Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Aaron and I have several piggy banks filled with change from my coin purse and his jean pockets. We haven't done anything with the money because we haven't felt like stuffing the coins into those paper tubes or forking over a percentage of it by using a coin counting vending machine.

Then Aaron noticed (probably because the sign was at the top of the machine and he is so tall) that at the Coinstar machine, you can get an iTunes card with no percentage taken off. Woo-hooo! There are Starbucks and other cards too!

We are so busting into our piggy banks this weekend.

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11 comments:

  1. Sunday AfternoonsAugust 23, 2006 at 11:59 PM

    Just to let you know my husband and I tried for the amazon card, but the darn thing didn't work and charged us the percentage. My husband was so annoyed he badgered the store manager to give us our percentage back.

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  2. TrinepigenAugust 24, 2006 at 2:26 AM

    it's a great idea !
    ...but no where to be found in Denmark .... :-(

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  3. NatalieAugust 24, 2006 at 8:22 AM

    Jenny,

    We use the CoinStar at the local Harris Teeter (Wegmans wanna be grocery store) here in Charlotte, NC. Just used our Amazon card and everything worked great!

    Have fun...makes us giggle while we stand there and load up the machine. It's VERY noisy.

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  4. ljcAugust 24, 2006 at 8:27 AM

    deborah - thanks for the warning... we won't dump all our quarters in a once until we are sure it works!

    trinepigen - boo! That' stinks.

    natalie - Oh boy... can you see us clinking and clanking away at the front of the Pittsford Wegs?!

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  5. AnonymousAugust 24, 2006 at 8:30 AM

    Hey Jenny-
    You can also go to Commerce Bank and put your coins into their coin counter there. It's free and you don't have to even have an account there.-Joy

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  6. callieAugust 24, 2006 at 8:54 AM

    If you haven't already, you might also check with your own bank. My bank (AmSouth) provides the service for free to account holders, you don't have to wrap the coins or anything, they just dump them into the counter and deposit the amount into your account. But they don't advertise the service, so when I mention it to friends and family who bank there, they're always surprised.

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  7. deepfinesseAugust 24, 2006 at 9:42 AM

    Many of the Coinstars don't have the gift certificate feature yet, but you can check the Coinstar website to find which ones near you do.

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  8. AuntslappyAugust 24, 2006 at 10:12 AM

    We bought our pug with wine jug savings. $600 dollars worth of spare change!

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  9. StacyAugust 24, 2006 at 3:16 PM

    I've always avoided the Coinstar machines because of the percentage thing. I have never noticed the stuff about Amazon or iTunes on our machine, wonder if they all have that option?

    As an alternative, we bought a little battery operated machine at Walmart. Pop the preformed coin wrappers in and go to work. We wrapped a couple of hundred dollars worth of coins the weekend we bought it. Now, we just stick it on the nightstand and dump our change as we go, wrapped instantly. :)

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  10. Shannon T LeonardAugust 24, 2006 at 5:14 PM

    Funny you should post this about Coinstar. My husband and I pooled together our spare change and I took it over to a local Coinstar here in Venice, CA just yesterday and got an Amazon gift card for a total of $119.90. I redeemed the e-certificate at Amazon right away. I know I could have spent the money at Starbucks too, but if it were me, I'd forget the card at home when I was at a Starbucks and then have to pay out of my pocket anyway.

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  11. Adam and MeredithAugust 24, 2006 at 6:19 PM

    Amazon gift certificates amuse me.

    It's the same thing as money.

    becasue you can get ANYTHING at amazon.

    I can see the US no longer minting the dollar and just using amazon gift certificates and paypal from now on.

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