Coin Star Experience

Maybe it is just me .. But if you were doing a lot of rolls and spending 8.9 percent to turn them in ... the same money could buy a lot of nice coins ... but I could be wrong. I have been thinking about roll searching ..just to see what I could find. But I can turn coins into my bank for free. They have a counter.

Erwindoc,

If you re-roll each roll as soon as you have finished searching it, there is little time involved at all. When I re-roll, I don't even have to count the coins; I just return to the pile the same number I took out.

Nickelsearcher,

Maybe this is the advantage of my living n a very small town, but when I take loose change to my bank, they count it. They'll even count a shoe-box full if that is what I bring them.

I bet the customers in line behind you would love that!

Just a thought, I have counted my change before using the "coin counting "machine, at my bank, free of charge, I did this because I thought I was underpaid the last time I was there with coins.

I placed the counted coins in the machine and the receipt stated the total coins counted, which was 7.80 less than I counted before placing the coins in the machine.

Moral of my story" there is a fee, whether you are told so, or the machine just does not count right and you paid a fee, like it or not"....Try it for yourself, ask a teller for 3-rolls of quarters, and go directly to the counter and see what the receipt states, you might be very shocked!!

Have you tried your experiment at different machines? No doubt they can malfunction...and miscount. Then again, I've had tellers do the same. Several times tellers gave me back more money than I turned in via rolls. (pretty bad when a teller can't count how many rolls of halves you have and multiply by 10....even worse when they screw it up with an adding machine). Several times I've had to correct the mistake.
I've tested the machine at my bank on several occasions. Before I started using for my dumps, I counted about $40.00 worth of change I had gathered from roll searching on a small scale. The machine counted everything correctly....printed receipt was short the one crusty cent that was in the reject bin. I have tested it occasionally since that time since I have heard people complain that the machines do malfunction. The most it's ever been off was a few cents.
Most of the time when I'm dumping I have a fair idea what's going in. I know how many rolls I've searched and a fair idea of how many I kept out. Always very close to my estimate.
But due to other peoples bad experiences I will continue to periodically test the machine, and have a very close estimate as to what's going into the machine and advise others to do the same.

The machines do not count correctly when they are dirty or when you dump the coins in two fast. I've been shorted by these machines more than once at the penny arcade. The teller made it right both times. When they opened the machines, two different machines, both times there were dimes in the penny bag. I will only dump nickels in at a slow pace and if the machine turns them into quarters, it will be ok.

My Coinstar wins has been by checking the return bin everytime I walk by one. Yeah, I know it makes me look like the kid hoping to find the quarter in the pay-phone, but I've scored some nice dimes that way. Last big score was a two-for, 1942d and 1940p dimes. I would guess they would be graded vg. But still, no investment, free silver. It all goes to my son when I pass on. Thats my plan, same as my father did for me.

There arent too many banks in my area that have free service like that. I didnt even know this one was available. I have avoided them for such a long time due to the fees. These were the cents I had tossed in the piggy bank during the course of the year. I had about 1800 cents if I remember, so it was worth the 1.80 in fees so I didnt have to roll these. I could have done the gift card, but they are places I dont shop too much.

For roll searching, I agree it would be alot of money down the drain and rerolling them at the same time would be very easy. A friend told me about one at his bank that is free for customers. I might have to open up a new account if I decide to do more roll searching!