Depositing coins

[KingMe]

I carried my jar of coins to two grocery stores this weekend to put them in a machine in exchange for Amazon gift cards at face value. The machine at the first store was full and wouldn't take any deposits. The machine at the 2nd store could only give me a cash voucher for 90.2% of the value of the coins. I don't pay commission and I'm out of rolls.

I shared this problem with a friend at work. She mentioned that the nearby credit union has a coin machine that's free for account holders.

Thirty minutes later, I'm a credit union account holder with $5 in a savings account with no balance minimums for 2 years.

I could have used the credit union machine for a 5% fee, but I am allergic to bank fees. My friend thinks I'm ridiculous for opening an account just to avoid a relatively small fee on coin deposits. It seems pretty natural to me.

[nktokyo]

Sometimes I'll get a coin jar and every time I walk back into the house I have to put whatever change I have into it. In Japan anything under $10 (1000 yen) is coins so it fills up pretty quick.

My strategy for emptying is either to deposit at a bank that accepts coins or use them to pay for things via machine - train passes is the most common.

Getting only 90% seems pretty ridiculous.

[marty998]

90% is fair enough. It's the same here, the bank will take 10% when you exchange it for notes (unless you are staff like me, in which case I get it for no charge).

Think about it....what would you do with all those coins if you were on the other end of the transaction? Yes it's all legal tender and $100 in coins is the same as a $100 note blah blah blah but if I helped out a friend with $50 and got paid back in 5c coins I'd be pretty pissed and want some compensation for the trouble.

[Adventine]

This is the first time I've heard of this kind of system. It sounds crazy to get only 90% of the value of the legal tender, just because it's all in coins. That's highway robbery. I would have done the same as the OP.

[smalllife]

You can go up to any bank counter and ask for rolls, regardless of whether you are a customer or not.  Just FYI.  I've never used one of those coin machines, but I did see a bag of coin rolls already puffed out on sale for something more than zero. 

[nktokyo]

In Japan you can take your money into a bank and they'll get a machine out, count it and deposit it for you.

[Sparafusile]

You can go up to any bank counter and ask for rolls, regardless of whether you are a customer or not.

This is not true. Banks are businesses and will not give away things for free. On the other hand, SOME banks will give you rolls for free and SOME bank will let you cash out coin rolls for free. The trick is finding those banks. In my neck of the woods it's the credit unions that have the most aggressive fees associated with coin deposits and the big banks that will give it to you for free.

[hybrid]

Coins are a pain in the a$$ in 2013.  But I roll my own loose change using a cheap plastic coin counter and rolls.  It's faster than you might think with the coin counter.  My local bank takes them with no issue, and I probably only do this once every six months.  Probably takes no more than a half hour or so.  Now that I am consciously spending less (and have always been a big fan of the Costco AMEX) I don't have as much change as I used to have.

[NumberCruncher]

You can go up to any bank counter and ask for rolls, regardless of whether you are a customer or not.

This is not true. Banks are businesses and will not give away things for free. On the other hand, SOME banks will give you rolls for free and SOME bank will let you cash out coin rolls for free. The trick is finding those banks. In my neck of the woods it's the credit unions that have the most aggressive fees associated with coin deposits and the big banks that will give it to you for free.

Interesting!

All I know is that many tellers at big banks AND credit unions will stare at you funny when you ask for more than $10 worth of quarters (we have a coin operated washer/dryer in our building - so much easier to go to the bank once or twice a year and ask for $100 worth of quarters than to go every month).

[Spork]

I've always done Coinstar for Amazon dollars at 100% face value.  (But I've learned from folks on this forum that "what is offered by Coinstar" is wildly varying by your location.)

It's worth checking on (for anyone other than the OP, who seems to only get 90%).  I see it as "free found money."  I tend to toss all my change in a pickle jar by the back door when I "unload."  One pickle jar is usually about $100-$140 in Amazon stuff.

[Rural]

My small local bank will take coins in whatever container I happen to have them in, count them, and deposit them. I do have to leave it with them if they're busy and trust them on the amount, but that's not a tremendous problem because I know everyone who works at the bank. They'll also save my containers and give them back when I go in the next time, especially if they're canning jars.

There's something to be said for small. They greet me by name when I walk in, too.

[anastrophe]

Um. I spend the coins at the self-check machine at the grocery store. I've been known to buy $35 of groceries entirely in quarters and dimes.

[Sparafusile]

One more thing you should know - coin counting machines are not perfect. If you take a couple hundred dollars worth of coins into the bank and have them count the lot, ask the teller to check the reject tray afterwards. Canadian coins will be rejected in the US and sometimes even the silver quarters will be rejected. Canadian quarters spend the same if you use a human cashier and the silver is far too valuable to be redeemed at face value. Same thing goes for the CoinStar machines.

I have walked into random banks quite a bit and asked for boxes of coins. Pennies ($25/box) and nickels ($100/box) are pretty easy to get, but sometimes quarters ($500/box) are difficult - plus the tellers tend to look at you like you're an alien. The important thing to remember is when they ask you if you are a customer at the bank say "Yes". Of course you're a customer, you're standing in their lobby. Often it's easier to ask for a box of coins than a set dollar amount because they keep boxes in the vault for just such a request. Don't underestimate the weight of said boxes however, they can can be quite hefty.

[Adventine]

^Sparafusile, I'm curious, what do you use all of those coins for?

[Sparafusile]

Numismatism (coin collecting) on the cheap. I try to find cents prior to 1958 (wheat "pennies") and nickles prior to 1938. I will also buy a box of half dollars and collect the ones that have a high composition of silver which are worth about $8 each. Having done so for about 18 years will give a good feel for how banks, and tellers especially, work. And how to quickly roll hundreds of dollars worth of coins...

[Adventine]

Ah... Now it makes sense.

[N]

my 5/3 bank has a coin counter and its free for customers, though I am a customer, Ive never been asked for proof of it when I come in and use the machine.