CoinStar | Bitcointalksearch.org

RustyBits

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Quote from: cointastical on January 18, 2019, 05:33:31 PM

Coinstar machines will start selling Bitcoin at the grocery store
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/bitcoin-coinstar-coinme

I was moderately excited when I recently read this news a week or two ago and decided to look into it further to see where and how long it might be before one of these popped up locally for me.

So I read the article linked above, and followed an internal link in the article to a "Coinstar Bitcoin Locator Tool" (which proved to be fruitless and a waste of time) and they both seem to say that you will need to use paper money at these Coinstar kiosks to buy BTC. So unless I am missing something here, it really is just another BTC ATM (with the associated high fees) and not a place where I can dump in my bottles of spare change for direct conversion into BTC.

I suppose you can maybe convert coins into cash and then cash into crypto in a two step process, but no doubt there will be two sets of fees for each conversion. I can reluctantly deal with one high transaction fee, but two?? Sad

My pennies might be better served to just continue sitting in the water bottle.

Fabienne_ayy

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Quote from: marhjan on October 21, 2014, 02:10:48 PM

I had this idea today - and should probably try to develop it myself but that won't really happen. So - anyway I'm just going to leave this here and see if anyone will run with it.

You know those CoinStar machines in supermarkets etc? (in USA afaik) They convert small change into USD for a fee of about 9% - most of them now also have the option to buy various gift cards for the full value of your change (Amazon, ITunes, various restaurants etc...)

What if someone set up a venture to sell btc this way?? It's irreversible once the customer prints out the voucher - so no worries about chargebacks etc. You could either print out both the public and private keys on the voucher or some redemption code valid on Coinbase or Circle or some other yet to exist site. This would never be a way to buy large amounts of btc (or even other alt coins) but pretty much everyone has at least $50 in change laying around and a good way to get people 'on the fence' involved.

Anyway - it strikes me as a good idea. Feel free to discuss and develop it. I really hope one day soon it's an option to convert my spare change into btc!

literally a coinstar machine...that would be crazy..

Initscri

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Quote from: BayAreaCoins on January 19, 2019, 01:48:04 PM

Quote from: Initscri on January 18, 2019, 08:51:32 PM

OP should probably throw his BTC address out there just incase Coinstar wants to pay it forward (in case the the idea for it was received in this way by them)

Shit in one hand and wish in the other. The idea wasn't exactly groundbreaking...

I'm glad I didn't go through with building a machine like this. I knew it was a bad idea because the switch over for that industry was too simple/profitable.

Lol hey, it's worth a shot. I know it 99.999999*% won't happen though.

I agree w/ your second sentiment though. If another company starting something like this up, it wouldn't have been difficult for Coinstar to leverage it's existent machine/traffic & overtake the competition.

BayAreaCoins

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Quote from: Initscri on January 18, 2019, 08:51:32 PM

OP should probably throw his BTC address out there just incase Coinstar wants to pay it forward (in case the the idea for it was received in this way by them)

Shit in one hand and wish in the other. The idea wasn't exactly groundbreaking...

I'm glad I didn't go through with building a machine like this. I knew it was a bad idea because the switch over for that industry was too simple/profitable.

Initscri

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Quote from: cointastical on January 18, 2019, 05:33:31 PM

Sorry to necrothread, but whatever.

Lesson here, eventually nearly all financial services will be impacted by Bitcoin.

Coinstar machines will start selling Bitcoin at the grocery store
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/bitcoin-coinstar-coinme

You're totally fine, it's relevant to the thread & and a great update.
I truly didn't expect this to happen from Coinstar itself but I'm so glad it did. OP should probably throw his BTC address out there just incase Coinstar wants to pay it forward (in case the the idea for it was received in this way by them)

Stedsm

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Quote from: cointastical on January 18, 2019, 05:33:31 PM

Sorry to necrothread, but whatever.

Lesson here, eventually nearly all financial services will be impacted by Bitcoin.

Coinstar machines will start selling Bitcoin at the grocery store
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/bitcoin-coinstar-coinme

Don't know how mods will react to this, but I second you on this.
What you did was good, but what the OP proposed was great as their dream turned out to reality. This is an example of how one can achieve anything even if they've got nothing but super strong will power to turn the tables and make their dreams come true. It was just a proposal 4 years back, and it's now an act that is going to take place very soon and let the Shoppers buy BTC through the supermarkets without any hurdles - this is what will drag us towards the mainstream - this is the power of a dream.

cointastical

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Sorry to necrothread, but whatever.

