No Financial Sense Means No Cents

Let me apologize in advance if I end up offending you but I JUST DON’T GET IT!

Every time I’m at the grocery store, I see a dodo at a Coinstar machine cashing in their change. Don’t they realize that they are paying 9.8%!

It reminds me of the days when my kids would have happily accepted TWO one dollar bills in exchange for their ONE five dollar bill.

At a time when savings accounts at banks are paying .2% interest, giving up 9.8% is outrageous! Makes me want to put my name and phone number on the machine with a note saying, call me, I’d be happy to drive to your house, give you cash for your coins and only charge you 6%, and by the way, I have some swamp land in Florida you might be interested in.

I understand that you are paying for convenience but this seems ridiculously high. I was heartened recently when the machine gives you an option of not paying a fee if you take your proceeds in the form of a gift card for one of their retail partners. That makes sense IF you shop there anyway and you remember to use the card but Coinstar and their retailers know that a high percentage of the cards will never be used.

As I was doing a little research for this blog, I had to laugh when I came across a web page that showed how you can fool a Coinstar machine and cash in your dough without paying a fee. I assume the author felt the same way I do about the fees but he has taken it farther than I would.

One other interesting tid bit that I found….Coinstar Inc. also does the Redbox DVD rental machines that you see inside and outside of stores. Very clever ideas that have made the stock perform well until a week ago when the stock fell 27% in one day after they announced some disappointing earnings.

Like I mentioned right up front, if you are an avid Coinstar user, please accept my apologies and please consider reading our I’m A Shareholder KIT to improve your financial literacy.

P.S.  Hit the image on the right for an unforgettable deal on swampland……just kidding.