Don't Pay More Than 5% for coin counting!

Don't pay 8.9% for coin counting. Whereas the supermarket Coinstar machines charge that much, many banks and credit unions will charge half as much or less. Call your bank or credit union and ask, and visit www.TheUnderstory.com to find other institutions in your area for cheap coin counting.

Just think, if you dump a gallon of typically mixed change into a coin counting machine, you would be counting around $180 dollars. Instead of giving the supermarket Coinstar machines almost $10 ($8.90), you could do if for $5 or even free!

Don't pay anything for counting coins! If you do, you're actually losing money when you think you're saving. This is often referred to as the Money Jar Trap (http://www.savingadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4827)

Find a credit union in your area that doesn't charge (credit unions are more likely not to charge for this service)

If you can't find a credit union or bank, consider using the coins to purchase stamps. You get 100% value and the machines at the post office will take everything except pennies.

Many coinstar machine now offer gift cards instead of cash and you do not pay any fees on them. I cashed in some change in November and opted for a Amazon gift card.

Alternatively, if you have a lot of coin that needs counting you could invest in one of these: Coin Counter (http://www.airgead.ie/catalog/coin_counters_coin_sorters.html)

Why spend more money on a coin-counter than you have dollar value in coins? Why not spend more on stock research than you have money to invest in the market while you are at it?

Find a bank that counts your coins for free or roll them yourself. Period.

If you want to throw money away, I'll be more than happy to provide my info to you.

lets see, most would agree that to save the hassle of counting coins, 5% is a legitimate price to pay .... yet how many think that paying a 5% load on a mutual fund for the advice that comes with the purchase is highway robbery?

many people think picking a mutual fund is easy, or developing a portfolio, or doing a comprehensive financial plan ... i disagree. but everyone will agree that everyone has the capability to roll 40 quarters into a 10 container!!!

penny wise ... pound foolish.

Another popular lesson is “Pay attention to the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves."

Yes - definitely DIY (eg. rolling/bagging the coins) in front of the TV and pay nothing to deposit coins in your bank/credit union. Or, if you can't be bothered, just spend a small amount of coin each day when making cash payments ie. tender exact amounts at the grocery store etc.

ps. getting a gift card from a counting machine is probably not really 'free' - the whole gift card industry works on the basis that consumers a) spend more freely when using a gift card ("it isn't the same as spending cash"), and wind up buying stuff they otherwise would not have purchased, b) spend higher amounts when using a gift card (eg. buying $65 worth of books from Amazon using a $50 gift card and "topping up" the rest of the payment). So you probably end up wasting more than 5% of the cash value of the coins if you convert them into a gift card rather than deposting the money into a savings account.

pps. My son earns around $25-$35 in coins most weekends from busking for half an hour or so. He spends just a few minutes counting his total "take" and recording it when he gets home, and stores the $1 and $2 coins in different money boxes. He puts all the 5c, 10c, 20c and 50c coins straight into plastic zip-lock bags provided by his bank. That way he doesn't pay any fee when depositing the coins each month as the bank can simply weigh each bag. If we were in the US he'd be rolling the coins rather than bagging them.