Coinstar
by Jeff
Image text: Plus they take like 9%.
This comic combines the holiday tradition of giving out and consuming chocolate coins, which are chocolate formed in the shape of coins with foil wrappers and the Coinstar vending machines that you see frequently in Grocery stores and shopping malls around the US. The Coinstar machines take all your coins, sort and count them and then give you the amount of money in cash (less 9 or 10% as it says in the image text - but if you get the Amazon gift card, you can keep the whole proceeds.)
Also, just as a reminder, we are still submitting entries for explanations of back catalog xkcd comics. We have got a bunch of awesome entries so far that I haven't had time to go post yet, so don't hesitate to submit!
December 26th, 2011
Can anybody confirm that this works?
December 26th, 2011
The sounds emanating from the machine seem to indicate that it doesn’t.
December 28th, 2011
I can confirm that CoinStar is a waste of time for anything but pennies. Think about it, if you put four US Quarter Dollars in, the CoinBorg will eat “like 9 cents” and it would have been just as easy to simply SPEND those quarters.
And also too, you will get some small change back ANYWAY when you cash in the machine receipt. Unless you calculate carefully when you get to the final few coins…
December 26th, 2011
I believe you mean “confirm that it doesn’t work.” And I can.
The chocolate coins are the wrong size and weight, which are the two criteria the machine uses to sort coins. The machine may or may not be damaged (as implied in the comic) but you will definitely lose your chocolate coins and you will definitely NOT get any cash.
December 26th, 2011
Well, if you break it enough, random money may come out. It’s like a piñata, except the candy goes in!
December 26th, 2011
I was only considering it before, but now I HAVE to try it.
December 27th, 2011
And waste all that good chocolate?! Never!
Actually the chocolate that goes into chocolate coins is even worse than hershey… yeah, go ahead and try it.
December 27th, 2011
Haven’t tried it, but I wouldn’t expect to lose the chocolate coins. They should just drop into the coin return, just like anything else that isn’t a valid US legal-tender coin.
December 28th, 2011
Actually, the machines don’t use size and weight. Well, not size, and not weight directly. This isn’t the “slide coins down the ramp and larger ones don’t fall thru the first smaller holes” coin sorter you had as a kid.
Coins are evaluated on several properties including electro-magnetic ones, compared to standards and kicked (literally) into reject chute if they don’t pass muster.
(Also “The Coinstar machines take all your coins, sort and count them..” No. No sorting occurs. All accepted coins drop into a big single bin.)
December 27th, 2011
There is dropped money under the front bottom edge of every one of those machines.
And often there’s still some coins under the removable tray.
Wash Your Hands After Touching These!
December 27th, 2011
I still don’t understand the concept of these machines.
They deduct some 9% just for the privilege of changing coins to bills?
Or they give you an Amazon gift card, which is less useful to you than the cash you put in?
Why not just spend the coins?
It can’t be true that Americans don’t think of coins as money, can it?
December 27th, 2011
It is true that Americans don’t think of coins as money. The largest common denomination coin in the US is $0.25 which will buy you exactly nothing. It takes so many coins to purchase anything that Americans typically don’t bother carrying them around. Contrast this with, say, Japan where the largest denomination coin is 500 yen which converts to $6.40, more than 25 times the value of Americans’ pitiful quarter. Imagine having to carry 25 US coins to equal the value of a single Japanese coin. And imagine trying to count out that many coins in order to purchase anything more expensive than a candy bar. It’s very cumbersome. That’s why Americans will pay the 9% for the privilege of exchanging coins to bills. Personally, I spend my quarters and exchange my dimes, nickels, and pennies when I’ve collected a jarful.
December 27th, 2011
Another common problem is that you often get confused looks from cashiers when you try to pay with a mix of coins and bills when you don’t pay the exact amount. For example, suppose you want to get rid of some of your pennies. If the total comes to $4.33, you might pay $5.08 so you can spend 8 of your pennies, and get three quarters in change, instead of $.67 in change. What will probably happen is the cashier will probably already have punched in $5.00 into the terminal, look at you confusedly when you hand over 8 pennies, repeat that the total is $4.33, return to you the 8 pennies, and then hand over $.67 in change. Or he’ll hunt and peck for the undo button, then punch slowly punch in $5.08 so he can figure out how much change you’re supposed to get, wondering the whole time if you’re trying to rip him off.