Lesson here, eventually nearly all financial services will be impacted by Bitcoin.

Coinstar machines will start selling Bitcoin at the grocery store
- https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/bitcoin-coinstar-coinme

wunkbone

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Quote from: b!z on November 02, 2014, 04:48:55 PM

So basically, you want a Bitcoin ATM.

Well most ATMs will not accept any kind of change (only bills). Massive amounts of change are not quite as fungible as paper bills are as change cannot easily be converted into other fiat without either putting a modest amount of effort into it or incurring some level of cost.

Wintermute420

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Mighty Dub

I know it has nothing to do with Coinstar, but I saw this earlier today and was thinking of it while reading this thread.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2l2du0/lawnmowerio_turn_your_spare_change_into/

b!z

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So basically, you want a Bitcoin ATM.

Some1else0

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That's a great idea. It would be really cool if you could use Coinstar machines to convert your coins into Bitcoin, and it could just generate a QR code for you.

FattyMcButterpants

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Quote from: franky1 on October 23, 2014, 12:44:13 AM

Quote from: marhjan on October 22, 2014, 11:57:22 PM

Right - they charge people 9.8% for the service of converting loose change into a more spendable form of fiat. However - you may also choose to convert to an Amazon or ITunes gift card as well as other options for ZERO fee (presumably in this case Amazon/Apple etc are paying CoinStar a somewhat reduced fee based on volume.) So why couldn't Coinbase or Circle or? Huh

do the same thing? Now - you might be talking paying a 15% or so premium by the time you get the btc - something akin to going the Paypal to Virwox to btc route, but we're again talking about small amounts of btc for the loose change sitting in a jar or on your bedroom floor right now.

Anyway - I'm interested to see both the interest and the level of negativity that various users have about this. Glad to at least inspire a bit of conversation at least

amazon and itunes offer a retailer a nice commission anyways (probably 10%) and due to the fact usually to activate the itunes / amazon cards costs retailers the labour at a stores cashier desk activating plastic cards. and ofcourse the physical cost of plastic cards and shipping/display, thus its cheaper to offer it via the coinstar box as it removes those costs. so with the savings they make by having a machine do it electronically and automatically plus getting commission from itunes/amazon, a retailer/coinstar can offer the amazon/itunes codes at zero fee from the box.

just like if coinstar had a way to do bitcoins. they will make their commission from the variations of the markets (like how some bitcoinATM's and circle pretend to be zero fee)

I would imagine that the commission that retail stores get for activating gift cards is much less then 10%, maybe 5% at most, but more likely to be slightly above the cost of processing a credit card transaction.

In regards to the OP's suggestion, I would say that it would be possible however it would need to also accept cash bills as well (and likely offer a better rates with the bills). If the machine did not accept bills then the amount of bitcoin that could be purchased would be very small and few people would likely want to buy it this way

bitnanigans

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I was looking for CoinStar machines all over the place when I visited the US last year, but I just couldn't find any. Ended up just going to the bank to get my coins exchanged for notes. If they were more widespread, that would be a very nice utility.

The00Dustin

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Quote from: ScryptAsic on November 01, 2014, 07:49:37 PM

I would say that the reason why people could have up to $15 counted at the branch for free was to get people to come into the branch, have their coins counted, and then need to speak to a teller so they could attempt to sell them a banking product. You should really understand that $15 is not a lot of change, and if the amount being changed was even a penny more they would need to pay the fee or open an account, which would be another selling point for opening an account.

I completely understand this, but I've been to banks that won't sell me a cashier's check because I'm not a member. Issuing a cashier's check doesn't take any more labor than providing cash for a voucher, and most banks even charge members for the service, so there would theoretically be income involved in providing it to non-members, yet the service is refused. I guess we just deal with a completely different set of banks. Maybe service varies like this by city or state for some reason. Regardless, I think we've veered off-topic here for long enough.

ScryptAsic

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Quote from: The00Dustin on November 01, 2014, 04:58:18 AM

Quote from: ScryptAsic on November 01, 2014, 03:16:18 AM

Quote from: The00Dustin on October 31, 2014, 05:35:14 AM

Quote from: ANTIcentralized on October 22, 2014, 07:31:30 PM

Coinstar does not charge people 9% for changing USD -> USD, but they rather automate the process of converting large amounts of coins into a "format" that is spendable, as most banks will not accept large amounts of change/coin that is not "wrapped" by denomination.

