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 Replies: 20 / Views: 5,449 |
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Valued Member
Canada
109 Posts |
Hope someone has some insight on this. I live in north Saskatoon, and used to have 3 Coinstar machines in my neighbourhood. Over the past year they have all been taken out; the last one disappearing about a month and a half ago. Now their Canadian website seems to have vanished as well. Have they ceased operations in Canada, or are there still machines elsewhere?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1049 Posts |
In Smiths Falls Ontario at the Independant Grocer there is one still operational.
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Valued Member
Canada
220 Posts |
Hi Rusty F,
These machines are harder to find and have been pulled out of use in a lot of places in Canada...there was a class action lawsuit brought for people who used the machines from 2013 - 2016 citing inaccuracies in the machines that were short-changing customers...if you Google the topic there is an article about TD removing the machines from their branches...hopefully this info helps...
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Pillar of the Community
710 Posts |
Hi, there are a few around in grocery stores.
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
1765 Posts |
I don't think many members would use these machines. Personally, doing it by hand works for me. Then you don't have the feeling of did the count match the deposit,or have to pay any fee's. They are fun to check out for rejects though. I only have one locally, and it may be gone. Haven't been to that store in a while. I'll see though. The coinstar thread on here is a blast. What people leave behind is crazy, but, free pickin's for us. Never found a thing in that machine by the way.  . "We are poor little lambs...who have lost our way...Baa...Baa...Baa"
In memory of those members who left us too soon...
In memory of Tootallious March 31, 1964 - April 15, 2020
In memory of crazyb0 July 27 2020. RIP.
In memory of T-BOP Oct. 12, 1949 - Jan. 19, 2024
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Valued Member
Canada
150 Posts |
My local food basics has one.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
832 Posts |
Long story short: I have about CAD$500 in loose change - I darn well hope there are still some Coinstar machines left up there. I plan on dumping the change on my next trip up north. Google says there are a few Coinstar machines left in Montreal. Can anyone confirm?
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1220 Posts |
I don't know if there're any in Montreal but they're easily found in the GTA east of Toronto ( Pickering, Ajax, Whitby or Oshawa ) in grocery stores.
Cheers, Bill
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
999 Posts |
According to the Coinstar website there are a handful of them scattered around Montreal.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1984 Posts |
Jeff Buckes: I am not sure that coinstar will accept cents any more. Some banks still take them but if you are not a client getting rid of them may be tricky.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
832 Posts |
Thanks for all the tips. I'd be surprised if Canadian Coinstar won't take the cents - I thought that was the first phase in collecting and smelting all the coins for their Alloy Recovery Program. Or maybe I'm just behind the curve as always. Anyway, I think I'll sort the cents and roll the coppers. Another member suggested selling rolls of them (copper cents, not members) on ebay (just like we do with wheats in the US). I can do the same with the nickels - I have hundreds of those - so I bet I have enough older nickels for a roll or two. We usually only get 2x face on common wheats so I know I won't make a fortune - but at least these beautiful coins won't go to the furnace. And I can spend the newer cents here in the US. That's how I got them in the first place - just years of digging through my pocket change! You should see my pile of one-cent coins from Barbados, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, etc. All close enough to resemble the US cent. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
605 Posts |
Coinstar charges almost 12% for their service!! That's profit money!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
832 Posts |
Long overdue update, but for anyone who might come across this subject here goes:
I posted back in 2018 that I had about C$500 in loose change to cash in. Well, took awhile but I did it! Because of the pandemic I didn't travel to Canada for a few years, but back in 2023 I drove up to Montreal, found a Coinstar at a major grocery store and dumped all my pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Maybe C$200 worth. They charge 12.9% commission which sounds awful, but what else was I gonna do with all that coinage? Can't use it in the US and too hard to spend on a weekend trip to Montreal.
Anyway, I had sorted and counted all the coins by denomination. Started with the pennies, maybe a thousand or so in the bag, I forget. But the machine took all of them and was spot on with the tally. No complaints. Then the nickels, dimes, and quarters. Took awhile but all was rosy.
Got a paper slip with the total, took it to a cashier, got cash in hand no problem at all. Worst part was being there on a Satty morning so had to wait in line a bit. Oh well.
PS: I did not cash in my loonies or toonies! Those are easy to spend. Used them to buy meals at a couple restaurants. Waitstaff was glad to take them. Said change can be hard to come by some days.
Fast forward to today, end of 2025 and now I have another C$400 to cash in! Will drive back to Montreal in a few weeks, go to the same store, cash in all my coins again! Everything except for my loonies and toonies. Those I'll spend at the Christmas market, or on bagels, or on poutine, who knows?
PPS: I have C$92 just in quarters! In the old days people wanted those for laundry or feeding the meter etc, but I guess inflation ate away the value and most everything moved to cards or whatever. Oh well, the quarters too will go in the Coinstar.
Edited by jeffbuckes
11/22/2025 09:32 am
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Valued Member
Canada
402 Posts |
banks , credit unions will take coins and replace with bills or convert to US$
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Bedrock of the Community
Canada
21580 Posts |
The only problem with banks or credit unions is that at most
of them you have to have an account to make exchanges.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
832 Posts |
Nope, can't exchange at a bank, not without an account. Most banks don't want to touch coins, let alone help a stranger like me. And even among those banks that do take coins from customers, some charge a percentage even to customers! The good ol' days are long gone.
Anyway, here's my tally for my latest batch of Canadian coins:
Nickels: 195 x 0.05 = C$9.75
Dimes: 202 x 0.10 = C$20.20
Quarters: 368 x 0.25 = C$92.00
Half dollars: 2 x 0.50 = C$1
Loonies: 127 x 1.00 = C$127
Toonies: 97 2.00 = C$194
Once again, I'll hold the loonies and toonies, those are easy to spend! I'll pay for all my meals, souvenirs, etc with those.
But I'll cash in the nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars.
That's a total of C$122.95. Less the 12.9% fee, which equals C$15.86.
So I'll net C$107.09 in pretty polymer (well, C$115 in polymer plus a toonie and a dime).
Sure the fee hurts but I'm paying for a service. Wish I had any other use for the coins, especially the quarters but not much I can do with them on a weekend trip from the US. Sure wish the casino used quarters in their slot machines, but nope!
PS: didn't bother to count my bag of pennies this time, it's not so many, maybe 200. Those go straight to Coinstar too.
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Replies: 20 / Views: 5,449 |
Posted 06/09/2018 11:26 pm
