May 27
Tip for using coin-counters
Do you have piles of loose coins at home? If you do, you might consider taking them to your local Commerce Bank and using its free coin-counting service, "Penny Arcade". If your local bank doesn't have a coin counter you might find a Coinstar machine in your area - though with Coinstar you are assessed a fee based on the value of your transaction. In either case, you must definitely keep the following in mind:
In 2004, a Wall Street Journal reporter tested coin-counting machines at a couple of local banks. The reporter began with equal piles of $87.26 worth of
pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. After inserting the coins the reporter witnessed some astonishing results. The machines at both Commerce Bank and
Coinstar calculated less than the amounts the reporter had provided. Commerce Bank's Penny Arcade missed by $7.02, and Coinstar by $0.57. Go figure!
Comments
If you had problems with these coin counting machines contact me at cont9001@yahoo.com
I put all my change in a big jar at home and when I get a big pile, I carry it to Commerce Bank and dump it in the machine. Forgetting that I had recently returned from Canada recently, some of my Canadian coins went through the machine. Two were rejected and returned to me, but a two dollar coin was no where to be found and a fifty cent coin showed up on my ticket apparently counted as the two dollar coin, although I had no fifty cents coins. I asked the teller could I get my two dollar coin back, and she pulled the top off the machine and to my amazement, there were dozens of Canadian coins stuck to a magnet in the machine. In my opinion, the bank is doing what in the law is termed "conversion", just short of outright theft although I'm not sure they're engaging in the latter. There are no signs at the machines warning customers not to allow Canadian coins to be put in the machine. The bank must be making tens of thousands of dollars if not much more engaging in this RICO type activity. One day a crafty lawyer is going to take them to task over this kind of conversion, or theft, depending on how you interpret what they are doing. They must have one hefty slush fund.
It was infuriating that the bank did not even make any effort to refund my Canadian Coins and the teller even took all the coins that were stuck to the magnet somewhere in the back of the bank.
Has anyone else been ripped off by this bank? I am infuriated and am considering contacting a trial lawyer who used to be president of the organization a few years ago. I suspect this kind of activity has been going on for years and years. I will never do business with Community Banks again. They are in the business of taking your money and hiding it from most of their customers.
A very bad practice and at the very least, quite shady. Tony Soprano would approve, but honest people would not.
I went to the Albertsons store in Blythe,CA with 145.00 in change. The coin star machine gave me a voucher for 82.59. There is not much we can do except buy stock in coin star!
Reading all these comments made me realize that it is better to count your money at home in rolls and deposit it to your bank account rather than taking it to those machines because at the end, every extra cent that you see from the total amount puts a smile on your face.
I took my change to my local coinstar,not a single penny in the jar,and it counted all of my dimes as pennys.32.80. I called the # that the store gave me,and i have been getting the run-a round from the people at coinstar for almost 3 weeks.I will never use their machines again!
What kind of machines is teh Commerce using?
No mattter how may times I count the change, Commerce Bank has a different total, and I went to different locations. I have put in as little as $.59 cents that was left over from a previous depositer, and the machine counted $.25.
And they love to tell you they check them 3x/day.
I went to Commerce Bank and put approximately $240 in change in the machine. I got a receipt for $20.
The missing coins usually are actually rejected coins. If you ask the tellers at the banks (not sure about places with coin star) they can usually give you the full value of your coins. The machines keep track of when they reject coins so there is an easy track. Also I have a sneaking suspicion that the error was more than likely human due to the fact that i have put thousands of dollars of coins through those same machines(De La Rue) and only when they rejected (dirty, chipped, fake) are the number inconsistant. Also the other free coin counting banks that were mentioned are actually all mCom Financial Solution products (LaSalle, Nova[not free], Commerce) I believe taht a chicago bank offering the same type of service is CFB but they might be just based in that area because I have only seen branches in NC. Also Coin Star sucks they charge 6% but then they also charge the business (bank, super market, etc.) a fee as well so if you see that is more than 6% that is probably why. I don't like commerce in Philly though there is always a security guard standing by the coin machines grillin' you as you try to pour coins. I am not going to try and run out of thier with 50+ lbs of coins LAY OFF.
