Coinstar Finds

Makes you wonder what made it inside the machine. And if the person who empties the coinstar machines looks for valuable coins before giving them to the bank. Probably not.

The machine shoud not contain any valuable coins unless someone calibrated it to do so. It should reject all non-modern US coins (silver coins, large cents, Flying Eagles, Fatty IHs, War Nickels, Steel Pennies, three cent nickel coins, gold coins, and of course, all foreign coins that are not of similar alloy/weight/thickness of modern US coins)
 
i serviced coinstar and currency machines for years. the sensors are very sensitive will reject any foreign, non-monetary, or even extremely dirty/corroded coins. On most type of coin counting/sorting machines, there is a vibrating, pre-sorting area to clear out foreign objects, etc, fropm there, all the coins go into the sorting area, where they are passed, one at a time, in between a sensor array where they are measured on 5 different stats, size, density, and magnetic response basically. if a coin fails one of the those checks, it is kicked into the reject bin before it ever completely leaves the sensor area. depending on machine configuration, they are then either bagged by denomination, or dumped into a large single trolley vault. I would occasionally find canadian coins and game tokens in the shaker assembly, but it is pretty difficult for the coins to really make it much further in the the machine if there is an issue with it. while they are very complex machines and work very well at high speeds, they are only expected to be 70 or so percent efficient, so you do generally suffer appreciable loss on large transactions. the coin counters in bank lobbies are even worse, because they are serviced/maintained by the tellers, who don't give a damn.
 
i serviced coinstar and currency machines for years. the sensors are very sensitive will reject any foreign, non-monetary, or even extremely dirty/corroded coins. On most type of coin counting/sorting machines, there is a vibrating, pre-sorting area to clear out foreign objects, etc, fropm there, all the coins go into the sorting area, where they are passed, one at a time, in between a sensor array where they are measured on 5 different stats, size, density, and magnetic response basically. if a coin fails one of the those checks, it is kicked into the reject bin before it ever completely leaves the sensor area. depending on machine configuration, they are then either bagged by denomination, or dumped into a large single trolley vault. I would occasionally find canadian coins and game tokens in the shaker assembly, but it is pretty difficult for the coins to really make it much further in the the machine if there is an issue with it. while they are very complex machines and work very well at high speeds, they are only expected to be 70 or so percent efficient, so you do generally suffer appreciable loss on large transactions. the coin counters in bank lobbies are even worse, because they are serviced/maintained by the tellers, who don't give a damn.

That was an interesting read, thanks for sharing! :)
 
i serviced coinstar and currency machines for years. the sensors are very sensitive will reject any foreign, non-monetary, or even extremely dirty/corroded coins. On most type of coin counting/sorting machines, there is a vibrating, pre-sorting area to clear out foreign objects, etc, fropm there, all the coins go into the sorting area, where they are passed, one at a time, in between a sensor array where they are measured on 5 different stats, size, density, and magnetic response basically. if a coin fails one of the those checks, it is kicked into the reject bin before it ever completely leaves the sensor area. depending on machine configuration, they are then either bagged by denomination, or dumped into a large single trolley vault. I would occasionally find canadian coins and game tokens in the shaker assembly, but it is pretty difficult for the coins to really make it much further in the the machine if there is an issue with it. while they are very complex machines and work very well at high speeds, they are only expected to be 70 or so percent efficient, so you do generally suffer appreciable loss on large transactions. the coin counters in bank lobbies are even worse, because they are serviced/maintained by the tellers, who don't give a damn.

Very informative! I'm glad you took the time to share about how these things work...bet you got some stories...!
 
Very informative! I'm glad you took the time to share about how these things work...bet you got some stories...!

and they're all pretty gross!! strange things tend to accumulate in peoples change bowls/jars. I've found soo many finger and toenails, a fair amount of teeth, and alot of other things that could be labelled "human detritus"
 
I hope you wear gloves! :lol:

at first i didn't, but with my territory being northern louisiana, after hurricane katrina, were forced to start wearing gloves after another tech developed some type of severe infection on his face, due to handling floodwater change...

right after the floodwater change started making it's way to us, i was called out to one machine that I had just serviced. It had one customer and quit working, so i went and cleaned this machine again (it was filthy) I knew something was wrong when i went to test the machine, and this one in particular was a bank lobby machine and it dumped all coins into a single vault, as opposed to sorting in bags. I stuck both hands in half way to my elbow to pull out some test change, and when i drew my arms out, they were entirely covered in coins. The change was so filthy, that it was sticking to my skin. i got a little sickened, and then spoke to the bank manager, we rolled the entire bin into the bank vault and put a new bin into the machine, I believe he called someone and was told to classify the change as unfit for circulation and to be destroyed. i basically bathed in denatured alcohol in the lobby and wore nitrile glove from that day forward. That machine became such a problem, that the bank manager told me to hang an "out of service" sign on it and don't worry about it for 3 months. Came back after those 3 months, cleaned her up, and she's been trucking ever since, needed nothing but routine maintenance.
 
great information there

i serviced coinstar and currency machines for years. the sensors are very sensitive will reject any foreign, non-monetary, or even extremely dirty/corroded coins. On most type of coin counting/sorting machines, there is a vibrating, pre-sorting area to clear out foreign objects, etc, fropm there, all the coins go into the sorting area, where they are passed, one at a time, in between a sensor array where they are measured on 5 different stats, size, density, and magnetic response basically. if a coin fails one of the those checks, it is kicked into the reject bin before it ever completely leaves the sensor area. depending on machine configuration, they are then either bagged by denomination, or dumped into a large single trolley vault. I would occasionally find canadian coins and game tokens in the shaker assembly, but it is pretty difficult for the coins to really make it much further in the the machine if there is an issue with it. while they are very complex machines and work very well at high speeds, they are only expected to be 70 or so percent efficient, so you do generally suffer appreciable loss on large transactions. the coin counters in bank lobbies are even worse, because they are serviced/maintained by the tellers, who don't give a damn.
You could start a whole thread on this subject. I can't pass a Coinstar with out checking in side now days.
 
Great finds! I have a coinstar route I follow. I've met the lady who maintains 144 coinstars, seen the works and had her explain about the rejects. It's a really story she tells.
 
I think we all thought there would be a big container sorted out by denominations , waiting to be bagged and looked through.

nah, coinstars are bagged. Some of the bank lobby machines are bagged and some are just dumped into a big trolley vault. I mean, you could take the time to dig through the bags and look for stuff, but at my hourly labor rate, i'm sure the customers would complain about me taking the time to do that...:lol:
 
I used to do very well on the Coinstar when I lived in Florida. The Albertsons had one that was slightly out of the way in the entrance breezeway and I always checked in on my way in and out. I found silver multiple times, and foreign coins as well. If I remember correctly my best one trip score was somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 in clad! :yes:

That was over 10 years ago and something tells me they have changed the machines since then, or others are just making a habit of checking them as well. The Coinstar at my local Walmart never has anything in it, not even Felix pennies. :no:
 
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