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Let me first say that coinstar is obviously not the best option but some it may be the only or the most convenient. I don't have any free counters close to me. I'm small time, I roll some zincs and swap them out at banks or deposit at my main bank but coinstar IS nice. Sometimes I get the gift cards and sometimes I just eat the fees. I never really considered 9% to be that bad. Granted most on here are at level far superior to me and 9% would destroy almost all profit but you guys already have your dumps under control (no jokes please). So anyway, some math for us little guys.
Assuming 20% copper yield (fair average for all) and a 9% fee (thats what mine is, may vary?). A $25 box will give you $5 in copper and $20 in zinc. Dump the $20 zinc and coinstar takes $1.80. So essentially you "paid" $6.80 for $5 in copper. So that's like paying 1.36 cents per copper.
Kind of interesting and higher than I would have thought before running the numbers. Especially high when you consider time spent and other variables such as gas, when you can get them here for 1.45 presently. I'm more of a hobby sorter and enjoy it so I don't consider it time lost and I also walk everywhere so no gas charges for me!
Just thought I'd shard that. To me, and maybe to some other small timers, coinstar can be an alright method of dumping but I must admit I never really realized how much that 9% actually "costs."

If you can find a Coinstar that will not make you pay the fee and instead take a gift card, that's great. My Coinstar at the local Walmart is an absolute joke. Never any gift cards and just straight up 9%. Before finding a few good dump banks (where I did not have to re-roll) I was dead set against giving someone 9% of my $ (and still am). Instead I just re-rolled and took them to a dump bank. I looked at it this way, 9% for them or just a little more time re-rolling and keeping my cash so that I may sort more. Think of it this way, if you sort 10 boxes of pennies with the average you gave in your post you would have given Coinstar $18.00 just for taking your zincs. If you have the time re-roll. Just my two cents. Twenty

Isn't the new rate 9.8%?

slickeast wrote:Isn't the new rate 9.8%?

Yes. It used to be 8.9%. I believe they changed in in april-may time frame?

11.9% in these parts.

I would NEVER use them

Those automatic coin rolling machines are looking better and better.

guess i should be happy that i have a bunch of branches of my deposit bank that have lobby coin machines!!!
i can't get banks to sell me bags, but at least depositing zincs is a little easier.

don't do coinstar, I see a free coinsorter in almost everybank now adays. I think the US is hoarding copper themselves like Canada is

11.9? Damn! I used to hate the fee when I was getting started! I got an account with a free counter and another that takes bags but I love filling up the coinstars when I want something from amazon. Getting a new camera in a couple weeks. $700 so I'll be shutting down a few machines around here temporarily. Lmao.

$1000 in half dollars * .09 = $90

yeah its that bad...

many of my acquaintances don't have checking accounts, they are also too cheap to pay coinstar $0.10 on the dollar. SO, whenever they get about $300.00 of change together I have about 3 friends that ask me to take them to my bank so they can dump for free. They are always too embarasses to dump $300 in change in the sorter, and stand around and wait for the "cute" tellers to change the bags, and whatever, so I always take the ticket to the teller and have them deposit $20.00 in my account and I take the rest in cash.....so far, it is worked all 3 times, I said to my friends..."they made me deposit 20 bucks, so I will have to go to the atm to withdraw it"......they so far always say, "just keep it!"; "for your trouble". Trust me it is always a hassle since it is several hundred in quarters, dimes, and nickels, which always involves multiple bag changes by frail 18 yr. old tellers, who can barely pick up a quarter bag.......(I also make my acquaintances sort out all the cents, and keep them for themselves, I am doing them a favor.) In the end, I make 20 bucks a pop, when they should go to coinstar, and find there own damn ride, and don't bother calling me, but it seems I am so cool just to be around, I can't figure out why people who are SO cheap can't do the math and realize I am really expensive. US Bancorp (US Banks) have free Brinks sorting machines for all it's cutomers with accounts. Non-customers is around $0.07. I do not advocate any open any banking accounts of any kind, and in fact am sick of all FDIC insured banks which include US Bancorp. I am absolutely sick and tired of FDIC, and have ranted and yelled at folks at the Federal Reserve, and The Office of the Comptroller of Currency, and it does no good, I am this close to moving everything to "invisible", or a credit union. If that ever became the case than, YES it would be a good deal to dump dimes at a coinstar. Dimes are the only useless coin in my opinion. I keep all cents and nickels. Quarters arent bad to keep on hand, and are easy enough to spend, (i don't need a machine telling me I have 4 quarters, and taking 10 cents of it), so dimes....I would dump away, and be all the happier, that the US Gov't aint got sh*t on me.

in other words, or to sum up a LONG story.....coinstar is AWESOME if you want to remain anonymous.

