Talked to a Coinstar tech today - *Update- Response*

[TxTim]

I saw a tech working on a new Coinstar machine in the grocery store lobby today (beer was on sale..), and he was very nice and informative. He showed me the inner workings of the new machine and I spied a "dust box" which I recognized as the internal reject container. He said he collected silver coins and gets quite a few from the dust box including large dollars to the tune of 1-2 Peace and Morgans a month! I told him that I've found silver dimes in the external trays before and wondered if the machines reject all silver.
His answer was no - but it does reject a percentage of silver. He said most of the coins including many foreign end up in the boxes.
There were two locked, steel boxes on wheels which Brinks handles when they are full.
I asked if they were available to buy and he said yes and told me to contact the headquarters in Washington state or a regional office and wasn't sure about the details except that they held $3,000 - $5,000 when full.
It was my understanding that they were not for sale but I fired off an e-mail to them out of curiosity.

Here's the response I expected from Coinstar:

Thank you for your interest in Coinstar. Regarding your inquiry of buying back coins, Coinstar is not in the business of selling coins as it is time consuming for Coinstar and our Service Providers. In addition, Coinstar’s patented technology allows our processors to filter out foreign coins and does not accept Eisenhower silver dollars, Sacajawea coins, 1943 steel pennies and pure silver coins, which coin collectors are commonly in search of.



If you have further questions or concerns please contact our Customer Service Center .



Thank you.



Coinstar Customer Service

800-928-CASH (2274)

 

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[jim4silver]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

There was a cool History Channel episode about coin vending machines a month or so ago that talked about Coinstar machines. It said that the lock box holds 500 pounds of coins and somehow the machine "calls in" when it is in need of a new lock box.

The episode showed Brinks picking up the boxes and placing them in a big room full of other full Coinstar boxes. The boxes are then dumped into sorters and the coins are rolled and counted.

There is no way they will let us buy a lock box worth of coins. I am sure that it is not possible to know exactly how much is in there until it is dumped and counted. Even if you could buy one there is a chance you could get shorted some serious cash if the count was not correct.

Curious to see what their response back to you is though.

Jim

 

[solariscool]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

I'd like to own some of those machine. They are taking 9% of peoples money all day long. I'd love to sort thru those piles of coins.

 

[LJ]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

I was under the same impression as well Tim....about them not being for sell. Last year I called CoinStar and spoke to a rep who told me they was no way these bins could be bought. I dropped it after that conversation. Maybe it is just a matter of speaking with the right person.

I wish you luck....keep us posted.

 

[BBcardsRI]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

It might be like LJ said... finding the right person to talk to. Afterall, some banks REFUSE to sell bags from coin cointing machines to the reasoning of "we don't know EXACTLY how much is in the bag" and "we can't sell them because they are part of our balance with the FED, so we ship them out and the FED credits our account depending on exactly what is in the bag", both of which are BS excuses if you ask me, but I never push them.

I saw a cointech working on a machine a week or two ago and ALMOST went up to talk to them but the guy looked like he was in a rush and not all that "personable" so I passed, lol.

Good luck with your goal of buying one of those boxes... let us know if you get one!

~Dave

 

[puckhead]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

I contacted Coinstar last year when I first started this hobby and was told that the only way they do this, and there is no guarantee, is if you pay a fee ($40 at the time, surely higher now) and they will put you in touch with the carrier to meet and pick up the entire bin. This is not something that they do on a regular basis and only if you "lost" something, or had something stolen and you believe that it was put in a particular machine. I would say that you may be able to pull it off once, but I wouldn't try more than that. Also, who would help you lift that $3000 - $5000 in coin into & out of whatever vehicle you may have? I even tried the same thing at a local Vons (Safeway for some of you), as they have their own version of Coinstar, and they would not even hear of it. Good luck and HH.

 

[rsc]

Re: Talked to a Coinstar tech today

I have a buddy that works at a grocerystore that has a Coinstar machine. He was told by the store Mgt that all the coins from the "dust bin" were trash, and to throw them away. Yeah right........ He now checks the machines regularly, and throws them into HIS trash container in HIS garage. HH Gayle