Coinstar Offer (and Caveat)
Evelyn Leeper
certificate for amazon, Eddie Bauer, iTunes, or Starbucks, you can mail
in the receipt and get another free $10 gift certificate for the same
vendor (in about 6-8 weeks). The $10 holiday bonus offer ends 12/07/08.
As I noted last year (when you only had to cash in $30):
I took advantage of their recent offer for free coin counting if you
took an electronic gift certificate for one of their partner merchants
instead of cash. In addition, if you counted at least $30 worth, you
got an extra $10 amazon.com gift certificate.
So I got three rolls of quarters at the bank ($30) and dumped them in.
The total Coinstar registered was $29.61. I threw in two more quarters
to make $30.11. When I got home, I googled and discovered that this was
not an unusual occurrence.
They did send the additional $10 certificate, so I got $40.11 for my
$30.50, and spending money at amazon is not a problem for me, but I
would never use them without being offered a big premium like this.
Even if they don't take a commission if you take a certificate, they may
still short-change you.
--
Evelyn C. Leeper
Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul.
-Mark Twain
Brian Elfert
>So I got three rolls of quarters at the bank ($30) and dumped them in.
>The total Coinstar registered was $29.61. I threw in two more quarters
This seems pretty deliberate since it came up with a number not divisible
by 25. I could see being off by 25 or 50 cents, but not 39 cents.
Someone should find a lawyer hungry for a class action.
h
"Brian Elfert" <bel...@visi.com> wrote in message
news:0bWdnVLuldAvX4HU...@posted.visi...
Agreed. But it still sounds like a lot of time and gas (trip to the bank,
trip to the coinstar machine) to make $10, and it's a gift card at that.
BigDog1
> "Brian Elfert" <belf...@visi.com> wrote in message
>
> news:0bWdnVLuldAvX4HU...@posted.visi...
>
> > Evelyn Leeper <elee...@optonline.net> writes:
>
> >>So I got three rolls of quarters at the bank ($30) and dumped them in.
> >>The total Coinstar registered was $29.61. I threw in two more quarters
>
> > This seems pretty deliberate since it came up with a number not divisible
> > by 25. I could see being off by 25 or 50 cents, but not 39 cents.
>
> > Someone should find a lawyer hungry for a class action.
>
> Agreed. But it still sounds like a lot of time and gas (trip to the bank,
> trip to the coinstar machine) to make $10, and it's a gift card at that.
Yep. Way more time and trouble than I'd go to for a $10.00 gift
card. Now, if it had been a $10.00 bill I could pickup from the
cashier when I cashed in my ticket.....
Besides, Coinstar is a well known rip. Not that they design their
machines to deliberately undercount, but in most states they're
unregulated and aren't subject to the same kind of testing and
calibration that the coin counters at your bank are.
larry
If the machine hadn't been adjusted or cleaned recently, it
won't properly determine the diameter of each coin. Damaged
coins will also detect wrong. Looks like it "detected" two
quarters as one penny and one dime in your collection.
Coin rolls from a bank can come from several sources, the
Fed or large bank coin vault, or a depositor. The coin
vaults use coin handling machines that 1. count, 2. measure
roll length, and 3. weight each roll and are very seldom
wrong. These rolls are wrapped with two turns of paper with
a rolled crimp at each end, or are shrink wrapped.
If they come from a depositor, good luck! These are usually
in the office supply paper tubes with finger crimped ends.
Most banks require the depositor account number written on
the roll to discourage "short" rolls, but a bank isn't going
to waste time checking. You might find a bank that has a
scale and will weigh a roll or two.
-larry / dallas
Macuser
"Thrift is sexy."