This thread is about me and Coinstar

There are cheap ways to count the pennies in your coin jar. Anyone looking for cheap or free coin counting machines (read NON-Coinstar), we have put together a web site, www.theunderstory.com, which lists by state banks and institutions which count coins for 5% or less (many free). Many are self service machines, some are just cheap or free teller coin count services. You might be pleasantly surprised at finding a bank or credit union near you which won't charge you. Good luck!

-- Karl Manburg (theunderstor...), December 6th, 2002.

I'm a fan for life now.

BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov 6, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Coinstar, Inc. (CSTR) today announced that the U.S. Patent Office has issued notices allowing two new patents. When issued these two patents will bring the company's total patent portfolio to 54 U.S. and foreign patents. The soon to be issued patents bolster Coinstar's proprietary technology in the areas of coin cleaning and voucher anti-counterfeiting.

"Coinstar has invested more than $170 million in its technology, and from day one we've been focused on providing the highest quality, most reliable self-service coin counting solution available," said Rich Stillman, president of Coinstar Inc. "The latest patents speak to our continued commitment to innovation and market leadership."

The first new patent to be issued is directed to Coinstar's proprietary coin cleaning technology and describes a perforated receptacle that agitates a batch of coins to clean them before advancing them to a coin discriminator. Coin cleaning capabilities are essential when consumer coin is counted due to the debris that is found with consumer change. Coinstar's multi-step cleaning process and its ability to clean coin efficiently have resulted in greatly reduced coin jams and a historical machine up-time of more than 95 percent.

The second new patent to be issued is directed to Coinstar's proprietary anti-counterfeiting technology and includes marking media that can be incorporated into the voucher to thwart counterfeiting. These and other features such as bar coding, special paper, and encryption have historically minimized losses due to attempted voucher fraud, reducing shrink to approximately 0.2 percent.

Coinstar's current patent portfolio includes patents directed to all aspects of consumer coin counting and processing, such as voucher anti-counterfeiting, networking, coin cleaning, coin sensors, de-jamming, and restricted access.

About Coinstar Inc.

Coinstar Inc. owns and operates the only network of supermarket-based machines that offer patented coin counting and other electronic consumer services. The company has more than 10,000 machines linked by a sophisticated interactive network throughout the United States, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom.

Coinstar is a registered trademark of Coinstar, Inc. Nothing in the press release is to be construed as limiting the scope of, or interpreting the terms of claims in, patents owned by Coinstar, Inc.

Me too - I fucking love this thing.

I'm such a cheap bastard that I've never even thought about using Coinstar. If I ever find myself with $300 worth of quarters, it would be worth my time (and $9) to count them out. I'd even be able to monitor my state quarter collection.

However, I could start a penny can and use Coinstar for that. I would never think about saving pennies since it wouldn't be worth my time to count them out. Coinstar would come in handy for that.

And then, there's this freak.

Grand total = $5.13!!!!

And I'm trying to imagine the evil that could lurk there. Do the employees have to like hand-count and roll the coins or something? I picture Coinstar having some giant building full of change, like Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin.

Now my change recepticle is a plastic Crystal Lite container, and I'm adding nickels to the mix now.

yo heart amazon

In short, I'll be seeing that Coinstar/Amazon console sometime in 2011.

Some people deny maths?

I used to be quite conscientious about using all my change, but the copper always got the best of me. These days I chuck everything into a jar, separated out by copper or silver. Actually, these days pound coins and two pound coins go in, too, so who knows how much is in there. When it gets to the top, I'll take myself on holiday with it. Or something.

We're still bros

Now my change recepticle is a plastic Crystal Lite container, and I'm adding nickels to the mix now.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, August 22, 2005 10:03 PM Bookmark

Holy crap, it's been four years. I'm never going to fill that fucker up.

Seriously. Now I use my debit card for everything so I can get my 10 transactions a month. I never have change anymore.

coinstar is some bullshit imo, dont they take like 9% or some

dumping quarters & dimes into coinstar = you are a fool

roll that shit yourself and bank it

^word

my change gets presorted into quarters / nickles & dimes / pennies

this may have something to do with being gay tbh

Gay = organizational?

How the tides have turned against Coinstar. I don't save quarters, I use them.

whats sad is when you take your change to coinstar before the cup runneth over b/c you are so poor.

haha, well, more specifically that my bf is rather organized and he put the presorting policy in place

I was, for a while, a really big devotee of Commerce Bank's "Penny Arcade" no-skimming change-sorter.

But now I haven't moved or been super-broke for about a year, so there is just a massive pile of quarter-rich assorted change growing in my bedroom. Based on previous experience I'm gonna guess I can pull a good $150 out of there when it's bank-time.

x-post to BNW ^^^^^ Yes. I used to do this quite frequently. Thankfully those days are (mostly) behind me but I did do this last month in order to buy cigs because I'd already gone over my weekly budget.

I used to enjoy poking a finger through the coins, much the way brewers in beer commercials poke discerningly through hops, to judge the density of valuable coins versus less-valuable coins; it make me feel like a real artisan, or like an old farmer who pokes his toe in the soil and knows things about next year's harvest

"Ayuh. Plenty dimes in there. That'll do, jar" etc.

okay looooooooooooooooooooool

Hahaha yes! Although I always kept pennies in another container so I knew I was dealing with any of those worthless suckers. That said, my penny jar netted me nearly $100 once!

"wasn't" dealing with . . .

do you also plant rolls of pennies in the earth to grow money trees?

That works?

I never have more than $2 in change.

Fuck the service fee imo

They give you 100% if you turn it into amazon money. I dump the jar and buy records.

it's FREE if you turn it into gift certifs for Starbucks, Borders, Amazon, iTunes or CVS, which are all places I spend money