The fact that a coinstar machine is expensive to produce as this kind of technology is not cheap (to count and sort coins deposited in mass) and needs to be audit-able will make it less likely that there will be a machine that converts change into bitcoin. Any operator would need to cover the costs of the machine plus some margin in converting their fiat into bitcoin

Interesting, every bank I have asked in the last several years accepts loose change, but not wrapped change (it has been 10+ years since a bank has accepted wrapped change from me). Most of them have their own coin counting machines and don't charge members to deposit the loose change. One of them even told me they don't have a coin counting machine, but will count my change by hand for no charge (and will not accept wrapped coins, and I was a member). We are only talking about 5+ banks here, but with 100% consistency, they accept loose change and not wrapped change, so either I live in the twilight zone, or Coinstar is for the unbanked and uninformed.

I have had the opposite experience. I have worked as a teller for a relatively small bank who would generally not accept large amounts of lose change (especially if it was unsorted), however would accept wrapped coins (we would write the customer's account number on the wrap in the event there was an issue discovered later on). As a customer of a number of large banks, I would see the same policy of not accepting unwrapped change, and when I attempted to deposit unwrapped change, I would be given coin rollers for me to wrap myself. I don't remember the name of the bank but it was a predecessor to capital one, that had a machine similar to coinstar in their branch for coin deposits; it would give you a voucher that you cold cash with a teller for everyone for free up to (I think it was) $15, and any amount over that amount you would need to either be a customer or pay (I think it was) 5% to the bank in exchange for using their machine.

How long ago are these experiences? Key to my post was the fact that it has been 10+ years since banks accepted wrapped coins from me. That is to say they used to. Maybe I should have said 5+ years to be conservative, but I think it really has been 10+. Regardless, the same bank that used to give me wrappers for free and accept wrapped coins later on made me unwrap the coins so they could count them. The bank that offered to hand count coins was actually downtown in a 100K+ resident city. They specifically said they would count in their free time and included the caveat that it could take days, but didn't want the coins wrapped. Every other bank I have been to has counted coins for free for members with a machine. Contrary to your experience, I have never seen a coin counting machine with customer access in a bank. That having been said, while I may not have made it perfectly clear when I said "coinstar is for the unbanked," in all cases, I was referring to services for bank customers/members. While it isn't too terribly relevant, I would guess that the bank you are referring to that counted up to $15 for free for non-members stopped doing that a long time ago, too, based on the service decline at most banks large and small.

All were within the last 10 years. Doing some research about the banks that Capital One purchased, I believe the coin counting machine was inside a Chevy Chase bank branch. The reason why the customer's account number would be written on the side of a wrapper when they would deposit wrapped coins is to prevent having to use the labor to count the deposited coins right away; in the event that it turns out that a wrapper was short then we could debit their account (I don't think we ever actually had that issue).

I would say that the reason why people could have up to $15 counted at the branch for free was to get people to come into the branch, have their coins counted, and then need to speak to a teller so they could attempt to sell them a banking product. You should really understand that $15 is not a lot of change, and if the amount being changed was even a penny more they would need to pay the fee or open an account, which would be another selling point for opening an account.

segvec

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The cheddar breed jealousy

Great idea, it really is.
Factoring in the volatility of the price would be iffy but definitively do-able.

Bit N Roll

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Brilliant idea you have here. I hope you'll get more support soon.

The00Dustin

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Quote from: ScryptAsic on November 01, 2014, 03:16:18 AM

Quote from: The00Dustin on October 31, 2014, 05:35:14 AM

Quote from: ANTIcentralized on October 22, 2014, 07:31:30 PM

Coinstar does not charge people 9% for changing USD -> USD, but they rather automate the process of converting large amounts of coins into a "format" that is spendable, as most banks will not accept large amounts of change/coin that is not "wrapped" by denomination.

The fact that a coinstar machine is expensive to produce as this kind of technology is not cheap (to count and sort coins deposited in mass) and needs to be audit-able will make it less likely that there will be a machine that converts change into bitcoin. Any operator would need to cover the costs of the machine plus some margin in converting their fiat into bitcoin

Interesting, every bank I have asked in the last several years accepts loose change, but not wrapped change (it has been 10+ years since a bank has accepted wrapped change from me). Most of them have their own coin counting machines and don't charge members to deposit the loose change. One of them even told me they don't have a coin counting machine, but will count my change by hand for no charge (and will not accept wrapped coins, and I was a member). We are only talking about 5+ banks here, but with 100% consistency, they accept loose change and not wrapped change, so either I live in the twilight zone, or Coinstar is for the unbanked and uninformed.

