Cha-ching...literally
When's the last time you dumped a bucket of coins into one of those machines that counts your money and spits out a few bucks, minus a ridiculous fee?
Now you can get ALL your hard-earned money back from Coinstar machines without the fee, which is about 9%. Just chose to get your money as a gift card at one of 13 retailers.
The stores includes Starbucks, Amazon.com, Circuit City, JCPenney, iTunes, Borders Walden Books, Pier 1, Eddie Bauer, Cabelas, DisneyShopping.com, Old Navy, AMC or Linens 'n Things.
A gift card is not as liquid as cash but I think it's better than losing a big cut up front. Thanks, Tina!
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About The Bargain Hunter
Daily News staff writer Julia Scott loves to find bargains on everything from groceries to Gucci. Her tips will help keep your hard earned cash where it belongs - in your pocket.
I rolled over $600 in a few hours. Take a piece of PVC pipe that the nickels, dimes and quarters fit, cut it to length to accommodate the number of coins in a roll. Fill the tube with the coins and drop them into the wrappers...The pennies? Take them to the machine..or use the Coinstar machine..That way you get 91% of your cash!
No plastic!
I rolled over $600 in a few hours. Take a piece of PVC pipe that the nickels, dimes and quarters fit, cut it to length to accommodate the number of coins in a roll. Fill the tube with the coins and drop them into the wrappers...The pennies? Take them to the machine..or use the Coinstar machine..That way you get 91% of your cash!
No plastic!
I've found the post office stamp machines take pennies. It takes a while, but that's how I buy my stamps these days...with pennies.
Many Wescom branches have coin machines and don't take a cut, but you do have to be a member (anyone in SoCal can be a member of Wescom)
Many credit unions (e.g. Burbank Federal Credit Union) have machines that take your coins and you get full credit if you are a member. Call and check out the credit unions.
Coinstar is worth it for me because of the convenience.
Having all that change sitting around doing nothing is worse than just letting the Coinstar people have their cut. Opting for the gift certificate is a good option that I didn't know about (I haven't cashed in any in quite awhile).