11 Best Places To Turn Coins Into Cash

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Do you have a jar full of coins in your house?

Not sure what to do with the spare change you get after buying something?

Instead of doing nothing with these coins, you can turn them into paper money, or even deposit them into your bank account.

There are many benefits for doing this, but your first question is probably where to turn coins into cash?

In this post, I share with you 11 of the best places to turn coins into cash.

I’ll also share with you the many reasons why you want to do this sooner rather than later.

11 Best Places To Turn Coins Into Cash

#1. Coin Counting Machines

When most people think about exchanging their coins for cash, they generally think about coin-counting kiosks like Coinstar.

In comparison to other methods for turning coins to cash, using a Coinstar kiosk is a convenient option.

All you have to do is find one in your area, dump your pile of coins into the basket and feed them into the machine, and let the machine do the work of counting your money and organizing all of your coins.

That being said, the cost of convenience is one that will eat up some of your profits.

The Coinstar fee is roughly 12% of your cash total.

Once you’ve agreed to this, you then receive a ticket that you can take to one of the cashiers in the store, who will then give you the cash for your ticket.

Coinstar kiosks also offer other cash out options like Bitcoin or an e-gift card to popular retailer stores as well.

If you choose the gift card option, there is no fee taken.

They also offer charitable donations, but they do take a fee here as well.

Where can you find a Coinstar Machine?

You can find them in the front of grocery stores, usually near the Redbox machine or customer service desk.

You can also check the Coinstar website for locations near you.

Because of the popularity of these machines, they are in most grocery stores, drug stores, and other popular retailers, including the following:

#2. Your Local Bank

In years past, you could walk into any bank and find a free coin counting machine.

And the best part was that these machines were free to us.

But then banks needed to increase profits and started to charge a service fee for coin counting.

Today, very few banks have coin counting machines.

If you are lucky enough to find one, most times they are only for customers.

Some even charge a fee to their customers!

But this is the best way to turn your coins into cash.

If you have a lot of coins, you might want to take some time and call the banks in your area.

Start with the local banks and not the national banks as the local branches might still offer this service.

If you find one in your area, take your piggy bank and have the machine count the coins.

Then take the receipt to the bank teller to get cash or deposit the money into your account.

To save you time, if you bank with Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, TD Bank, PNC Bank, or BB&T, they no longer offer coin machines.

If you are an account holder with these large banks, you should still call your local branch as they might accept a small number of coins, most likely rolled.

And if you have a Wells Fargo in your area, give them a call.

They used to accept wrapped coins from both account holders and non-customers with no fee.

But they have been changing this policy recently.

#3. Local Credit Union

Credit unions also offered coin counters for members as well.

Today, they treat coin counting like traditional banks do.

Some might have a machine and they might charge a fee.

Your best bet is to call ahead and ask.

#4. Roll Your Coins

If you have a bit of extra time and don’t want to pay some of the hefty fees demanded by your local coin kiosk, you should consider taking your coins directly to the bank so that you can add them to your bank account or convert them to cash.

The most important thing to do before you pursue this course of action is to call your local bank before you walk in with your change jar.

Surprisingly, local banks may not always accept them this way.

If they do, it’s important to ask if there are any fees associated with your transaction or if you can get your cash deposited or directly in your hands without any extra charges.

With that in mind, you will typically have to have your coins in rolls before your bank will accept them.

If you don’t have a ton of coins you want to cash in, you can always purchase affordable paper wrappers on Amazon and do the wrapping on your own.

This is the option I take.

I collect my coins all year long and then at the end of the year, I spend an hour counting them and putting them into coin rolls.

Then I take them to my local bank and deposit them into my checking account.

• Read now: Here is how much money you should have in your checking account

If you’ve been saving coins for a while and you have tubs and tubs of change, however, you may need some help to get this done.

If you don’t mind spending a little money to make some money, you can purchase an automatic coin counter and sorter to help you get the most difficult part of the job done without having to count and stack all of the coins on your own.

Then, all you have to do is wrap your coins and take them down to the bank.

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Whether you have some coins you want to cash out on or bottles and bottles of coins stored away, taking the task on yourself and converting them at your bank can help you cut down on fees required by coin-counting kiosks and services.

#5. Use Your Kids

Another option is to get your kids to help you with your coins.

Just dump out your coin jar and they can help you sort, count, and wrap the coins.