From an amateur who hasn't had to get any dirty looks yet(haven't bought/dumped enough to be noticed)... Here's my line of thinking. If you look at the average "yield", that's the only way to do it. If you were sorting massive quantities on any of the silver coins, you're going to LOSE with coinstar. You'd be better off buying coins at a coin store because the silvers are too low a dollar amount of silver to their face value ratio.

NOW, with coppers since they come in at a way higher percentage of the coins, even though they're a lower "return" per coin over face (2/3X as opposed to 20X+) because they're such a high percentage you would still actually come out pretty ok. Say on $100 face you get $25 face copper... $50 bucks at 2x, you're only going to pay $7.50 to coinstar. With silver to pull a hundred dollars of silver out you're going to go through maybe $2000 face. $200 dollars in fees. Not workable.

So, by my line of thinking if you didn't want to dump pennies at a bank and "deal with it", coinstar would be a valid way to dump. You won't get any flack from them, ya know? It's certainly eating a fair bit of cash, but you're still coming out waaay ahead. If you were sorting with a machine being able to dump that much extra could make it worth it because it would save a lot of hassle. PLUS it would free you up to annoy your banker purely with silver coins if you sort both silver and copper. But absolutely not viable with silver.

BTW Since I'm considering doing this, depending on how cooperative my banks (already have accounts at 2 before anything extra for this) are any thoughts/flaws in my logic would be appreciated!

Talking about %'s.....I have three local branches of the same bank...Fifth/Third...that has different rates for non-account holders at their lobby coin machines.
I have an account so it's 0 for me!

But 1 branch charges 3%, another charges 5%, and the last one charges 10% for non-account holders. All three branches are located within 10-12 miles of each other.

Kinda odd.

If the coinstar bugs out it'll spit out your ticket without charging a fee if you selected gift card. try to get a gift card and it can't do it because there's no internet, it'll give you no charge. There's a little phone line in the back of the machine that goes into the wall that could easily 'fall out' when you're using it if you find one convenient to do it.

Well that's the other side note I was gonna throw in until I realized I'd written a novel... Coinstar is steep, but a lot of random banks will do it with a smaller fee. So if you want to not be a little more under the radar, and not a pain in the neck just using their machines would be better.

My credit union has a coin star in the lobby, only charges 4%. I would check every bank/credit union in the area.

Ive been using my local publix coin counter for 8% fees. Hate using them but there are no branches or CUs in the area with free coin counters. I did the math and once I get to $100 FV in Cu cents I end up paying the same as if I would have bought off ebay, however by sorting I do get 5-6 rolls of Wheat cents, quite a few canadian cents and maybe even an Indian Head cent. Im averaging about 18%-22% coppers in a box but I rather put up with the fees now and get as much as I can rather than do it years later when the copper percentages drop significantly and its not even worth it anymore. One day we'll look back and realize how lucky we were to be getting so many Cu cents at face value.

[Dupe.]

Myself, I use a $25 battery-operated coin sorter with rechargable batteries. I can get through about a box an hour if I'm on a roll. Once they're rolled, I take 'em to the bank and pay no fees.

So I'm cheap.

I'm totally new myself and just finished hand sorting out my first box of pennies, crazypennyguy where did you find a cheap battery powered coin sorter? This sounds like a better way until one can justify the higher priced sorters

grayth wrote:I'm totally new myself and just finished hand sorting out my first box of pennies, crazypennyguy where did you find a cheap battery powered coin sorter? This sounds like a better way until one can justify the higher priced sorters

I should clarify: By "coin sorter," I mean one of those portable jobbies that sorts coins into demoninations and shoots them into plastic tubes from which you can roll them. It just helps in re-rolling; it's not a mini-Ryedale.

Anyways, it turns out I was wrong on the price. My old one busted and I bought a new ones from Staples...for about $45. It's called an Ultra-Sorter (and it actually got some poor reviews.)