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Amazon Wants Your Loose Change

Consumers will be able to convert their pocket change to Amazon.com certificates at coin-exchange machines run by Coinstar at supermarkets and drugstores.
Amazon.com on Tuesday said Coinstar Inc., best known for coin-counting machines found in many supermarkets and drug stores, has agreed to let customers exchange their loose change for certificates redeemable at the online retailer.

Under the deal, customers can insert their coins into a Coinstar machine and receive a receipt with a redemption code that can be used to make purchases on Seattle-based Amazon.com. With standard coin to bills transactions, Coinstar charges a processing fee. There is no fee to the consumer, however, for the Amazon.com certificate.

Locations for the Coinstar machines are listed on the company's Web site.

"We're always working to make buying on Amazon.com more convenient for customers," Toni Reid, director of business development, for Amazon.com, said in a statement.

U.S. households have $10.5 billion in spare change sitting at home, according to Bellevue, Wash.-based, Coinstar, which has more than 44,000 retail locations.

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