Piggy bank cash-in hits $90 Coinstar fee…
One man actually felt the pressure of his gathered cash when he finally cashed in his Star Wars piggy bank.
In a viral Threads post, Eli Piatt (@jsun4hees) shared a photograph of his Coinstar receipt from a grocery store in Portland, Oregon, displaying he walked away with $597.45 after dumping a decade of collected cash (4,945 to be precise) into the machine — however, he would’ve earned even more if he didn’t get hit with a sneaky fee that supposedly might’ve been prevented.
“It took ten years, but I finally filled my Star Wars piggy bank. Just cashed it in,” Piatt captioned the post alongside a photograph of an itemized coin receipt.
The unique stash totaled $686.61 — but thanks to a $89.16 Coinstar processing fee, a chunk of his treasure didn’t make it to his pockets.
Cashing in 4,945 cash from a Stormtrooper helmet ended with a expensive plot twist for this Threads person. Threads/jsun4hees 6d
Coinstar’s self-service kiosks — often lurking in grocery shops — allow you to dump your unfastened change for money, present playing cards or charity.
The machines rely the cash and spit out a voucher, but the money comes with a fee, unless you select an eGift Card, donate to a charity or ship the cash to a associate bank account instead.
Piatt told The Post that he knew he might’ve “avoided the fee by getting a gift card,” but there have been “no good options” at the store.
Well, go away it to the nosy our bodies of social media to weigh in and give their two cents (no pun supposed) on other methods he might’ve prevented the grasping fee: “You can go to any bank and not pay the $90 — don’t even have to have an account,” one individual identified.
Piatt told The Post that the bank “is in the shape of a Stormtrooper helmet,” and that he purchased it on his thirtieth birthday in Disneyland, “so it’s pretty special to me.” AFP via Getty Images
One other chimed in, writing, “Some banks, not all, have change counters … open an account with the money and they will do it for free.”
Another instructed a intelligent hack: pour cash through the self-checkout to pay for groceries, letting the machine rely for you.
Ultimately, Piatt told The Post that he discovered an “expensive lesson about reading fine print and taking your time.”
“Next time I empty my piggy bank, I will for sure roll the coins myself.”
“I do wish I had taken the time to roll the coins and take them to a bank because I did not know the fee would be that steep,” he explained.
Turns out, not even Jedi-level endurance can beat Coinstar’s darkish facet — though a few tips with bank change counters, self-checkout cash, or gift-card hacks may just do the job.
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