December 28th, 2011
This is funny
In Germany it´´s soemtiems the other way round: You got to pay 5.18 and give 5.50, becuse it´´s a pain to figner for those 5 and 1 cent coins , and the 50 cent ones are jus the biggest ( physically, biggest value value coin is 2 €) we have, so easy to grap.
Then often a cashier asks if you don´t have that 18 cent in correct coins, or a t least a 20 cent coin so he doesn´t need to give so much change.
Same happens if you buy soemthing for 45.18 or such, and pay with a 50€ bill. It´s jsut way easier for them to give you back a 5€ bill then 2×2€+ 50cent+10cent+20cent+2cent in coins.
Reason is often the limited amount of change they got. So they try to give out as less small coins as possible , fearing to run out of them before their shift ends.
December 28th, 2011
Maybe we here in Eurozone need such a machine as well… wait, I have a business idea right now
December 29th, 2011
We in Eurozone have machines that work the other way round: you put in bills and get rolls of coins out. At least in one bank that’s next to a place where there’s a farmer’s market 3 times a week in my home town. But I have no idea how much the service charge is.
Back to US: what about Las Vegas? At least back in the 90s when I was there, you had these cardboard buckets to collect your quarters from the slot machines. OK, you could exchange them to bills in the casino (if you had any left…)
December 29th, 2011
Well, a 2€ coin is worth ten times more than the largest US coin the $1/4
January 2nd, 2012
Yes indeed, but that’s not the point. The point is when I have to pay €42.51, it’s way more cumbersome to give the change for a €50 note than for €50.01 (i.e. one note and one coin) or even less for €52.01 (i.e. one note and two coins). This would also work if €2 was not a coin, but a note. And this would also work with dollars and cents.
I think the real problem with Americans is (that they cannot do maths – no, no prejudices, please!) that it’s more complicated to notice a difference of $.25 (one coin) than €.20 or €.50 (both one coin). Sam described the problem very well.
December 28th, 2011
I’m a cashier, and this is 100% true. I feel ashamed of myself every time this happens, but I just don’t know how to do simple arithmetic in my head. I want to learn the skill, but, surprisingly for someone like you, don’t know where to find lessons. Everything’s “2+2=4,” or they show you how to work it out on paper (which I can do.) I don’t know how to acquire the skill of doing this confidently in my head.
It’s especially irritating because I have a summa cum laude degree, and the people tossing in extra coins are unwashed hicks.
Sam, instead of complaining, perhaps you could teach us how to handle this math so easily in our heads as you. I would be very interested in learning what process is followed by people who can just intuitively say, “Oh, here, take this nickel.”
December 28th, 2011
I can’t do the math easily in my head either so I shouldn’t have complained. What I meant is, “this is what makes it hard for everyone involved.” I only did it when I desperately needed extra quarters to do my laundry. I blame the mental math difficulty on the quarter. It’s a lot harder to add or subtract .25 than it is to subtract .20 or .50. With .25 you have to add or subtract two digits instead of one and that forces you to carry or borrow the 1 a lot. When I was in Korea and Japan, I found that mental math on coins was a lot easier partly because of the denominations (10, 50, 100, 500 in both Korea and Japan), and also partly because you don’t have to worry about sales tax, and also partly because they tend to price things so the math is easy, like 1000 yen instead of 999 yen.
But since you ask, I think the process that customers go through when giving you extra coins is something like this.
“Hmm. The total is $4.03. I have a $5. Damn, it would be so much more convenient if the total were $4.00 so I could get a dollar change. Oh, I can pay an extra 3 cents and that’s like taking 3 cents off the total so that will be the same as if the total were $4.00.” So he pays 3 more cents, $5.03.
Similarly, “Hmm. The total is $4.33. I have a $5. Damn, it would be so much more convenient if the total were $4.25 so I can get 3 quarters change. Oh, since .33 is .08 more than .25, I can pay an extra 8 cents and that would be the same as if the total were $4.25.” So he pays 8 more cents, $5.08. Note that the customer never actually does the whole calculation of 5.08-4.33. That would be hard. The only calculation the customer does is .33-.25 (what he owes minus what he wants to owe) which is not so hard.
