Change Change

I have a bad bank account. I've never switched away from the student checking account I opened when I first started college -- the kind where you can use the ATM as often as you like, as long as you never, ever go to see a teller. (Yeah, I know it's moronic, but I don't really like interacting with people anyway.) That's why I have frequently used the Coinstar machine at my local grocery store to exchange my loose change for dollar bills.

But Coinstar takes a hefty 9 percent off the top when it counts your change...that is, until now. John informed me of this article in the LA Times announcing an interesting new twist on the service: you can now trade your coins in and get a voucher for 100 percent of the amount at Amazon.com -- no transaction fee deducted. Already a loyal Amazon customer (since November 1997), I think this development will encourage my brand evangelism to be even stronger.