Coinstar Tests Gift-Card Program

Coinstar begins "fee-free" program for consumers at supermarkets, where customers exchange loose coins for a supermarket-brand gift card.

March 17, 2011

BELLEVUE, WA - Kiosk supplier Coinstar, which operates roughly 19,000 coin-counting machines in the United States, Canada and Britain, has begun testing a program in Bellevue where shoppers can exchange their loose coins for supermarket-brand gift cards, Supermarket News reports.

The test was launched at Albertsons stores and expanded recently to about 50 Stop & Shop locations, mostly in Massachusetts, which are promoting the program via newspaper circulars and billboards. While Coinstar has been offering the option of exchanging coins for gift cards for five years, the expansion to supermarkets ?" the very ones where shoppers are exchanging the coins ?" is a new one for the company.

Coinstar said the program is "fee-free," meaning retailers pay the 9.8% coin-exchange fee instead of the shopper. Additionally, stores can offer a higher value for the gift cards ?" for instance, $50 in exchange for $40 in coins ?" to entice shoppers to buy the cards and spend money in the store. To date, the supermarkets testing the program have voiced approval.

"What we??re hearing from our customers is that they like it and they??re happy with it," said Mark McGowan, president of the Northeast division of Stop & Shop.

"We??re trying to appeal to those consumers who are fee-averse by putting a product in front of them that we know is highly, highly relevant to them," said Engle Saez, vice president for consumer experience at Coinstar. "To convert coins into a grocery store gift card ?" that one was a no-brainer that skipped over a lot of brains here for many years."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement