The Customer 

American Eagle Financial Credit Union (AEFCU) is a full-service credit union out of East Hartford, Connecticut. Originally formed in 1935, it is now the most extensive community credit union in Connecticut, serving over 154,000 members with $2 billion in assets. Coinstar for Financial recently piloted and rolled out our Anthony kiosk to be their new self-service coin counting solution for American Eagle’s members. This solution has helped improve critical components of American Eagle’s branch strategy, including member service and branch efficiency.  

The Challenge 

AEFCU had been offering a self-service coin counting option for its members through machines owned and operated internally. With their network of eighteen branches, AEFCU has coin volumes of over $4,000,000 annually, with one location doing over one million in coin a year.  Because of the constant use, the machines were frequently down and in need of maintenance. This required employees to coordinate repairs, which took time away from interacting with members and providing service. Due to downtime, members were unable to process their coin while the machines were awaiting repairs and maintenance, which often took several days, relying entirely on the company that was servicing the machines to arrive. 

Since AEFCU owned and operated its machines, its branch employees were responsible for emptying the bags of coin and transporting them to their vaults. Emptying the bags and managing all the coin throughout the day was becoming a considerable challenge. During busier times of the year, their employees could empty coin bags up to three times a day. Those bags contained upwards of $1,000 in quarters, measuring up to 50 lbs each. The demand for coin at AEFCU locations continued to skyrocket, and their current coin management solution methods were not efficient. 

At the time, AEFCU was also working to implement a new branch strategy that focused more on automating routine tasks, speeding up member service, and allowing employees to focus more on meaningful interactions with members. The credit union leadership team began to realize their current coin counting machines were getting in the way of the organization achieving its goals, so they began to explore a new solution.

The Solution 

Our team at Coinstar for Financial connected with the leadership team at AEFCU and shared our turnkey model — providing them with a self-service coin counting solution for its members, all while addressing the constant maintenance issues of their other machines. The Coinstar for Financial solution would help drive branch automation by removing employees’ need to carry heavy coin bags or coordinate continuous repairs. 

Our team wanted to begin alleviating the fears and concerns that the AEFCU leadership team had when implementing a new coin-counting solution into their branches. Upon hearing AEFCU’s challenges, the Coinstar for Financial team suggested a three month “no obligation” pilot where AEFCU could test the turnkey service. If the service did not line up with their expectations, AEFCU could terminate with no consequences. We started to pilot four of their highest volume branches to show their team what our solution could provide. 

Unsure about the reaction from their members with transitioning to Coinstar for Financial, our team worked closely with the AEFCU leadership team to ensure confidence in our system. AEFCU’s Coinstar technician performed onsite and virtual training for the branch employees while having bi-weekly meetings regarding troubleshooting, branch activities, and ensuring that the kiosk operated smoothly.  Having constant, open communication between our teams made the implementation process run smoothly and easily for AEFCU. 

Within two months, Coinstar was able to implement our kiosks into 11 branches of AEFCU.

The Results 

AEFCU saved a lot when it came to labor time for their branch employees. Coinstar’s fully-managed service provided the employees of each branch freedom to focus on member engagement and service instead of coordinating coin-counting machine maintenance, lugging up to 50 lb bags of coin, continually monitoring coin bins, or scheduling bin pick-ups. The old machines had frequent downtime, causing a disrupted flow of employees’ workdays and unhappy members. Our Anthony kiosks were the easy solution to improve the operation of each branch, with the Coinstar for Financial team standing by to support in case of any operational hiccups or staff questions. It created a better experience for their members with little to no kiosk downtime.  

Financial institutions and banks across the country are looking to improve in-person banking and implement digital banking experiences into their business, especially with the turn the year 2020 took. Members are expecting a perfect experience walking into the four walls of your business. The turnkey solution that Coinstar for Financial provides accomplishes both of these goals and offers a cost-efficient alternative for in-house coin processing.

If your financial institution is ready to transform their coin management solution, improving the in-person banking experience for your members, reach out to a Coinstar for Financial representative today! Visit our website, www.financial.coinstar.com, to get started on your transformation.