Coinstar Conquered

How sad is it when someone considers her day productive after dropping off recycling and cashing in coins?

In my defense, weak as it is, the recycling involved Styrofoam, which is accepted at one only place in our area and otherwise would have gone to a landfill, and the coins were redeemed at a somewhat distant Coinstar machine.

Why go to so much trouble for spare change, you may wonder? Why, to take advantage of Coinstar's current promotion, of course! If you cash in $40 or more in change for an e-certificate, they'll send you a certificate for an additional $10. (The offer details are available at www.coinstar.com/us/html/2009Promo.)

Last week I'd hunted down a machine that offers the certificates (apparently not all do) only to find it out of service. This time I called ahead and asked: Is it in service? Does it in fact offer the certificates?

"Yes to both," a young man said after checking the machine. Excellent.

I poured in my coins and worked them into the thin slot. I'd quickly pre-counted them to make sure I had $40 (which I'd thought I did, barely). Turns out I'd counted too quickly; the counter slowed and stopped at $39 and change. I had a few coins in my pocket and tossed them in. The counter ticked again... to $39.99.

Really? I was gonna miss out by one cent?

I noticed the coin return, and there it was: one lone penny. Bless you, Mr. Lincoln. I dropped him in the slot, only to have him chewed and spit out again. Tried a third time; same result. Guess there was a reason he was being rejected.

Refusing to let a penny stand between me and my free 10 bucks, I looked around, hoping I might catch a sympathetic cashier's eye. A woman running a Western Union booth turned off her light and opened the door to leave, but stopped when she noticed me.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"I don't suppose you'd break a dollar for me?"

She hesitated.

"I don't care how you break it," I added; "I'm just going to put it in that machine."

She cocked her head a notch, either intrigued or confused.

"I'm at $39.99, and you have to redeem $40 to earn a bonus. I'm so close. Actually I have the last penny, but the machine keeps spitting it out."

She smiled and nodded. Bless you, Ms. Western Union.

I now have a Lowe's e-certificate for $40.99 and a form to mail in for my bonus. Better yet, it seems my run of Bad Shopping Juju has passed. Here's hoping it stays away until after Black Friday weekend.