If you have a jar full of coins, I highly recommend Coinstar’s new coins to certificates program. If you ask the machine to turn your coins into cash, they charge a service fee of 8.9% of the total amount counted. If you have it turned into an eCertificate for Amazon.com, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Pier One Imports, or a few other places, the coin counting fee is waived completely. I just brought my giant jar of coins in, and here’s what I had:

Dollars	1
Half-Dollars	0
Quarters	239
Dimes	172
Nickels	164
Pennies	1036
Total	$96.51

Not bad, eh? So I now have an Amazon.com gift certificate for $96.51. A tip for those of you who bring in your coins, though - before you hit the “I’m Done” button, check the reject bin at knee level. After I had already completed my entire transaction, I discovered the reject bin held 25 quarters, 10 nickels, four dimes, and 20 pennies, for a total of $7.10 that didn’t get counted. It’s worth trying any rejects again just to see if they’ll go through, so don’t forget to do that before pressing the final button.