So, for you as the cashier, to mentally calculate the change, there’s really two cases, the easy case is where you don’t have to borrow from the dollar (e.g. $5.25 – $4.08), and the hard case is where you do have to borrow from the dollar (e.g. $5.08 – $4.33).
The easy case (e.g. $5.25 – $4.08) is easy because you subtract the dollars (e.g. 5-4=1) to calculate what bills to give and you subtract the cents (e.g. 25-8=17) to calculate what coins to give. And I think learning to subtract 2 digit numbers in your head is pretty straightforward.
The hard case (e.g. $5.08 – $4.33) is hard because you have to borrow from the dollar so you have to subtract 3 digit numbers instead of 2 digit numbers. What you can do instead is subtract the extra change the customer gives you from the total he owes. So instead of thinking of it as $5.08 – $4.33, think of it as $5.00 – ($4.33 – $.08). Then you have to calcuate 33-8=25 in your head (two digit subtraction, relatively easy), and then you have to calculate $5.00 – $4.25 which is the kind of math you probably run into all the time.
Or (and this is what you might do if you’ve already punched in $5.00 into the register), you can add the extra coins that the customer gave you to the change you already owe the customer. E.g. $5.00 – $4.33 + $.08. 5.00-4.33 is .67 (which you would have already gotten from the register), then you add 8 cents to get .67+.08=.75 (two digit addition).
I don’t know if this will make it any easier for you. But that’s the idea anyway. Assuming you can do two digit addition and subtraction in your head, you can probably pick this up with a little practice.
December 28th, 2011
Also, on mentally adding or subtracting two digit numbers, contrary to what you would do on paper, it’s easier to start with the most significant digit and work your way to the least significant digit (similar to how you’d do division on paper).
For example, if you were to do 89 – 25, the thought process would be this. Eighty minus twenty is sixty. Nine minus five is four. So sixty four.
It’s a little harder if you have to borrow the one. For example, if you were to do 83 – 25, the thought process would go something like this. Eighty minus twenty, that’s sixty. Three minus five, I have to borrow the one so instead of sixty I have fifty. Then thirteen minus five is eight. So I have fifty eight.
Or… I know I’m going to have to borrow a one so I have seventy minus twenty. That’s fifty. Then thirteen minus five is eight. So fifty eight.
January 2nd, 2012
For the hard case ($5.08 – $4.33), I’d calculate $4.33 – $.08 = $4.25, so the situation is *as if* I was handed a $5 and the amount to pay was $4.25.
So, in short, I subtract the extra coins from the amount to pay and then act as if the extra coins were not there.
December 29th, 2011
What is a summa cum laude degree? Would that be from the School of Arts or the School of Science? Also, does that cause confusion with people who graduate with distinction; e.g. summa cum laude or magna cum laude? I would not know these things, being a college dropout and, therefore, one of the unwashed hicks. However, I *am* a computer administrator and I can do mathematical calculation in my head which should count for something…
January 2nd, 2012
cum Laude = with honors
magna cum Laude = with high honors
summa cum Laude = with highest honors (summa – like summit of a mountain)
thanks to Magistra Felkel, high school Latin.
December 30th, 2011
Easy as pi. Take the order total and count up to the amount you were given. Say the order total is, for example, $4.33 and you were given a $5 bill. Count up, getting change as you go. $4.34, $4.35 (two pennies,) $4.40 (one nickel,) $4.50 (one dime,) $4.75, $5.00 (two quarters.) If they hand you two pennies with the $5 bill, they go with the three pennies and nickel to make another dime, so you put the two pennies in and get a dime instead of the three pennies and a nickel.
Or at least that’s how I always did it.
December 28th, 2011
I’m fairly certain you can go to any bank and change them out. And to the commenter below, I used to cashier…it took me a while to get used to those people. P.S. Coins jingle so much…no one likes that.
December 28th, 2011
Whoops, forgot the reply hierarchy. Commenter *above* would be more appropriate.
December 28th, 2011
I once rolled all of my change, probably about $75 I went to a branch of my bank, they said they didn’t take change (small branch in an office building), I tried to buy groceries with the rolled change, they said no, unless I unrolled it and counted it. I went to 2 banks downtown and they said the didn’t take change unless I had an account. The 3rd bank gave me cash.
Now I just get Amazon gift cards, cus it isn’t worth it.
December 28th, 2011
What was the name of the third bank?
