Consumers taking advantage of coin counting machines

On a late lunch break last Wednesday, Minh On, 32, walked into the TD Bank in Farmingdale with a Ziploc bag and plastic container full of coins. Several minutes later, he walked out with close to $80 in greenbacks.

He was one of five consumers and merchants who, within two hours, came to dump their coins into the bank's Penny Arcade coin counter and receive a receipt, which they turned in at the counter for cash.

The process was "amazing," said On, of College Point, a first-time user who heard about the coin counter from his 14-year-old sister. It was "convenient and fast."

VIDEO: Click here to watch LIers cash in on their change

Others, too, have found that to be the case, customers and noncustomers, merchants, even schoolchildren, who, in total last year, dumped $61.5 million in pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters - and the occasional paper clip and safety pin - into coin counters at TD's 41 locations on Long Island.

Other companies feature coin counting machines, too. Capital One Bank has more than 30 at its Long Island branches. As with TD Bank, there is no fee and you don't have to be a customer to use them.

For an 8.9 percent fee, consumers can dump their coins, in return for cash, into CoinStar machines at about 130 Long Island locations, such as Pathmark, King Kullen, Stop & Shop and Walmart. The fee is waived at some locations for those who exchange their change for a gift card or e-certificate from various retailers.

Other organizations offer free coin-counting services for members only, such as Teachers Federal Credit Union, which processed close to $7 million in change last year at its 16 branches on Long Island with coin counter machines.

"It's one of the most engaging tools - it can become an event," said Peter R. Del Bianco, TD's retail market manager on Long Island, as he pointed to the coin counter's adult and child-height instruction screens. The service often results in noncustomers becoming customers after a couple of visits, he said.

People come for a range of reasons, said Brittany Petry, head teller who also serves as coin-counter coach for first-time users. Merchants count the day's or week's proceeds; consumers cash in for vacation trips; women empty wallets and change purses to lighten their pocketbook loads, she said. The bank also allows coin-bearers to donate their proceeds to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Long Island. While there's no hard data on the who's who of counters, there is a sense, anecdotally, that about 70 percent are consumers as opposed to merchants, said a spokeswoman.

"It's like found money," said Thomas Fraser, 34, a police officer from Massapequa. He came in with a holiday cookie tin of coins and left with $233.76, which he said he'll put toward a nongambling weekend in Atlantic City.

A tech support manager for a Melville software company, On said that when he was moving recently, he consolidated coins found in his car and former apartment. What will he do with his loot? "I think I'll buy my sister something," he said.