Taking care of business
This weekend I got started on some things I've been putting off, like partly cleaning my room, living room, etc.
I also decided to take my coin jar in to one of the grocery store coin machines. The Safeway near my house had one, called Coin Master. As I walked in carrying my (closed) heavy bag, the guard pointed down to one end of the building and said "Coin machine is right down there!" I suppose he sees that often enough to recognize (1) the bag, (2) the walk, and maybe (3) some jingling from the coins (I don't remember hearing a sound but he might have).
I had to ask someone at customer service to re-start the machine for me; it had gotten stuck on somebody else's load. (Upside: I got the last few dollars for their coins.) As I was putting my own coins in, it got stuck again. I asked for help again, and it got stuck again after a couple of minutes.
I asked the "customer service" person if any of their other stores nearby had a machine that might be in better condition. She said "I don't know, but if you can find one of the original CoinStar machines, a screw can go through those and not stop them."
Having a lot more coins to go, I went to find the CoinStar website and find a nearby location. There was one not far away, and it did work without stopping (but I didn't put any screws through it either).
I found out one other nice thing: with CoinStar, instead of taking cash, you can ask for a gift certificate from Amazon.com. Then you don't have to surrender the 9% fee.
I also took pictures of a lot of items that I'll probably sell online. Trying to get the right picture is always interesting--sometimes the light isn't quite right and you have to add something else, etc. The idea is to put enough of these "pocket change" things together to get a cheap DSLR. Should be fun.
I also decided to take my coin jar in to one of the grocery store coin machines. The Safeway near my house had one, called Coin Master. As I walked in carrying my (closed) heavy bag, the guard pointed down to one end of the building and said "Coin machine is right down there!" I suppose he sees that often enough to recognize (1) the bag, (2) the walk, and maybe (3) some jingling from the coins (I don't remember hearing a sound but he might have).
I had to ask someone at customer service to re-start the machine for me; it had gotten stuck on somebody else's load. (Upside: I got the last few dollars for their coins.) As I was putting my own coins in, it got stuck again. I asked for help again, and it got stuck again after a couple of minutes.
I asked the "customer service" person if any of their other stores nearby had a machine that might be in better condition. She said "I don't know, but if you can find one of the original CoinStar machines, a screw can go through those and not stop them."
Having a lot more coins to go, I went to find the CoinStar website and find a nearby location. There was one not far away, and it did work without stopping (but I didn't put any screws through it either).
I found out one other nice thing: with CoinStar, instead of taking cash, you can ask for a gift certificate from Amazon.com. Then you don't have to surrender the 9% fee.
I also took pictures of a lot of items that I'll probably sell online. Trying to get the right picture is always interesting--sometimes the light isn't quite right and you have to add something else, etc. The idea is to put enough of these "pocket change" things together to get a cheap DSLR. Should be fun.