Spare Change? Make Those Pennies Pay Off

If you live on the East Coast — particularly in the mid-Atlantic states — you may be near one of TD Bank's Penny Arcade machines, located inside bank branches. The machines are the legacy of TD Bank Financial Group's acquisition last year of Commerce Bancorp. Commerce introduced the machines in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania in 1999. Since the acquisition, TD Bank has been adding Penny Arcades to new regions, including New England.

The machines are popular because you don't have to sort coins, and there's no fee whether you're a TD Bank customer or not. It's a way for the bank to introduce its services to non-customers — especially younger ones who might become lifetime clients.

"We start to attract children at a very young age," said Linda Verba, a TD Bank executive vice president. "It's absolutely a customer acquisition strategy."

Each Penny Arcade handles an average of 1,300 coin exchange transactions per month, up 50 percent from three years ago. It's unclear whether the increasing use is linked to the recession, Verba said.

The location with TD Bank's highest coin exchange volume is in the eastern Pennsylvania city of Fairless Hills, where customers turned in $3.3 million in coins at a pair of Penny Arcades last year.

"People bring their coins in popcorn tins, glass jars — it runs the gamut," branch manager Terry Hill said. "We've had people drag pillow cases filled with coins across the parking lot."

COINSTAR

The nation's biggest coin exchanger is Bellevue, Wash.-based Coinstar, an 18-year-old company whose network of coin-counting machines in grocery stores and other retailers has grown to more than 18,400. Dump coins into the machines and you'll get back a voucher.

But you pay for Coinstar's convenience. The machines charge a processing fee of nearly nine cents on the dollar.
However, Coinstar has a new initiative offering no-fee coin exchanges — provided you're willing to redeem your money at one of more than a dozen participating national retailers. Some Coinstar machines spit out gift cards that allow you to spend coin-exchange cash at retailers including Amazon.com, Lowe's, Old Navy and Starbucks.

COINS FOR CHARITY

If you're willing to donate your coins for a good cause, you can use Coinstar and Penny Arcade machines to give to a number of charities. Look for the menu options on the machines that designate charities. Also, local fundraising drives, especially school campaigns, frequently seek out donors' spare change.