mCom Financial Solutions (mcomfs.com) provides the software that banks use to provide free self service coin counting for customers. Bob Davis at mCom will provide you with a list of Banks in your area that provide coin counting for free. He can be reached at (215) 247-7070
mCom Financial Solutions (mcomfs.com) provides the software that banks use to provide free self service coin counting for customers. Bob Davis at mCom will provide you with a list of Banks in your area that provide coin counting for free. He can be reached at (215) 274-7070
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OR HAVE ANY ACCOUNT AT COMMERCE TO USE THE PENNY ARCADE ( I CALED AND ASKED BEFORE I WENT). DUMP THE CHANGE, GET THE RECEIPT GET THE CASH AND GO. THEY DON'T EVEN ASK YOUR NAME.
ummm... yeah i have loose change and since i am a 15 year old girl w/o a job i usually need money. i round up loose change and bring it to coinstar i always fing that i loose to much money but i also wanted to bring ir to commerce bank but you have to be a member to use it.
Lasalle Bank offers FREE coin counting.
I agree that 9% is pretty steep, but my time is worth more than that. I usually just put it on an iTunes or Borders Books gift card and don't have to pay any fee. I'm going to spend money there anyway.
My credit union takes them for free, either loose or rolled up. Try locating an all inclusive credit union.
Been with Citibank for 8 years now and am angered and insulted each time they charge me to accept my loose coin deposits (large amounts of coin, albeit).
I hadn't realized other banks offer this service for free. If I find a bank in the Chicago area that does, Citibank loses me.
my life becomes slightly more dickensian
Over the years, we've collected several large jars of small change. While they're handy for weight training, I'd prefer to trade the pennies and nickels and things for actual, usable money. I refuse to pay the 20% surcharge that those...
I generally try to find a bank that will take rolled-up coins.
These machines charge a lot of money for this counting "service". Apart from counting incorrectly, the ones around here (CoinStar) charge $13 for every $100 worth of coins counted. If you'd like to do that, that's up to you. I usually have about $300 worth of coins when I finally cart them in, and it's nice to have the bank do the counting. I mean, $39 is $39.... It's certainly not worth that to have the machine count it.
Gotta give credit to Coinstar though. They must be rolling in money because of this.
Why have them counted in a machine?
I love counting them myself. Counting money is one of my favrite pastimes :)
I know that here in Seattle you can get a Starbucks card for the FULL value of your coins (i.e. no counting fee) from Coinstar machines.
Although I'm not a big fan of stored value cards, this seems like a better deal than forfeiting 6% (or whatever it is) to Coinstar. Obviously, it's only a good deal if you would likely buy from Starbucks anyway.
As for myself, I take my coins to my credit union, which charges no fee. However, in light of the WSJ findings I may have to pre-count my next batch to see just how accurate their machine is.
Here's my tip for Coinstar machines. Do only your pennies. Pennies are essentially valueless, so getting 91% of their face value in Safeway scrip is a fair deal. Get full value for all your other coins by using them to buy stamps from the stamp machine at the post office.
If your local bank doesn't have a coin counter, find another bank.
I drop off a plastic margarine tub full of change every other month or so, and they mail me a receipt so I don't have to wait for it to be counted. I trust them with the rest of my money, so a bunch of change is no big deal.
I've never understood the appeal of these coinstar machines.
Cash in your pocket change
Weblog Sound Money Tips recommends cashing in that growing mound of change on your dresser at a coin-counting service like Coinstar or Commerce Bank's penny arcade before it takes over your apartment. There seems to be some discrepancy between...
Cash in your pocket change
Weblog Sound Money Tips recommends cashing in that growing mound of change on your dresser at a coin-counting service like Coinstar or Commerce Bank's penny arcade before it takes over your apartment. There seems to be some discrepancy between...
I think these services also charge 6% to 8% -- a mighty hefty fee (plus the extra they make by counting the change incorrectly).