Talked to a Coinstar Technician

[srcdco]

On Sunday, I stopped at our local Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of items and the technician was there working on the Coinstar machine. I approached him and mentioned that I'd never seen one open before. He seemed excited that someone was interested in it and told me all about how it works. It's a very simple machine. Once you dump your coins (and other junk) in, they drop into a semi-circular bin and the motor starts turning the wheel to pick them up (he was replacing the burnt-out motor in this one). The coins are carried to the top where they go down a chute, past a sensor (which costs $300 to replace) that determines if it is good or not. That determines whether the coin goes into the bin or the reject chute. The motor keeps spinning as long as there's something in the internal hopper to process. It does have a timeout so if it senses that something's still there to process, but nothing is going down the coin chute, it assumes that there's junk or coins larger than a half dollar in there and opens a trap door at the bottom of the hopper, dropping everything into an internal reject bin. The customer does not get those items back.
He showed me the cup that collects all that stuff. There were several Eisenhower dollars in it, some silver, some jewelry, and a lot of junk. When that is full, they empty it and go through it by hand. Anything of value is sold by Coinstar and the junk is disposed of. They do scrap the brass and copper junk. They find gold and silver jewelry all the time. The worse thing he's found in there was a live bullet. I offered to buy the coins out of there, but he said he could lose his job if he did that.
He was in the process of testing the new motor. He carries 20 of each denomination with him (cent through small dollar) to test the machine with. He said that there are sensors all over the machine, so they know everything that's happening with it. There's even a sensor just above the collecting bins that will tell the company if he reaches down in there to grab any coins out of the bin.
The machines are no longer hardwired to the internet via cable. They are being converted to wireless, to stop those people from pulling the network cable to get all their money. Their biggest problem is employee theft, both Coinstar employees and store employees. He told some stories about that. It was very interesting and he was happy to talk to me about it. In our area, the bins are emptied by Loomis. The machine calls "home" to be emptied when there are 600lbs. of coins in the bins. This machine was getting close. The right bin was full and the left bin was at least half full. He also said that they've been contacted by people whose coin collections have been stolen and cashed in. Their answer is "too bad". They don't give back coins once they are in the machine.

I thought some people might be interested in this.

Scott

 

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[starkizzle]

Good info, thanks for the share

 

[ramjet2187]

Thanks! That's some great information to know.

 

[toorude89]

I also approached a guy maintaining a coinstar and asked similar questions. He opened the machine and I saw a silver dime sitting on the ground just under the rim of the bottom of the machine. I picked it up and he quickly became serious and said he needed to get that back. He said if I took that on camera he could lose his job etc, etc. I said , "well, it was on the ground...so there's no way that could happen." He insisted that he needed that dime back because it had gone through the machine and been counted. I explained that I know it wasn't counted because it was rejected and ended up on the floor. I also pointed out that I could have very well dropped it myself when dumping and had it roll under the machine. He would hear none of it, so I said I didn't want to get him in trouble and gave it back. He tossed it in a plastic jug stored inside the machine and closed it up. Now I always take a deposit envelope and swipe it under the rim of the machine in case another silver jumps the tray and ends up underneath. So far just some clad. Don't let people BS you. The End.

 

[strycker]

Sounds to me like Coinstar is stealing money from people. They already take 10% and unless there is a notice that it can not accept silver items or large dollars, I'd constitute that as theft. If an item is rejected it should be dropped for the customer to pick up and take, not kept for Coinstar to sell. That is why I've never used their machines. I can count my own money, keep 10% and drop it off at the bank.

 

[Darth Walker]

Very good info. I have just found in the pass one silver rosie on the floor close to the coin star machine like if it bounced and dropped. I have found clad on the reject bin several nickles and last saturday lots of pennies on the machine bar because they were greasy and the owner just left them yet. It sucks tha of the internal rejected bin.
DW

 

[srcdco]

I was wondering why they don't let the other rejects route to the outer reject bin, too. He didn't have an answer for that since he didn't design the machine. I've never used the machine, either, but he said that there is a message on the screen telling the user to remove the large dollars, silver, and steel pennies (cents) as they are not guaranteed to be returned. I know it says that on their website, too:
"Coinstar's patented technology allows our processors to filter out foreign coins and other debris. However, these items may not be returned by our processors so it is a good idea to remove such items as Eisenhower silver dollars; 1943 steel pennies; foreign, damaged or sticky coins; pure silver coinage and other debris from your stored coins."

Scott

 

[BuffaloBoy]

Very cool! I always wondered how a coinstar worked, I know how most coin machines work, however, the process of handling the coins intrigues me. Thanks for sharing!

 

[MIhunter]

Sounds to me like Coinstar is stealing money from people. They already take 10% and unless there is a notice that it can not accept silver items or large dollars, I'd constitute that as theft. If an item is rejected it should be dropped for the customer to pick up and take, not kept for Coinstar to sell. That is why I've never used their machines. I can count my own money, keep 10% and drop it off at the bank.

I would agree with you that any coin counting machine that holds on to rejects is at least unfair if not dishonest.
If they are not going to credit you that should return it.
That includes banks with coin counters that use magnets to grab foreign coins (and 1943 pennies) and hold them.

 

[Eddie Current]

If what you say is accurate, they ARE stealing the extra stuff... if they can move it to a separate bin, they can give it back to the customer.

I do not use them because I put too much effort into finding the coins and I am not giving anyone 10%. I just roll them as I dig'em.

 

[Codes]

The only time I have used a Coinstar was this past Monday when all the banks were closed. Since the Coinstar down the road for me allows you to cash in coins for a no fee e-certificate I decided I would cash in $50.00 worth of pennies towards a Lowe's e-certificate. The machine was spot-on with the count as well.

 

[hokiemojo]

Every time this comes up, people complain. READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE. You have to push a button saying that you agree to them before you use the machine. It clears says that if you put anything other than US coins in, you may not get them back. It is a coin counter. Put in your coins and it will count them. If you put something else in and it doesn't return it, that is your problem. Why are you putting something other than coins in a coin counter?

 

[Avago]

What!? I always mix my coins with gold and silver jewelry! Heh, agreed hokiemojo. Dump at your own risk.

 

[ivan salis]

the coinstar machine culls silver coins to it reject bin --if folks are not watching or do not notice it hitting the reject reclaim hole and simply walk away ---one can score silver and foreign coin and token rejects..,