

Monstarules, does it seem like certain times of the month are better than others? I see you mentioned weekly, bi-weekly and monthly maintenance schedules. Or is it all luck?

I would imagine it depends on the volume of coin a particular location gets, so maybe more secluded/remote machines get checked less frequently?

 

[TxAg]

That's impossible. They all literally do not take Ikes. There must have been 2 dollar coins in your change, or 2 dollar coins that were stuck and got knocked loose.

Once again Monstarules is right on! I called Coinstar and talked with Customer Service Rep "Timothy". He confirmed that their machines will take small dollar coins but will not not take the large ones. He said there are 3 places the large dollar coins could end up: Dirt Tray, Dirt Cup, or some kind of hopper above the Dirt Cup. Sometimes this hopper gets jammed with coins while the coins are being fed in on top. Coins in these 3 areas were not counted by the machine and belong to "the customer" (assuming the customer knows to ask for them). I guess it's possible I had 2 small dollar coins in my pouch along with my other "throw down" coins as I did go through some Sacs earlier that day. I will go back by this store and request that the Customer Rep open the machine to retrieve my 2 Ikes. Will definitely ask for any all coins other coins that got "lost" in the machine.

 

[Monstarules]

TxAg you do it and make us proud! Show us the loot!

 

[Spartcom5]

I am going to try this... I have a perfect plan in mind. I go to customer service and first ask them if they have any halves, and maybe mention something briefly about how I do coin books because they always ask me what I need them for. And then I will ask if I can get in the dirt cup because they throw those coins away and they are usually foreign. My only problem is after I leave what's stopping the customer service from catching on and then they just check it whenever they want lololol. I like the depositing pennies with 2 ikes idea but that seems bad because you can't really do it multiple times without them getting mad especially if it's the same person.

 

[Oquario79]

ok I tried today with 2 coinstar machines.. I dumped about 3 dollars in mixed coin and my Ike.. In both instances it worked.. I got to see the guts and got my Ike back.. The first one gave me my Ike and the rest of what was in the coin cup.. the other gave me just the Ike.. either way it worked..

 

[Oquario79]

here is my loot

 

[Monstarules]

Is that a silver dime? Sweet! Also I haven't heard from @TxAg on what he found...I wonder what he got!

 

[Oquario79]

Is that a silver dime? Sweet! Also I haven't heard from @TxAg on what he found...I wonder what he got!

unfortunately no silver but im glad I read this thread and will use this tactic until I can develop a relationship with some service people from the stores...