Yesterday Macworld reported that Coinstar has added iTunes Music Store gift certificates to its Coin-to-Card Program. Under this program, Coinstar counts your loose change and issues you a “eCertificate” which can be redeemed for full credit from their retail partners. If you request cash instead of an eCertificate, Coinstar charges you 8.9 cents on the dollar, which is the fee they charge for providing coin counting services.
My bank offers free coin counting, so I don’t need to use Coinstar machines in most cases. However, now that I know Coinstar offers iTunes Music Store and Amazon.com gift certificates at full cash value, I might seek out a Coinstar coin counting machine once in a while.