Coinstar Reject Coins

SeabeeRon · Dec 13, 2016

Saw this on another forum and thought I'd share it here.

Son dumped father?s coin collection into CoinStar machine for money to buy crack | FOX2now.com

Kind of makes you think about all the times we (I) check those reject slots and coin return slots. I always thought of it as "Free Money'!

Back-of-the-boat · Dec 13, 2016

Sad state of affairs when a son does that to his father.

Marley230 · Dec 13, 2016

Back-of-the-boat said:
Sad state of affairs when a son does that to his father.

Very SAD state of affairs!

Loco-Digger · Dec 13, 2016

I am sure he's not the only one who's ever done it.

SeabeeRon · Dec 13, 2016

The drug addiction part of the story is indeed very sad.

I was more wanting to focus on coins we just grab from those coin return slots. I have never felt guilty about coins left behind in them, but by the strict "Rule of Law" we are thieves for keeping them! (Don't worry, I may not lose any sleep over my "found" clad!)

coinman123 · Dec 13, 2016

At first I felt really bad for the dad, and angry at the kid. After giving it a little thought, I actually feel really bad for the kid, for getting in to this sad situation, and having to steal from his own family to support his addiction. I bet he never expected that he would turn out like this when he first did crack. It is crazy what addiction can do to people!

kcm · Dec 13, 2016

SeabeeRon said:
The drug addiction part of the story is indeed very sad.

I was more wanting to focus on coins we just grab from those coin return slots. I have never felt guilty about coins left behind in them, but by the strict "Rule of Law" we are thieves for keeping them! (Don't worry, I may not lose any sleep over my "found" clad!)

I still have to wonder about that law. If the machine rejects the coins (for WHATEVER reason), and the person who dumped them refuses the coins (walking away is considered abandonment, right?), then just who WOULD they belong to - the store?? The person who empties the machine? The next customer who happens along and finds coins in the return slot?

Who "exactly" has ownership, or does it depend on the area/state?

SusanMN · Dec 13, 2016

kcm said:
I still have to wonder about that law. If the machine rejects the coins (for WHATEVER reason), and the person who dumped them refuses the coins (walking away is considered abandonment, right?), then just who WOULD they belong to - the store?? The person who empties the machine? The next customer who happens along and finds coins in the return slot?

Who "exactly" has ownership, or does it depend on the area/state?

Dont know but I have had Walmart clerks point out the leftovers to me, and store clerks watch as I scooped $23 worth of left coins into a plastic bag, so I doubt anybody cares. My Avatar picture by the way is a civil war token coin found in a reject slot a couple months ago.

Chizzy · Dec 13, 2016

It's not the first time I've heard of this happening..........the emotions of the victims are unique........they are extremely angry, but still have parental love for their addicted children............very sad...........

DeepseekerADS · Dec 13, 2016

SeabeeRon said:
I was more wanting to focus on coins we just grab from those coin return slots. I have never felt guilty about coins left behind in them, but by the strict "Rule of Law" we are thieves for keeping them! (Don't worry, I may not lose any sleep over my "found" clad!)

Yesterday I stopped in at a local grocery store, and on the way out, for some reason I looked over at the machine. Walked over and scooped out 17 clad quarters, all like they were brand spanking new. Coinstars rejecting mint state coins?

I'd only hit that coinstar three times in the past two years, retrieved a Middle Eastern coin once. So usually I ignored the curiosity. Those quarters mean I'll be paying better attention in the future.

Which overall adds to my curiosity. It is apparently rejecting mint state coins?

Edit: I only hit it 3 times because I was shy about doing it. Acceptable? My question leans with Susans!

Tom_in_CA · Dec 13, 2016

kcm said:
....then just who WOULD they belong to - the store?? The person who empties the machine? The next customer who happens along and finds coins in the return slot?....

Excellent question. I'll betcha that legally, the items in a store, belong to the store. It would be the same legal question as if you tried to say that you "found" coins in the cash register. It's private property afterall !

