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That's, uh, taking a cut, albeit a smaller one. You'll lose the cashback or other rewards that you would've gotten for using a credit card. Gift cards can also commonly be obtained for under face value.

If you don't have a bank account then it is a good deal to change for free. I doubt those without a bank account have credit cards with good cashback deals.

Where does Coinstar's cut come from then? Wouldn't they be giving back the same amount you put in?

They probably get a referral fee from Amazon or whoever redeems the gift card.

Giftcards are typically sold to retailers at a discount (i.e. Amazon sells $100 gift cards for $95 or something).

no, the machine takes the cut by giving you back less than you put in

But spending coins doesn't give you cash back rewards either.

Yup. Last year I got rid of a whole bunch of coins that were lying around. I took it as a gift card for the local hardware, then went over to the hardware and spent the money.

That's great for Amazon, and for people who shop at Amazon...

Right, so > 75% of online shoppers...

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/19/more-than-75-percent-of-us-o...