I have had the opposite experience. I have worked as a teller for a relatively small bank who would generally not accept large amounts of lose change (especially if it was unsorted), however would accept wrapped coins (we would write the customer's account number on the wrap in the event there was an issue discovered later on). As a customer of a number of large banks, I would see the same policy of not accepting unwrapped change, and when I attempted to deposit unwrapped change, I would be given coin rollers for me to wrap myself. I don't remember the name of the bank but it was a predecessor to capital one, that had a machine similar to coinstar in their branch for coin deposits; it would give you a voucher that you cold cash with a teller for everyone for free up to (I think it was) $15, and any amount over that amount you would need to either be a customer or pay (I think it was) 5% to the bank in exchange for using their machine.

How long ago are these experiences? Key to my post was the fact that it has been 10+ years since banks accepted wrapped coins from me. That is to say they used to. Maybe I should have said 5+ years to be conservative, but I think it really has been 10+. Regardless, the same bank that used to give me wrappers for free and accept wrapped coins later on made me unwrap the coins so they could count them. The bank that offered to hand count coins was actually downtown in a 100K+ resident city. They specifically said they would count in their free time and included the caveat that it could take days, but didn't want the coins wrapped. Every other bank I have been to has counted coins for free for members with a machine. Contrary to your experience, I have never seen a coin counting machine with customer access in a bank. That having been said, while I may not have made it perfectly clear when I said "coinstar is for the unbanked," in all cases, I was referring to services for bank customers/members. While it isn't too terribly relevant, I would guess that the bank you are referring to that counted up to $15 for free for non-members stopped doing that a long time ago, too, based on the service decline at most banks large and small.

ScryptAsic

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Quote from: The00Dustin on October 31, 2014, 05:35:14 AM

Quote from: ANTIcentralized on October 22, 2014, 07:31:30 PM

Coinstar does not charge people 9% for changing USD -> USD, but they rather automate the process of converting large amounts of coins into a "format" that is spendable, as most banks will not accept large amounts of change/coin that is not "wrapped" by denomination.

The fact that a coinstar machine is expensive to produce as this kind of technology is not cheap (to count and sort coins deposited in mass) and needs to be audit-able will make it less likely that there will be a machine that converts change into bitcoin. Any operator would need to cover the costs of the machine plus some margin in converting their fiat into bitcoin

Interesting, every bank I have asked in the last several years accepts loose change, but not wrapped change (it has been 10+ years since a bank has accepted wrapped change from me). Most of them have their own coin counting machines and don't charge members to deposit the loose change. One of them even told me they don't have a coin counting machine, but will count my change by hand for no charge (and will not accept wrapped coins, and I was a member). We are only talking about 5+ banks here, but with 100% consistency, they accept loose change and not wrapped change, so either I live in the twilight zone, or Coinstar is for the unbanked and uninformed.

I have had the opposite experience. I have worked as a teller for a relatively small bank who would generally not accept large amounts of lose change (especially if it was unsorted), however would accept wrapped coins (we would write the customer's account number on the wrap in the event there was an issue discovered later on). As a customer of a number of large banks, I would see the same policy of not accepting unwrapped change, and when I attempted to deposit unwrapped change, I would be given coin rollers for me to wrap myself. I don't remember the name of the bank but it was a predecessor to capital one, that had a machine similar to coinstar in their branch for coin deposits; it would give you a voucher that you cold cash with a teller for everyone for free up to (I think it was) $15, and any amount over that amount you would need to either be a customer or pay (I think it was) 5% to the bank in exchange for using their machine.

pawel7777

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Quote from: The00Dustin on October 31, 2014, 05:35:14 AM

Interesting, every bank I have asked in the last several years accepts loose change, but not wrapped change (it has been 10+ years since a bank has accepted wrapped change from me). Most of them have their own coin counting machines and don't charge members to deposit the loose change. One of them even told me they don't have a coin counting machine, but will count my change by hand for no charge (and will not accept wrapped coins, and I was a member). We are only talking about 5+ banks here, but with 100% consistency, they accept loose change and not wrapped change...

Whether it's a loose change or banknotes it's still the official currency. Banks cannot refuse or charge you for processing loose change transactions.
Not 100% sure on this one, but think that even a private business cannot refuse to accept loose change payments (may be different laws in different countries).

Quote from: The00Dustin on October 31, 2014, 05:35:14 AM

...so either I live in the twilight zone, or Coinstar is for the unbanked and uninformed.

It's about location and convenience. If you have a coinstar machine in your local shop, you wouldn't want to make an extra trip to the bank.

Topic: CoinStar (Read 9483 times)