From Pennies to Phone Calls and More

In today's high technology world, many financial transactions are conducted without ever touching currency. So where does that leave our nickels and dimes?

Coinstar Inc., the company that has 7,600 coin counting machines in 42 U.S. states as well as Canada and the United Kingdom, recently announced that some machines will now convert those coins into prepaid cash cards. Coinstar machines take bulk amounts of coins, which can be tossed into the machine, and counts them at 600 coins per minute. The machines then deduct a fee and deliver bills. Recently, the company announced that it had worked with DataWave wireless processing technology to offer prepaid telephone cards as well as cash. Even more recently, the company announced that it reached an agreement with Michigan National Bank whereby machines eventually will issue the bank's prepaid MasterCards, which can be used anywhere MasterCard is accepted.

Copyright © 2001 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 11, No. 4, 4/01