Thus shame on you to anyone who's ever pulled coins from the reject tray. Tsk tsk.

kcm · Dec 13, 2016

Tom_in_CA said:
Excellent question. I'll betcha that legally, the items in a store, belong to the store. It would be the same legal question as if you tried to say that you "found" coins in the cash register. It's private property afterall !

Thus shame on you to anyone who's ever pulled coins from the reject tray. Tsk tsk.

In a store, the cash registers "belong" to the store, and are operated by the employees. I have heard that a store employee may also service some coin machines, but the store doesn't "own" them. Just like the soda and gumball machines, they are usually owned by some independent vendor. So, if the vendor isn't there and makes no plans for abandoned coinage, and if the store doesn't own the machines, and if the person who dumped the coins doesn't claim them, then in MY very limited capacity, I would assume they are first-come, first-serve ownership.

DeepseekerADS · Dec 13, 2016

Thanks for the lashing Tom!

aa battery · Dec 13, 2016

sad story but this story is now everywhere and drugs have become the norm cause our world is getting worse. They do this to escape todays life for whatever reason. Pray if you must but times are getting worse.

Keith Jackson · Dec 13, 2016

coinman123 said:
At first I felt really bad for the dad, and angry at the kid. After giving it a little thought, I actually feel really bad for the kid, for getting in to this sad situation, and having to steal from his own family to support his addiction. I bet he never expected that he would turn out like this when he first did crack. It is crazy what addiction can do to people!

The thing is, from reading the article, the "kid" was 53.

Peyton Manning · Dec 13, 2016

SusanMN said:
Dont know but I have had Walmart clerks point out the leftovers to me, and store clerks watch as I scooped $23 worth of left coins into a plastic bag, so I doubt anybody cares. My Avatar picture by the way is a civil war token coin found in a reject slot a couple months ago.

yellow flag on the field!

your reject tray must be waaaaaaay bigger than the one I see

Peyton Manning · Dec 13, 2016

is the machine here different?
mine has the reject thingy in the front - hard not to see it

Tom_in_CA · Dec 13, 2016

kcm said:
In a store, the cash registers "belong" to the store, and are operated by the employees. I have heard that a store employee may also service some coin machines, but the store doesn't "own" them. Just like the soda and gumball machines, they are usually owned by some independent vendor....

Hmmm, ok, good point. Even though the machine belongs to the independent vendor, yet there must be some sort of legal subrogation for the management/franchise of the property to whom it sits on. For example, if the machine jams, guess who comes over to open it up and un-jam it ? A store employee (not the coin-star rep. employee). So that tells me that even though the machine is owned by someone else, yet they've got some sort of legal agreement of usage or staffing or something. Right ?

But even if we deduce that the machine, and the contents anywhere on/in it (the return tray, or wherever) belong to the vendor, not the store, then the problem still remains: You would merely be taking that independent vendor's property, right ? So no matter how you slice it, still not your property ?

Honest Samuel · Dec 13, 2016

Sorry for the coin collector. I hope that his son is getting treatment. I love these machines. One day in Walmart, I had found about 3 dollars in quarters and other coins and a bus token. I look into these machines most of the time. These coins are abandoned property. Yes, Tom, the coins belong to the finder. Good hunting and good luck.

SusanMN · Dec 13, 2016

jeff-gordon said:
yellow flag on the field!

your reject tray must be waaaaaaay bigger than the one I see

The $23 came from a bank coin counting machine located inside a grocery store. Unlike coin star machines, it had a little plastic door that you had to push in to see if there was anything there. Usually you'd reach in and get a finger full of lint or worse but this time the tray and chute going up was loaded with coins. Grabbed a handful and they just started to tumble onto the floor. I quick grabbed a bag from the checkout line and started emptying the reject tray. It wasn't exactly a stealth activity, some gentleman stopped to help me pick up the ones that spilled on the floor and I know more than one person was watching. a very fun/strange experience. A few months later they took this particular machine out and replaced it with one with an open tray. This was the machine I found my great civil war cent in this last summer.