Here's a solution I've found to a small but annoying problem. I always seem to have tons of loose change lying around my house. I am not good at taking it with me when I go shopping. It sits in an array of jars and mugs all over my kitchen.
I used to have a solution to the problem. I used to bank at a bank that had a huge, wonderful counting machine. Every year or so, I'd haul in a bag of change and have them dump it into the hopper and they'd add the total to my account. Unfortunately, I changed banks and the new one has no such device at any of their local branches. So for something like eighteen years, I've just been letting the coins accumulate.
One day in my local Ralph's, I thought I'd found the answer: Coinstar. Coinstar is a company that installs coin-counting machines in markets and drugstores. You carry in the coins, dump 'em in and the machine sorts, totes and then prints out a little certificate you can use at that merchant…less a counting fee of 8.9 cents per dollar counted.
That counting fee stopped me.
I know, I know: It sounds like I'm being cheap but we all have certain things that bring out the Jack Benny in us. 8.9 cents sounded exorbitant to me, especially since my bank used to do this for nothing. So I let the coins pile up…until I found the solution.
The solution is the Coinstar machine…only you don't take your money as credit at the store. I found out that if you take it as an Amazon gift certificate, there's no counting fee. You can also do this with several other merchants such as Starbucks, Pier 1 Imports, Hollywood Video and Linens 'n Things. Since I spend a couple hundred bucks at Amazon each month anyway, a gift certificate is like cash. You can find out more about the deal and locate a machine near you at the Coinstar website.
And while I'm near the topic, let me mention that I've decided not to shop at Ralph's Markets any more. I'm usually not a big believer in boycotts, as I think they go generally unnoticed and usually inconvenience the boycotters more than the boycottee. But every so often, a company misbehaves so egregiously that I just feel uncomfortable giving them my money. Fortunately, there are Coinstar machines in other local businesses.