Coin counting machine experiment: How accurate are they?

(KSL TV)


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SALT LAKE CITY — When you put your change into a coin counting machine, how accurate is it really?

Here in Utah, those machines are not regulated by any outside agency, which means you don't have officials with weights and measures checking their accuracy, like gas pumps. So, KSL Investigators took thousands of dollars in coins to check them out for you.

They spent hours counting out $2,400 in pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and separating the coins into eight bags, making sure each bag held exactly $300. It might seem like a colossal waste of time, but if you're like Jon Evans and your business depends on it, accuracy means everything.

"It's someone's job," said Evans, owner of Choice Vending Supply. "It's our livelihood."

Choice Vending Supply has machines up and down the Wasatch Front and what many consider spare change has become Evans' paycheck — a paycheck determined by the accuracy of a machine.

Evans has a couple of money counters of his own, giving him a good idea of what he's earned before taking it to the bank for a final count. But for you and I, unless we count coin by coin on our own, we are at the mercy of automated counting machines.

This is where the seemingly frivolous counting comes into play. When the KSL Investigators were finished counting and sorting, they took the eight bags of coins to grocery stores and credit unions across the valley. Then they dumped the thousands of coins into the machines and watched as they were counted.

First, they hit a couple of Mountain America Credit Unions. Those locations don't let you dump the coins yourself, so they handed their bags to the tellers to put into their counting machines. One bag came back 76 cents light. But a different location apparently tried to make up for it by being 18 cents over.

Coin counting machine experiment: How accurate are they?

Next up, they stopped by local grocery stores to try out Coinstar machines where you dump your change yourself. One machine was off by 24 cents, another was off by 10 cents and the third was off by only 9 cents.

Finally, America First Credit Union. One branch was short by 30 cents and another was off by a quarter but counted a couple extra pennies. However, the America First near 1800 South Pioneer Road had the only machine that counted exactly $300, right on the money.

Teresa Hunsaker is a consumer educator with Utah State Extention. KSL showed her our findings. On average, the coin counters were off 18.5 cents for every $300. For most of us, she says that's no big deal. But when these machines are in banks and credit unions, and often charging a percentage, she would hope they are accurate.

"If I'm asking them to do a job for me and I am paying a percentage, then I want them to get it right," said Hunsaker. "I have to be accurate (when taking money to a bank). Why don't we expect them to be accurate?"

There is often a fee attached to coin counting machines. All the Coinstar machines take 10.9 percent of what you put into it. Most credit unions count the coins as a free service to members, but if you're not, they'll charge you a fee of anywhere from 3 to 9 percent.

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