December 1, 2006 | Quick Tips

I’ve never used those ubiquitous Coinstar machines because they extract a fee for counting your change. But I just found out that if you elect payment via gift certificate, there’s no fee.

Hey, it beats rolling a billion pennies.

4 Responses to “Got change?”

1. 1 Andrea Says:
   December 1st, 2006 at 7:47 am

   Coinstar is great, especially after Halloween when you can donate your $ directly to Unicef without a fee! I clicked your link and they are offering some great stores on these gift cards/certificates.

   Other options to avoid rolling change include–

   If you have a Commerce Bank in your area:
   The Penny Arcade is a free coin counting service provided for both Customers and Non-Customers. http://www.commerceonline.com/glossary/showContent.cfm?subtopicid=1096&searchText=coin

   Or in the Washington DC area:
   Chevy Chase Bank Change Express provides free
   self-service coin counting for both Bank customers
   and those who are not yet customers. http://www.chevychasebank.com/promo/change_express.html

2. 2 Mel Says:
   December 1st, 2006 at 10:24 am

   Ellen DeGeneres just started a charity drive through CoinStar to benefit America’s Second Harvest. You punch the “donate” button and then choose from several charities, including “Ellen’s Small Change Campaign” and 100% goes to the charity.

3. 3 Groovecatmom Says:
   December 1st, 2006 at 11:34 am

   Don’t most banks with a coin machine (that is, branches not in supermarkets) offer free coin counting to customers? Mine does. U.S. Bank.

4. 4 Mir Says:
   December 1st, 2006 at 1:20 pm

   My bank only takes your change if it’s rolled.