Last updated on February 22nd, 2024 at 05:25 pm
Do you have spare change at home and searching for a “coin machine near me” phrase on Google?
Every day you may do shopping in supermarkets, grocery stores, and other small retailers. As a result, a small number of metal coins change start accumulating in your pocket.
And you may be putting them into a piggy bank or a jar to save some money.
But do you know that you can do a little entertainment, get a gift card, or do charity with that money?
Yes, you can.
For that, you need a coin machine to dump that spare change.
In this post, you’ll find what the hell is coin machine and how to search for “coin machine near me” to find them.
Let’s jump straight into the details.
What is Coinstar?
Coinstar is a service that helps you convert your spare change of coins into cash or e-gift. You can donate it to charity as well.
They define it with the slogan “Turn coins into cash, gift card, and charity donations”.
It was founded by Jens Molbak in 1991 but soon it crossed the border and in 1998 expanded to Canada. The service success increased day by day and in 1999 expanded to the UK, 2008 Ireland, 2016 to Western Europe, and in 2020 to Japan.
In 2019 they launched buying bitcoin with Coinstar feature which can help if you are dealing in cryptocurrency. They gave 72 million to charity and exchanged over a billion coins by 2014.
There are 20000 kiosks worldwide and 90% of the US population lives within five miles of the Coinstar kiosk. Around 43 billion coins are processed each year.
Now the company is owned by Apollo Global Management, a private firm.
What is a coin machine?
A coin machine is an electronic device to help you count your spare coin change and give you cash. It’s like an ATM machine but here instead of using a debit or credit card you dump coins inside and it gives you a voucher.
Other names for coin machines are coin cashing machines, coin redemption machines, coin counter machines, and change counter machines.
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What are the benefits of using the Coinstar machine?
Here are the major benefits of using the coin star machine:
- You don’t need to count thousands of coins yourself
- Provides time savings by counting coins in just a few minutes
- Have more accuracy than manual counting
- Helps you avoid the headache of taking care of coins
- You don’t lose coins anywhere
- Easily available in most areas of the US
- Coins can be converted into e-gift cards or donated to charity
- If you’re a crypto dealer then you can exchange coins in the crypto
- Available near big shopping stores so no need to go to the bank
You can see how useful Coinstar is that it helps you take benefit from coin change instead of losing it or keeping them idle in your piggy bank.
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How does the Coinstar coin machine work?
The working of the Coinstar machine is simple and easy. Here are the steps:
- Pour your coins into a tray and remove any dirt, garbage, or any other thing that may cause damage or stop the machine
- Search on Google for Coin machine near Coinstar or me near me to find them in your area
- Follow the buttons or prompts
- Choose the payment method of cash, eGift card, or charity
- Accept their fees, terms, and conditions
- Now dump your coins slowly into the Coinstar machine using its small tray and pull the tray so coins go inside the small hole of the machine
- The coin machine starts counting your coins and displays different counted coins along with the total on-screen (dollars, half dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies and total)
- The machine may reject some coins and through them in the bottom slot so put your hand and resubmit for checking
- Once the counting is complete wait for a few seconds after that complete the question “Have you used Coinstar before?”. Answer with yes or no.
- Now it shows a screen telling you your cash voucher is printing
- Take the voucher from the bottom right of the screen
- Take that voucher to the store counter near the Coinstar machine and bring cash
- For gift cards, you need to use other supported stores.
- You’re done
For more understanding watch the above Youtube video.
Where is the Coinstar coin machine near me?
Below is a list of stores that have coin machines:
- Winco
- King Soopers
- Harris Teeter
- Winn Dixie
- Ralph’s
- Tom Thumb
- Randalls
- Vons
- Walmart
- Food 4 Less
- CVS
- H.E.B
- Kroger
- Hannaford
- PAYOMATIC
- Albertsons
- Meijer
- Safeway
- Neighborhood Market
- Superior Grocers
- Harvey’s
If any of the stores are located in your area that means there is a great chance that the Coinstar machine is installed.
