At my part-time job I work in the accounting office and get quite a few Coinstar receipts that show the depositor gave up 9% of their coins to get them changed into bills. I would say that on average in a day that machine makes between $30-$50 and then there are the days when people dump in 100-300 dollars for a single receipt.

It just breaks my heart to see people give up even a penny when there are other options they could be using and still keeping their money – some of which is enough for a cheap lunch of even making a minimum payment on a credit card bill.

I remember one morning a guy asked me if I wanted to buy some rolls of coins and I declined (he had about $300 worth, it looked), but I did mentioned that the bank would be opening in less than an hour if he wanted to wait, but he declined. The end result was that the machine got almost $30 in fees.

When I was growing up it was no big deal to bring in your coins to the bank, they would either dump it in a coin counter (bigger banks) or pull out a wooden coin counting tray. There were no fees and it was no big deal, except for the occasional sigh I would hear if I had a larger amount of coins.

Many Coinstar machines do offer an option to keep ALL of the money you deposit as long as you pick one of the gift card options they offer. However, the machine at my store only gives you two options, a 9.5% fee or give all money to charity. The charity option isn’t bad but if that wasn’t the initial reason to go in, the fee would be your only option.

An alternative I noticed was that my local credit union installed coin counters into their branches and these counters don’t have a fee, which is very kind of them and my credit union also allows people who don’t have an account with them to use the machine for no charge.

From what I have found out most banks will count money for no charge, however some have conditions- you have to have an account or there is a maximum limit – so please check with your bank or the bank in your neighborhood.

A final suggestion is to use your coins to pay for merchandise, if a store won’t take your rolled coins you can also use the self-check out areas and plunk the coins in one by one, it may take a while but you are using the money for something you need. If you do go to the cashier and have loose change that is not rolled, it would be best to not go during rush-hours.

To summarize the free coin counting options:

  • Double check your options if you use a Coinstar machine
  • Contact your local bank for free exchanges and possible conditions
  • Pay for your merchandise with coins- use self checkouts or go outside of rush hour

Additional Details:

  • Occasionally Coinstar will offer a holiday bonus toward the end of the year for a limited time, whereby you can get an extras 10-25% of your total towards a gift card.
  • Although the site hasn’t been updated since 12/2002, you may find additional free locations by state at The Understory.
  • Before you go and turn in your coins, check them for any rare and valuable ones.

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Dawn C. is site owner of FrugalforLife.com where this is a repost from: Free Coin Counting Alternatives. Dawn resides in Colorado with her spouse, Teri, of 12 years. You can follow her on Twitter – It’s like a party line for instant messaging.

Photo credit: FrugalforLife.com.