Not only will this save you time, but it can be a bonding experience as you all work together to organize the coins.

It’s also a great time to teach them about money too.

When it comes time to deposit your rolls of coins, you could get cash for some of it and take your kids out for a small treat for helping you.

#6. Use Them To Pay For Items

The next time you go out shopping, use your loose change as a form a payment.

Just know there are drawbacks with this idea.

First, is the time it will take you to count out the right amount of money.

Depending on the total of your purchase, you could spend a few minutes counting.

This could anger the customers in line behind you.

Next, there is a chance that you or the cashier counts wrong and you have to repeat the process all over again.

Finally, many stores actually put limits on the amount of loose coins you can use to pay for purchases.

In all, this option is best used for smaller transactions and at times when the store isn’t busy.

#7. Self Checkout Lanes

Another option to the idea above is to go to the self checkout line.

Here you can avoid the hassle of recounting as the register will count them for you.

But you just can’t dump all your coins into the slot.

You have to do it slowly and here too, many retailers will limit the amount of coins you can use.

#8. QuikTrip

If you live near a QuikTrip convenience store, then you can cash coins for free.

Because of the coin shortage, many retailers are in need of coins.

In fact, many places limit cash purchases because they are having a hard time making change.

You can put yours in coin wrappers, but QuikTrip will take your loose change too.

#9. Local Convenience Stores

If you don’t have a QuikTrip near you, fear not.

Many convenience stores are also accepting coins.

To save yourself time, be sure to call ahead and ask if they turn coins into cash.

Also ask if they accept loose coins or if they need to be rolled and if they charge a fee or not.

#10. Gas Stations

For the same reasons as convenience stores are taking, so too are gas stations.

Follow the same advice as above, calling ahead to ensure they accept coins, if they need to be rolled, and if there are any fees.

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You might be surprised at how many gas stations will take your loose coins.

#11. Coin Collectors

In most cases, coin collectors won’t take a lot of coins from you.

But they may be willing to look through your coins to see if you have anything of value.

And if you do, they may be willing to buy it from you for cash.

Of course, you don’t have to sell it to them.

You could see if another collector would offer you more money.

Or you could try to sell it on eBay as well.

Reasons To Turn Your Coins Into Cash

I get asked a lot why I take the time to roll my coins and deposit them into my checking account.

Here are the main reasons.

Inflation

First is inflation.

If you don’t understand the idea of inflation, I recommend you read the post below.

• Read now: Learn how inflation is eating away at your money

Basically, inflation makes your money less valuable.

Over time, prices rise and cost more. If you keep your money under your mattress, it is becoming less valuable every year.

The $10 you have in your pocket bought a lot more things 20 years ago than it does today.

By taking my loose change and putting it into my bank account, I can spend or save this money, making the most out of it today.

Compound Interest

The next reason is related to the first and is compound interest.

If I leave my change sit in a jar, it does nothing for me.

But if I put it into a savings account or invest it, it earns interest and grows over time.

• Read now: Learn more about compound interest
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Now, a lot of people think spare change doesn’t add up.

But they would be wrong.

I average about $125 a year when I roll and deposit my coins.

I take this money and invest it into the stock market.

Here I earn on average 8% annually.

Over the past 20 years, my spare change has grown to be worth close to $6,200.

If I had just kept the coins in a jar, I’d have $2,500.

And that $2,500 would buy a lot less because of inflation.

The Trick To Making The Most Of Your Spare Change

Here is the secret trick I started using and have many others using as well.

It takes the idea above and puts it on steroids.

Since most of us no longer use cash as form of payment, we limit the amount of coins we have.

But you can use a service like Acorns to still make use of your spare change.

With Acorns, they will round up your purchases and take the difference from your checking account and invest it for you.

• Read now: Find out more about Acorns

So if you spend $54.73 at the grocery store, Acorns will round up $0.27 and invest it for you.

Over the course of a year, I’ve invested $750 worth of spare change.

Take this amount each year for 20 years, plus my physical coins of $125, and I end up with over $43,000 all from spare change.

As you can see, saving your spare change does make difference.

To get started using this trick and get $5 free from Acorns, click the link below.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, there are not a lot of places to turn coins into cash.

These are your best options, and your very best choice is to reach out to the bank you have accounts with.

Not only will they most likely take your coins, but they won’t charge you a fee for doing so.

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