Coinstar to Target Gift Card to Disney Gift Card?

[Princesses and Pirates]

Have a ton of loose change here. Over 500.00 and counting.....Going to talk to the bank first to see if they charge for counting. If they don't I'm thinking of trying the coin star machine to get Target gift cards and then try to use those to get Disney gift cards for our upcoming trip. Has anyone done this? Will there be issues with this? Should I try a small amount to start with and see how it works? If it works, can I pay for items on our vacation with gift cards? Would that only be at the hotel desk? Sorry for all the questions....saving change seemed like an easy thing to do at the time but not sure what to do with it all now, lol!

Thanks!

 

[Princesses and Pirates]

Oh. Never mind. Doesn't appear to be an option to get Target gift cards. Off to find another plan B.....

Thanks!

 

[virge]

Congratulations on saving all that change! I haven't used Coinstar, but one of the machines near me says Best Buy gift cards are an option. I recently used a Best Buy gift card to purchase a Disney gift card so you may want to see if the machines near you have those.

 

[Govols1997]

My bank doesn't charge a thing if you're willing to wait a few days. They put it in a deposit bag, send it to the vault and they weigh it and deposit.

 

[cglaura]

The coinstar in my grocery store is free if you redeem for their gift card. Then I just use my normally budgeted grocery money for disney gift card.

Maybe that is an option? Then just take the cash you would have spent on groceries and buy a target then disney gift card?

 

[jenniy122]

Idk if your bank has one, but at one of our branches they have a coinstar style machine. If you're a member it cost something like 3% to get cash, if not 8%. For that many coins it would be worth it to me.

 

[momto4obkids]

I got the best buy gift card from the coinstar and used that to get disney gift cards, no problems at all.

 

[Marionnette]

My bank recently suspended their "Penny Arcades" following a local news report that revealed that the machines were under-counting by as much as $44 on $248 in coins.

I've considered using my change at CoinStar to get a Staples GC and then using the Staples GC to make "free after rebate" purchases. The rebates take several weeks to arrive but if you've got the time, they come in the form of a Visa GC, which is kind of nice. I tend to load up on paper when I have a coupon for 1¢ after rebate. We go through a lot of paper at the office, so it's a win-win for me. But using a Best Buy GC to purchase a Disney GC would be a quicker turnaround, even though I would prefer cash to a Disney GC right now.

 

[Albort]

get an Amazon GC... Amazon recently have been allowing ppl to get gift cards with amazon gc. ALso, since amazon gc are popular, theres a chance it might just give u cash instead since it might be out of it.

 

[havaneselover]

I'd do BB to Disney. Love this option. dS got a $70 Amazon gift card last week from Coinstar to buy some video games.

 

[Hikergirl]

The coinstar in my grocery store is free if you redeem for their gift card. Then I just use my normally budgeted grocery money for disney gift card.

Maybe that is an option? Then just take the cash you would have spent on groceries and buy a target then disney gift card?

That is a good idea.
OP if your grocery store allows using their gift card to purchase another GC you could do that. Up until recently our store did allow that but they have changed the rules so you can only use cash or credit for a GC purchase.

 

[Princesses and Pirates]

Awesome ideas guys! My bank said they have a counter but charge 5%. Or they take rolled coins. So my oldest (in her early 20's) came over to the house yesterday afternoon and we spent some time sorting and rolling (and watching the Olympics and visiting). Have over 1200.00 rolled! Was worth saving 60.00 and we got to catch up and visit! My daughter took a few coins for her coin collection (caught the collector bug from my dad!) and we found a few steel head pennies too. But, we gave up on the pennies. Have four quart size ziplock bags packed full of those yet. Am thinking of trying the Best Buy gift card route if the coin star doesn't offer a gift card for the store itself. It won't add up to much but we've gotten this far - I'd like to finish, lol! We have a group of eight going on this vacation so every penny does count!!!!

