How Coinstar for Financial Turnkey Services Let Credit Unions Enhance Customer Satisfaction and Employee Morale

Our Customer

Credit Union of Colorado (CUOC) was founded by its members in 1934. Today, more than 100,000 members enjoy the benefits of membership in seventeen branches of their credit union. CUOC is now worth more than $1 billion in assets. They have a long history of providing above and beyond financial products and services to its members. They uphold their commitment to financial stability and quality service for generations to come. 

As their coin-counting equipment began to age, the do-it-yourself approach put an unnecessary drain on CUOC’s branch resources. It also got in the way of their commitment to their member service in a serious way. Coinstar for Financial reached out to help solve their coin management issues.

Our Challenge

CUOC was at a critical point in their coin management equipment cycle. There was a lack of dependability, service, accuracy, and efficiency with their current machines. These older, outdated machines resulted in poor member experiences, and employee morale was at an all-time low. The machines continued to jam up and break down, causing members to be turned away or made to wait in long lines to wait for the machine to be back up and running. More times than expected, the machines would quit working in the middle of a member’s deposit, causing major frustrations from their members.

Employees of CUOC branches were the ones left to deal with the constant breakdowns and frustrated members. Branch employees were spending time meant for other tasks fixing these coin-counting machines when they would jam or break down. Daily reconciliation of transactions and management of these machines remained a time-consuming chore for branch employees. Due to these inefficiencies, coin had been uncounted, resulting in significant accounting challenges where total coin balances were off on a monthly basis. 

The inefficient coin-counting system was draining CUOC of resources, which were all being spent upkeeping the unreliable coin-counting machines. They set a goal to streamline their coin management operations and decided to pilot Coinstar for Financial’s turnkey coin-counting program.

Our Solution

A member of the  Coinstar for Financial team connected to the CUOC leadership team to find a solution to their mismanaged coin-counting. Coinstar for Financial shared an alternative solution to CUOC’S owned and operated machines — a fully managed coin program with the Anthony kiosk. The fully managed program included the kiosk, setup, and training for CUOC’s team members, coin pickup and processing, routine maintenance, reporting, service, and support. 

CUOC team recognized the need to reduce the amount of time team members were spending on coin. With Coinstar for Financial’s recommended program, team members at CUOC would no longer have to manage coin machines, prepare coin for pickup, audit the machines, or perform maintenance. With these tasks no longer necessary, branch team members would be free to spend more time serving customers and building relationships. 

Coinstar for Financial also implemented the Coin to Deposit program across their branch network, further automating their coin management system. The Coin to Deposit program allows CUOC members to deposit coin from Anthony kiosks straight into their accounts quickly. Members do not need to wait in long lines to deposit coin, and tellers can avoid such transactions to focus on other high-value duties. 

To ensure the program would satisfy CUOC’s needs, Coinstar for Financial provided a 90-day pilot program in their heaviest volume branches. The pilot began in early December 2019. The older machines were being replaced with our Coinstar for Financial Anthony kiosks, while our team provided training to CUOC team members on the new kiosks.

The pilot program was successful! By February, the CUOC team with Coinstar for Financial was able to consolidate their machine network and replace those machines with Anthony kiosks across the entire branch network.

Our Results

The Coinstar for Financial program’s most significant impact on the organization is the marked rise in morale amongst its team members and branch member satisfaction. 

No longer having to pull heavy coin bags, addressing machine maintenance and management issues, and ongoing management, the machines have eliminated employee frustrations with their coin-counting solutions. The Coinstar for Financial program has made CUOC a happier place to be for employees and members alike. 

Coinstar for Financial lifted the weight of responsibility for their coin management headaches and the 50 lbs bags from the CUOC employees. The bins’ larger capacity in the Anthony kiosks allows the municipal employees to do their coin pours from start to finish for a seamless transaction, leaving enough space to continue accepting coin until the next Coinstar pickup. 

The team at CUOC is now free to focus on what is most important — its members. They can keep the teller line moving while still providing the self-service coin-counting that their customers want. The reliable Anthony kiosk will never miss a coin, taking care of all daily transactions and management, taking over the time-consuming chore for the branch employees to focus on their members and other tasks. Member feedback was all-around positive with the implementation of the Anthony kiosks, giving them a coin management solution that they can count on. 

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 has taken. 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, enhancing customer satisfaction and employee morale, reach out to a Coinstar for Financial representative today! Visit our website, www.financial.coinstar.com, to get started on your transformation.