[phsr]

When you get a gift card from Coinstar, you are not charged the 10%. So when I'm feeling lazy with a bunch of change, I just dump it in the Coinstar machine for a Amazon gift card

[jrockway]

Interestingly, the Coinstar machine that I use is in a grocery store, and it will give you free gift certificates for that store. I am not sure who would not choose that :)

[josephcooney]

This is an interesting definition of 'free', since you have to pay for it.

[graywh]

I read once that you could request a gift card and unplug the machine's phone line, causing it to give you the full cash value.

http://www.antiyawn.com/guidetocoinstar.html

[ams6110]

I never knew this. Of course, they are just charging Amazon the 10%, and ultimately this gets passed back to the consumer (though much diluted).