Earlier this month, Sacramento TV station KOVR-13 contacted CDFA’s Division of Measurement Standards (DMS) about the coin counting machines that are found in supermarkets. These machines count a customer’s change, charge a fee, and return a voucher that can be exchanged at the check stand for money. The station’s “Call Kurtis” program had received consumer complaints that they were not getting credit for all of the coins they had deposited into the machines.
DMS told the station that while investigators respond to complaints about the machines, there are no specifications and tolerances for them and that, as a result, they are not regularly checked by weights and measures officials.
DMS is planning a survey of coin-counting machines in Northern California to learn more about their accuracy rates.