I wonder where those Coinstar pennies go?
@lookatdesktop (27129)
Dallas, Texas
March 31, 2016 7:53pm CST
Got a jar of pennies, saved from summer. Going to the store to pour them into a machine and get cash back.
sounds good right?
Well, actually, there is a trade-off. Coinstar machines are all over the place.
Inside most retail stores for one thing. People pouring into them tons of copper plated pennies in hopes for quick cash back so they can just buy more stuff.
So where do all the pennies actually go?
Apparently they get put into a Brinks coin bag, and for a fee get re-rolled and put back into the local banks. So they say.
Coinstar is a coin processing kiosk & allows you to deposit your change and get cash. Unfortunately, it costs money. Here's how to bypass the Coinstar fee.
4 people like this
7 responses
@ElusiveButterfly (45939)
• United States
1 Apr 16
They have one in a local grocery store. I have never used it. My husband wanted to take our saved change to cash it in and I wouldn't let him. I rolled up the change myself.
1 person likes this
@ElusiveButterfly (45939)
• United States
1 Apr 16
@lookatdesktop I keep my pennies. LOL. They one day will be worth more than they are at face value.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Apr 16
@ElusiveButterfly , The older pennies have more actual copper inside. It seems they are only lately electroplated with copper and inside who knows what it is, perhaps tin?
maybe you could melt down the pennies and separate the actual copper from all the other inert metals. Maybe it would be unlawful to do though so I would not attempt it. I any case, saving pennies is what we do. We have a large brandy sniffer three quarters full of old pennies about 5 years old.
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Apr 16
At this rate, you earned every cent of it as you spent time carefully counting 50 pennies per roll but then the banks gave you 100 percent for it and that is the bottom line.
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
1 Apr 16
My only experience with Coinstar machines is picking up the coins that fall on the ground and get forgotten by people who use them.
Oh, and I found a really cool Korean coin sitting on top of the one at the grocery store down the street a few months ago. It went straight into my collection of neat foreign coins. 
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Apr 16
I like to collect gold coins. But lately they are scarce. I need to find a few just as keepsakes.
1 person likes this
@yukimori (10143)
• United States
1 Apr 16
@lookatdesktop I used my earnings from the 'old' myLot to buy Australian Silver Lunar series coins.
It was a great investment! 
1 person likes this
@carebear29 (31962)
• Wausau, Wisconsin
1 Apr 16
Interesting. At our CoinStars, we get a receipt to take to the cashier and redeem. I think the banks collect out of the back of the machines somehow.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
11 Jun 16
We noticed free machines like SusanZ mentioned below. Why should we pay?
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
12 Jun 16
I just don't use those coinstar machines. I have about a full Snifter Goblet full of pennies now. I can't even guess how many that is.
@cindiowens (5120)
• North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
1 Apr 16
Don't they charge you like 8 pennies per 100 to cash them?
1 person likes this
@lookatdesktop (27129)
• Dallas, Texas
1 Apr 16
It may be more like 11 cents per 100 pennies. I am not certain if rates vary state by state.
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@shivamani10 (11038)
• Hyderabad, India
27 Nov 16
Here in India, we do not have that facility. We keep them collected and approach a shopkeeper and give them taking currency notes. Sometimes, some people make it their own business. They give coins for notes taking some commission. They give you 90 rupees in coins and take a Rs.100 note. That means they get Rs.10 as their commission. It is a livelihood for money. Do you know in India, there is a lot of demand for coins.
