The Virtues of Thrift, Part 2

Get changed. Perhaps you've noticed those green Coinstar machines at the front of your local supermarket (these days, likely being used by an older person trying to scrape together enough to buy some saltine crackers and a scratch ticket). Not everyone is aware of this, but these machines also offer gift cards from several major retailers, both brick-and-mortar stores like Lowe's and online-only retailers like Amazon. Coinstar charges a transaction fee of around 9% if you turn your coins into cash, but if you turn them into a gift card no fee is charged, so you get the full value of your coinage.

In the mood for a cup of coffee? You can turn your pennies into a Starbucks card. Want to see a movie? Get a card for AMC Theatres. Itching for some new music? They even have iTunes gift cards. Other choices include Eddie Bauer, Old Navy, Borders, CVS, Overstock.com, and a few more. I'd imagine that Coinstar is actively pursuing other such partnerships, so the selection is likely to improve over time, though when I was using the machine at our local Stop & Shop, the Mrs. wondered why you couldn't redeem coins for a Stop & Shop gift card, which is a very good point.

I am one of those people who tends to save up change for a long time. I used to then put it into rolls and deposit it in my bank account. Thanks to the Coinstar machine, I was able to avoid that huge waste of time; I had enough change to get an Eddie Bauer gift card that I used to buy a badly-needed pair of shearling-lined slippers, and I paid only the shipping charge (because the slippers were on clearance, I was afraid they would be gone if I waited for the next free shipping promotion, which would have made it an even better deal).

You do have to have at least $5 in change to get any sort of gift card. One other potential drawback worth mentioning is that you kind of have to know in advance what you want, or at least what store you want to shop at. Also, the selection of gift card choices can vary from machine to machine; your best bet is to use the Coinstar web site to search for machines in your area (the site tells you what cards are available in each machine, which is actually pretty handy).

It's also worth noting that Coinstar recently purchased Redbox, the company behind those other machines at the front of the supermarket, so I would think that you'll be able to turn your loose change into movie rentals at some point in the not-too-distant future.