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Do you have a bowl full of change gathering dust in your home or countless pennies lining the bottom of your junk drawer? Then it’s time to take action and turn in your random amounts of change for cash.

A coin-counting machine makes quick work of tallying your pile of pennies — or whatever types of coins you have. And if you’re ready to cash your change in, Coinstar may be the easiest way. However, you will have to give up part of your coins for the convenience.

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Take a look at what you’ll find in this guide to Coinstar services and locations.

Coinstar is a service that helps you cash in your small change by counting it and paying you the value, minus a fee. The company describes it best: “Turn your coins into cash.”

Coinstar has green kiosks located at supermarkets and retail stores nationwide. All you need to do is dump your change into the machine. Once you do, the kiosk will complete the hard work by sorting and counting out and displaying the total value of your coins. You can cash out the coins in three ways:

Using a Coinstar machine is pretty simple. Here are the steps you should follow:

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You may find Coinstar kiosks at major grocery stores and retailers nationwide including:

If you’d like cash, there is an 11.9% fee, which may vary according to the kiosk location. There is no fee to use Coinstar if you choose to donate the funds or receive an eGift Card. The eGift Card can only be redeemed at 21 retailers and restaurants:

Paying an 11.9% fee to trade your coins into cash can be steep. That’s almost $12 when you cash in $100 worth of change. If you have the time to sort your change and place it in paper wrappers to make coin rolls, you can trade in your coins for cash for free at your bank. Some banks may even throw in the paper coin rolls.

Most banks used to have coin counters for customer use. But over time, the machines disappeared. Few banks have coin counters available anymore, and in most cases, they are only for customer use. Check out these banks and credit unions that offer coin counters:

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If you’ve traded in your coins for cash before, you’ve probably noticed that collecting small change can add up fast. Why not try using the method to grow your rainy day fund?

Designate a large bowl or jar as your “piggy bank.” Every time you pay for something and receive change, drop the coins into the bowl. Once you feel you’re ready, cash in your coins and deposit them in your savings account.

Click through to read more on effective ways to trick yourself into saving money.

Information is accurate as of May 17, 2022.

Every day, get fresh ideas on how to save and make money and achieve your financial goals.

Advertiser Disclosure: Many of the offers appearing on this site are from advertisers from which this website receives compensation for being listed here. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). These offers do not represent all available deposit, investment, loan or credit products.

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