You’ve probably seen a Coinstar machine in passing while grocery shopping. I actually use them quite often since we let our girls turn in their change once or twice a month. They call it the money machine! It’s so nice to be able to gather up their coins and take them with us when we grocery shop. All of my local grocery stores have a Coinstar machine, so regardless of where I shop, I have easy access to a machine. I was heading to Brookshire’s to grab some roasted red peppers for dinner, so I brought my girls piggy bank change with.
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| Heading in to Brookshire’s! |
Now, you probably already know that you can exchange coins for cash using Coinstar. But did you know you can also add or withdraw money to your PayPal account?? I just heard about this option and couldn’t wait to give it a try. I use PayPal weekly, plus I have a PayPal debit card that I use at my bank to withdraw cash, so I have the feeling this is going to be a very convenient option for me!
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| Getting ready to deposit change into my PayPal account. |
The Coinstar machine at Brookshire’s is right by the registers in the front of the store. This eliminates having to go inside if all you need to do is use the machine. It’s a large, bright green machine that is lit up, so it’s very easy to spot. No one was using it, so no waiting in line for me! If you haven’t used Coinstar before, it walks you through the entire process.
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| Actual Coinstar machine screenshot. |
When you start the process, you’ll notice the very last option is PayPal. I selected that option, since I wanted to deposit my coins into my PayPal account. What I love about the machines is that they are touchscreen. I honestly believe that this eliminates a lot of confusion since you don’t have to look back and forth from the screen to a keyboard.
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| In go the coins… |
Adding the coins to the machine was pretty fun! I just dumped my bag of coins into the slot, and lifted up the handle to help them go in. It only took a minute for Coinstar to calculate my coins. A few of them didn’t go through, so they came back out in a tray below. I put them through the slot again, just to make sure. Everything went through the second time, with the exception of two Canadian dimes. (I’m still trying to figure out how I got them!) Once the coins were counted and the money was deposited into my PayPal account, the machine printed out a receipt. I like that it shows you the total amount of coins, how many of each you deposited, and the total, minus the fee. The money showed up in my PayPal account immediately, which was really nice!
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| Out comes a receipt showing my PayPal deposit! |
I couldn’t believe how simple it was to deposit change into my PayPal account. The step-by-step instructions make it very user-friendly. The entire process goes by quickly. From start to finish, it only took me a few minutes, half of which was spent counting coins!
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| Coinstar Machine. |
Next time you want to add money to your PayPal account, consider using a Coinstar machine. If you would like to see just how easy it is, take a look at step-by-step images. #PayPalCoinstar
Disclosure: I have been paid (at Coinstar’s request) to try and blog about Coinstar’s products/services as part of a Collective Bias shopper insights study. All opinions are my own. #CBias
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