January 2nd, 2012
Coins, like bills, are legal tender for all debts in the US. Except Congress made pennies only legal tender for up to and including 50c because so many people were paying their IRS (tax) bill with pennies and leaving them with postage due in protest.
Most banks should accept the rolled coins, but may require that you print your name and phone number on them in case they come up short. They can put them in their coin weight meters to confirm that they are good. Any bank teller that refuses is just being lazy, ask to speak to a manager.
Any store is required under law to take the coins, but they may require you to count them out for them. Almost all stores have a little scale in their cash office that very accurately weighs the rolls or coins and will display how much is there. These scales also weigh the bills (say 151 x $10 bills ) and display how many are there ( = $1,510).
December 28th, 2011
@Harm “I’m fairly certain you can go to any bank and change them out”
From actual experience (since I get several pounds of coins during Girl Scout Cookie season):
4 out of 5 banks or credit unions that have the walk-up machines, charge around 9 percent of the counted total. Even for customers.
December 28th, 2011
Basic feature: Drop in your coins, for 9% fee you get voucher that you then take to cashier (typical Coinstar machine location is in grocery store) and get paper.
Other features:
Drop in your coins, buy gift card (Amazon, iTunes, Eddie Bauer, etc etc). NO fee.
Drop in your coins, make charitable donation (Red Cross, WWF, etc etc). NO fee.
Some allow direct deposit to bank accounts, payment of bills is being worked on.
December 28th, 2011
At my nearest grocery’s machine, you get a voucher that says “Redeem at Cashier within 24 Hours” and when you present it to a cashier, you are directed to the Courtesy Booth instead. Which, last time I tried, was closed for the day.
December 28th, 2011
Sounds like The *store’s* not doing what it should.
January 2nd, 2012
@Rick, that is just too funny.
December 29th, 2011
I also don’t understand the point of taking 9%, that sounds absurd. It is a money stealing machine!
We have coin-sorting machines here, but mostly in the banks, and they don’t steal from your cash. They give you back what you put in.
January 6th, 2012
I’m American, and sure our coins aren’t worth much, but I’m not sure how so many people collect so many coins. Coins go in the coin-pocket in my wallet, and whenever I can I make exact change, which clears it out nicely and makes the cashier happy. So I never need a Coinstar or similar device.
December 30th, 2011
I just spend change as I get it, or a day or two later in a vending machine. I never have understood how change piles up for some people.
January 4th, 2012
Vending machines are pretty much the only place where Americans will happily pay for something with a handful of coins. Whenever I know I’m going to be visiting a vending machine, I try to pay for whatever I’m getting with the largest number of coins possible (e.g. buying .75 for a soft drink with 15 nickels) whereas I’d never do that if I were paying a cashier, nor would I carry that many coins in my pocket if I didn’t know I was going to be visiting a vending machine. But alas, my daily routine doesn’t take me by a vending machine anymore. And even when it did, after a year or two, I’d end up with a jar full of pennies.
One thing I think is interesting to note is that while I rarely carry change in my pocket (and thus collect change at home when I empty my pockets), I always have some change in my car. When I get change from a drive through window, I dump the change in my cup holder, and when I pay for something in the drive through window, I check the cup holder to see if I can make exact change. And when I do that, the numbers of coins in my cup holder stays relatively low.
January 6th, 2012
Ah, the difference between carrying a wallet and not carrying a wallet. I never put anything in my pockets (except gloves go in the pockets of the coat they coordinate with) so I never have change to empty and clear out. I keep change in my wallet, so it functions like the coins in your cupholder.
(And I’m American, btw.)
January 9th, 2012
I do carry a wallet. I’m guessing you’re female (since you say you never put anything in your pockets and that would probably be more common for woman than for men). I think it’s the difference between carrying a purse and not carrying a purse. My wallet doesn’t have a coin pouch and in my experience, most men’s wallets don’t have coin pouches because coins make the wallet too bulky to comfortably fit in the back pocket where many men carry wallets. On Amazon, the top 29 bestselling men’s wallets don’t have coin pouches. Women’s wallets are just larger in general since they’re intended to fit in purses rather than pockets.
January 3rd, 2012
I don’t know what banks they have in the US, but I’ve been with both the Alberta Treasury Branch and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and there is no charge to convert coins into other cash, or to deposit said coins into your account.