For more convenience use the link below to find Coinstar machines near your area. Just enter the zip code and it will immediately spot where the devices are present in your area. You can then go to anyone of them close to your location.
(add link of Coinstar map or add map)
The map can easily help you find where is coin machine near me irrespective of where you live in the US. You can use it to find Coinstar machines in countries including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Canada, Japan, France, Italy, and Spain.
How much Coinstar machine cost?
If you want to withdraw cash from Coinstar then it deducts an 11.9% fee. For example, if your cash is $100 value of coins then you get $88 and 10 cents while Coinstar deducts $11 and 90 cents.
The fee rate may vary depending on where the Coinstar machine is located.
On the other side, if you go with an e-gift card or donate as a tax-deductible charity, no fee is charged. But with charity donations, they deduct a 10% processing fee for a national charity and a 7.5% fee for regional charity donations.
What stores accept Coinstar gift cards?
In the case of an eGift card you can use the following 23 retail stores to redeem it:
Name of Store | Maximum and Minimum amount |
Amazon | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $1,000.00 |
Applebees | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Apple Gift Card | Minimum amount: $10.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
AMC Theater | Minimum amount: $10.00. Maximum amount: $100.00 |
Cabela’s | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Chili’s Grill & Bar | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $100.00 |
Dominos | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $100.00 |
DoorDash | Minimum amount: $15.00. Maximum amount: $200.00 |
GameStop | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
GAP | Minimum amount: $10.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Hotels.com | Minimum amount: $10.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
IHOP | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $200.00 |
Lowes | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $1,000.00 |
Nike | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
OUTBACK | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
ROBLOX | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Razer Gold | Minimum amount: $10.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
RedRobin | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $150.00 |
Southwest | Minimum amount: $25.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Starbucks | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $500.00 |
Steam | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $250.00 |
Texas Roadhouse | Minimum amount: $5.00. Maximum amount: $100.00 |
HomeDepot | Minimum amount: $3.00. Maximum amount: $2,000.00 |
At Applebees, the Gift card can be used in 1900 places inside the US. The minimum and maximum amounts for all the Gift cards for the above stores vary.
Here is the table for more information:
Create a table of maximum and minimum (https://www.coinstar.com/giftcards )
What cryptocurrencies does Coinstar support?
Coinstar installed a new feature in their kiosks to help you buy cryptocurrencies for a cash amount. The following list of currencies is supported:
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Litecoin
- Dogecoin
- USD coin
- Chainlink
- Polygon
- Stellar
For purchasing these cryptos here are the steps:
- First, create a Coinmine account and claim free cryptocurrency
- Second, buy a crypto voucher for cash at participating Coinstar machine
- Redeem the voucher using Coinmine to claim your currency
These are three simple steps to buy cryptocurrency in exchange for the cash of your spare change. Remember that you pay a 4% fee for crypto purchase transactions and a 7% fee for cash exchange. For more information visit their FAQ section at Coinstar.
How to avoid Coinstar coin machine fees?
At Coinstar machine, you have only 2 ways to avoid transaction fees. First to choose an eGift card and second to donate to a tax-deductible charity.
Other than Coinstar there is a banking option. At some banks, if you’re a member you can change coins for free while the nonmembers may pay a fee.
What banks have coin machines for free?
As I early said the banks charge fees for non-customers and are free for customers. Some of these banks only give service to their customers. Along with that, they have a limit on how much you can exchange per branch.
