small change

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i am cleaning small change out of various nooks and crannies, and it seems i have a lot of it.

what's a good way to get it turned into useful money around here? just take it to a bank? is there still a machine for change at the shaw's in porter square? any charities accepting bucket-o-change?

your tuppence (figuratively) solicited :)

Comments

[ron_newman]

Your bank might take it, depending on who they are and how much you've got.

Shaw's does have a CoinStar machine. (Click on 'Detail' under the first listed location.) You can either let them deduct a fee, or give it all to charity, or put it all on a gift card from certain retailers. I'd stay clear of the Borders gift card unless you want to spend it all immediately, given that they are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

thanks! :)

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

I use the Coinstar at Shaws in Porter and get around the fee by getting an Amazon credit. If you want cash they take like 9%.

[eanja]

Although I feel I should point out that the last time I used that machine, I actually knew how much money I was putting in (I needed an amazon certificate for an exact amount), and it just kept about 45 cents out of my 12.50. It's supposed to return any coins it doesn't like, but it doesn't. And I'm pretty sure there was nothing wrong w/ them to begin with.

I suspect most people figure loseing a little extra is still worth not counting it yourself, but if be aware that they are not necessarily that accurate.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

*nods* thanks, good to know. i have a change-counting jar at home that i'm filling, so i'll know about how much i have too, but i've also noticed that mine's not perfectly accurate either.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I <3 the shaws coinstar... i've probably used it 30 or so times. Of that, at least 5 times I've selected the amazon credit and it had an error and just gave me the cash credit with no fee :)

Coin Drive

[2ndchancesinc.livejournal.com]

Please come to our June Public Clothing and Coin Drive on June 22, 2011 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Somerville Community Growing Center - details at www.secondchances.org in early June.

We'd be thrilled to have your coins (as well as any clothing you'd like to donate) and will put them to good use serving people in our community.

Re: Coin Drive

[gingicat]

That's much more local than my suggestion. (A private school near where I work collects coins for a hunger organization.)

Re: Coin Drive

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

great, thanks for the pointer! :)

[avecvu.livejournal.com]

TD Bank on Alewife Brook has a Coinstar-esque machine that is free to use. You do not have to be a member of the bank to use it. (That was the case as recently as last year, in any event.)

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

oh, awesome! thank you very much :)

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

I find TD Bank to be awesome in general in this regard...there is one near me that is open until 8PM many nights. I get out of work at 7PM and often need to change $20s for smaller bills for work. They have never given me a hard time about it, or even asked if I had an account there.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Everybody beat me to the Coinstar suggestion. But I need to reply just so I point out to the world in general that I once paid for an entire Thanksgiving dinner by bringing my coin pail to the Coinstar in Porter. :-)

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

mine looks like it is getting to that level! (i have a totalling jar that i'm stuffing them into -- i am frankly sort of shocked :)

[ron_newman]

If you click on the 'banking' tag that I slapped on this post, and search for the words 'coin' or 'change', you'll find a bunch of earlier posts on this subject.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

thank you, informative and useful moderator! :)

[ron_newman]

And if I'm reading CoinStar's website correctly, you can use their machine at the Somerville Stop & Shop to get a Stop & Shop gift card, which you can then spend on groceries there.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

good to know -- though i never shop at stop&shop, i suppose they probably sell food there :)

[squirrelitude]

I separate the pennies out and then take handfuls of the remaining coins with me to the T. Each time I take the T, I add up to 20 coins to my Charlie Card. :-)

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

ooh, excellent! :)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

That is actually tremendously clever.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

There is also a coinstar machine at Johnnys near 16!

[blondeamazon.livejournal.com]

I know some of the local small animal rescue leagues would love your change. I can't think of the name of any of them right now, but Google is your friend.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

The East Cambridge Savings Bank on Mass Ave also has a free change machine (I think you might have to have an account there to use it.) Its getting a little old and they tell me they are replacing it with a Coinstar because they can't fix it anymore, but its still there.

I too wonder about how accurate the count is on these machines, in general, but I guess I am too lazy to roll them...