Thanks so much for all the ideas and advice! I do appreciate it!

 

[kerry34]

We roll ours on our own too and deposit into our bank account with no fee. The bank gives out the money rolls free of charge. It can be tedious but in the past the kids have helped and it goes by quickly. We also have fun rolling because we talk about our trip while doing it.

 

[Ciandella915]

I just rolled about $100 on Saturday while Netflixing. I looked into the Coinstar option and doing an Amazon GC, but they don't sell Disney GCs. They do have T-Rex restaurant cards though. My husband just popped into our bank and they gave him a big wad of free coin wrappers.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My bank recently suspended their "Penny Arcades" following a local news report that revealed that the machines were under-counting by as much as $44 on $248 in coins.

I've considered using my change at CoinStar to get a Staples GC and then using the Staples GC to make "free after rebate" purchases. The rebates take several weeks to arrive but if you've got the time, they come in the form of a Visa GC, which is kind of nice. I tend to load up on paper when I have a coupon for 1¢ after rebate. We go through a lot of paper at the office, so it's a win-win for me. But using a Best Buy GC to purchase a Disney GC would be a quicker turnaround, even though I would prefer cash to a Disney GC right now.

I saw that same report but didn't it implicate ALL coin counters? Not just TD's Penny Arcade. It also said NJ operations are required to undergo periodic testing by the state but PA is not.
I use a cc almost 100% thses days so rarely accumulate coins if I did I would just count it myself. I wouldn't intentionally pay someone to count my money.

 

[Marionnette]

I saw that same report but didn't it implicate ALL coin counters? Not just TD's Penny Arcade. It also said NJ operations are required to undergo periodic testing by the state but PA is not.
I use a cc almost 100% thses days so rarely accumulate coins if I did I would just count it myself. I wouldn't intentionally pay someone to count my money.

The news investigation involved TDBank Penny Arcades but they also reached out to other banks with free coin counters for their customers.

When you redeem for GCs at a CoinStar, there's no fee. That's why some people will cash in for GCs. I wouldn't pay CoinStar to count my money either, but if I can get a GC that is equal in value, I'll take it as long as it's a GC that I can use. I allow my coins to accumulate for 2-3 years, so there's a lot of them and I have no interest in counting them if I can get the same result by dumping them in a coin machine.

 

[havaneselover]

The news investigation involved TDBank Penny Arcades but they also reached out to other banks with free coin counters for their customers.

When you redeem for GCs at a CoinStar, there's no fee. That's why some people will cash in for GCs. I wouldn't pay CoinStar to count my money either, but if I can get a GC that is equal in value, I'll take it as long as it's a GC that I can use. I allow my coins to accumulate for 2-3 years, so there's a lot of them and I have no interest in counting them if I can get the same result by dumping them in a coin machine.

Having just done this with my son last week, it's well worth it. Rolling coins is time consuming and coins are filthy. We were more than happy to get a $70 Amazon gift card.

 

[Hikergirl]

I use Coinstar to get an Amazon GC because there is no fee. I think you can now buy other GC's with Amazon GCs. I would confirm that before doing it if you don't have any other use for an Amazon GC. I shop there for alot of stuff so I can always find something to use it on.

 

[mich311e]

I have used Coinstar for Best Buy gift cards and bought Disney gift cards at Best Buy with no issues. I started with $25 transactions, but then I did $50 too. I don't know if they have any limit.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

The news investigation involved TDBank Penny Arcades but they also reached out to other banks with free coin counters for their customers.

When you redeem for GCs at a CoinStar, there's no fee. That's why some people will cash in for GCs. I wouldn't pay CoinStar to count my money either, but if I can get a GC that is equal in value, I'll take it as long as it's a GC that I can use. I allow my coins to accumulate for 2-3 years, so there's a lot of them and I have no interest in counting them if I can get the same result by dumping them in a coin machine.

Well, that makes much more sense.