Here are the banks and credit unions that have coin machines:
Name of Bank and Credit Unions | Fee for Customers and Non-Customers |
Sharon Credit Union | 0% for customers, 10% for non-customers |
Hancock Country Savings Bank | Customers can use free, Unavailable to non-customers |
HFS Federal Credit Union | 0% for customers, 10% for non-customers |
University of Michigan Credit Union | 0% for customers, 7% for non-customers |
JBT Bank | Customers can use it free, while non-customers pay a 5% fee |
Salem Five | 0% for customers, not available to non-members |
Apple River State Bank | Free for customers, Not available to non-customers |
Hershey Federal Credit Union | 0% for customers while 5% for customers |
American Eagle Credit Union | Free for customers, Non-customers pay 10% |
First County Bank | Free for customers, while unavailable to non-customers |
Republic Bank | Free for both customers and non-customers |
UnitedOne Credit Union | Free for customers, 7% for non-customers |
Forum Credit Union | Free for customers, 10% for non-customers |
Har-Co Credit Union | free up to $150/month then 10%, unavailable to non-customers |
Glenview State Bank | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Manasquan Bank | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Freedom Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
First Community | Free for customers, 15% for non-customers |
Point Breeze Credit Union | Free for customers, 10% for non-customers |
Trona Valley Federal Credit Union | Free for customers, 10% for non-customers |
State Bank of Dekalb | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
OceanFirst Bank | Free for customers, 10% for non-customers |
Fifth Third Bank | Free for customers, 5% for non-customers |
American Heritage Federal Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Westerra Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Tinker Federal Credit Union | 0% upto $200 then 5% onwards, 25% for non-customers |
Eastern Bank | Free for customers, 5% for non-customers |
TCF Bank | Free for customers, 10% fee non-customers |
Shelby Savings Bank | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
People’s United Bank | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
cPort Credit Union | Free for customers, 5% for non-customers |
Mission Federal Credit Union | 0% for up to $200/month or $1000/year, 11% onwards, 11% for non-customers |
Wescom Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Alabama One Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Visions Federal Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Valley National Bank | 0% once per year for customers than 5%, 5 to 10% for business customers, 10% fee for non-customers |
NASA Federal Credit Union | Free for customers, 6% for non-customers |
Idaho Central Credit Union | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Amegy Bank | Free for customers, Unavailable to non-customers |
Access Federal Credit Union | Free for customers, 20% for non-customers |
Houston Federal Credit Union | 0% for most customers, 4% for business accounts, 5% for shared branch customers, 10% for non-customers |
How to use coins to grow a rainy day fund?
Rainy day fund is accumulated for the unexpected budget shortfalls that your household needs can’t fulfill. The reason can be loss of job, loss in business, and low income. The coin changes add up very fast because you do shopping multiple times a month.
What you can do is put them inside a jar and when a good amount gets accumulated then bring them to the coin machine. Exchange them for cash and deposit them into ordinary savings, or high-yield saving accounts so they grow further.
In other words, the rainy day fund works like an emergency fund.
How to donate your coins to charity using a coin machine?
Yes. You can donate the cash amount to charity using the Coinstar coin machine. The amount is tax deductible because it goes to non-profit organizations.
Here are the top charity organizations you can donate money:
- World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
- United Way
- United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
- The Humane Society of the United States
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Make-A-Wish
- Feeding America
- Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
- American Red Cross
Your dollars can provide a lot of facilities to needy people. The money is used to provide comfort kits, blankets, food, the development of wild societies, and treatment for seriously ill people.
Is Coinstar free at Walmart?
At some Walmart stores, Coinstar is free if you use the voucher to buy things from that store. But this facility is not available in all Walmart stores and you may pay fees if you cash your amount. In the case of donations, Coinstar charges 10% processing fees for national charities and 7.5% for regional charities.
Conclusion
Coin machines are great at converting spare change into cash.
And Coinstar Kiosks are available throughout the USA with over 90% population living near them.
Just search on Google for the phrase “coin machine near me” and you can easily find dozens of kiosks.
The better option is to use an e-gift card to withdraw money using Coinstar without having to pay a fee otherwise for cash transactions 11.9% fee is charged. Which is a bit higher.
Overall the facility is great and you should use it to take benefit from your spare change.
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