Thursday, October 9, 2014

Wegmans' Secret Service: They'll Count Coins

Wegmans coin-counting machine in the self-checkout
Wegmans food gives me a ton of reasons to shop there, but I also love that they provide a secret service:  They'll count your coins.

It's not that people will count your coins.  It's the self-checkout machines.  Unlike most similar machines, these just have a bowl where you can pour loose change.  The machine sorts them into pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.  No service charge.  No hassle pushing them coin-by-coin into a slot.

This may mean nothing to many people, but it can be great if you dump your change in a bowl like I do each night.  I don't want to pay a fee to CoinStar, and I cringe every time that I stall an entire line by trying to pay a human cashier with piles of dimes and nickels.

The solution:  I carry a bunch of coins into Wegmans and grab an item or two off the shelves.  Then a self-check by pouring all my change into the machine.  Seven dollars, 10 dollars, even more, they just get swallowed up, automatically counted, and then credited against my purchase.  I close out with a credit card or a few dollar bills.  At most, I trade a pocket heavy with metal for a few coins.

Then I wheel back into the store -- with my purchases bagged with the receipt -- lighter and a few dollars ahead of the game.

12 comments:

EastCoastMatt said...

at Giant, you can use coinstar machines for giant gift cards without any service charge. still i suppose having that coin sorter at the line saves the extra hassle of coinstar.

Melodi said...

and of course, your bank will do this for you, too.

Anonymous said...

That's some life hack stuff!

Steve said...

Love this! Capital One got rid of their counting machines, and so did Wells Fargo. According to them, too much maintenance.

Anonymous said...

Ummmmm this isn't really a coin counting service, you are just using your coins to pay. This is no different than going to a regular check out line and paying purely in coins!

The difference between the check outs at Wegman's and a coin counting machine is that you can't put more coins in the check out machine than the amount of groceries you are purchasing.

You also miss out on all the benefits of using a credit card. I have one credit card that gives me 4.5% cash back at grocery stores. I'd much rather get cash back than have my coins counted.

Anonymous said...

great tip! i will use my pennies in wegmas buying some small stuffs.
i hate that coin star machine...charging me 10 percent fee!

J. M. J. said...

Wow! Thanks! Did not know, because at let's say like Giant or Walmart... if you have a lot of change (I'm pretty sure we've ALL been in that pinch at least once before) you have to feed EACH coin individually. Learning about this at Wegman's couldn't have come at a more perfect time!

And for the rude person about Giant gift cards from Coinstar & their 4.5% cash back card - UNTRUE, NOT ALL GIANT COINSTARS OFFER THAT OPTION & I have a 1% can back on EVERYTHING card, big deal, 4.5% is pretty stellar tho... but I still have lots of change & no tubes to roll them myself in AND I only do online banking, so.... good advice for people with your similar likenesses & still happy for the tid-bit! Go be rude in the mirror to yourself. Jeeze.

Unknown said...

They added 11 percent charge to take coins now

Unknown said...

At wegmens I mean

Anonymous said...

Wellsville in the reddit house yo!!!

Anonymous said...

Not for free. You must have an account.

Anonymous said...

Idk