HSBC Direct - 4.5% APY beginning May 1st

HSBC Direct Online Savings has been having a promotion for the last three months with a 4.8% APY. This has been the best interest rate offered for online savings accounts. Because the promotion is set to end on April 30, I have been awaiting an official statement on the non-promotional rate. And, it has been announced that it is 4.5%. This is a quote from the e-mail I received:

We are writing to let you know that beginning May 1, 2006, your HSBCdirect Online Savings Account rate will change to 4.50% APY**. This is one of America's leading rates and still 8x the national average*, so you can continue to watch your money grow.

With HSBCdirect.com, there are no fees, no minimums, no lock-up period, and your money is FDIC insured.† You can stay confident your money is in the right place and earning the most it possibly can.

I recommend using HSBC for online savings because they offer the highest rates. Additionally, if you are interested in setting up a new account, use the promo code "start" to receive an additional $25 upon your account opening.

Counting Coins at Commerce Bank

In a comment to Monday's post, Coinstar: Count your coins for FREE for using Amazon or iTunes!, an anonymous visitor posted that Commerce Bank will also count coins for free. I decided to go to Commerce Bank today to count my coins. I didn't have very many coins to be counted but, since the semester is almost over, I took all the coins on my desk and added them to the coins in my jar.

The Commerce Bank was very easy to locate, right on the corner of Broadway and Bond St. I wasn't sure of the address at first but I just sent a quick text to Google on my there.

Anyway, there was a big sign in the window advertising the coin counting machine. The best part of the machine, know as PENNY ARCADE, is that if you guess the amount of your coins within $1.99 you win a prize. And, you don't need to have a Commerce Bank account to use the machine.

I pushed "Go" on the kid-friendly user interface and followed the on-screen instructions. I guessed the amount of my coins, which I didn't think would be more than $10, considering the small size of the jar. Surprisingly, I got $24.08. The receipt listed how much of each coin I had but I didn't read it before giving it to the cashier.


Recommended: Yes. The machine was easy to use and it counted all my coins in a few seconds. You also have the opportunity to win a prize if you guess your amount correctly.

Don't go to Ben & Jerry's on Bleecker Street.

The Ben & Jerry's on Bleecker Street now has a sign that reads: "We are unable to participate in free cone day due to construction."
I checked the website again so that I could call and complain but they updated the website today to show that the Bleecker Street Ben & Jerry's is in fact not participating.
The Ben & Jerry's on Third Ave/10th Street is pretty far from here but they are still giving out free ice cream today.

Ben & Jerry's Free Cone day is TODAY!

Ben & Jerry's annual Free Cone Day is Tuesday, April 25th. That's today!
Participating scoop shops will be giving out free ice cream cones all day!!!! (just kidding, it's actually noon to 8:00)
The closest Ben & Jerry's to NYU are on Third Ave. or Bleecker St. and BOTH of those locations are participating in Free Cone Day. So GO GET FREE ICE CREAM!

If you want the exact address or the address of other Ben & Jerry's locations, here is the official linky: http://www.benjerry.com/features/fcd_2006/

Coinstar: Count your coins for FREE for using Amazon or iTunes!

Coinstar, the coin-counting kiosks in 10,000 supermarkets across the U.S., normally charges 8.9% to count your coins. However, Coinstar will now count your coins for free if you choose to redeem your cash into an e-certificate or gift card, such as iTunes.
I actually discovered this when I was looking for Coca-Cola Blak. The Food Emporium in Union Square has two Coinstar kiosks that offer to turn your coins into a gift card to iTunes or an e-certificate to Amazon.com. Apparently, Coinstar has been offering the Amazon.com service since September 2005 and just announced the iTunes gift card service two weeks ago. There are also some other gift cards that select kiosks offer, such as Borders and Starbucks gift cards.
I've heard that several banks will count your coins for free but I don't know where these are so I definitely recommend using Coinstar. I don't use iTunes but having Amazon.com gift certificates is never a bad thing.

[Edit: For some reason, Blogspot keeps deleting this entry after this point...]

Anyway, before going out to turn your change into iTunes songs, make sure your local Coinstar kiosk offers iTunes. The "advanced machine locator" on Coinstar.com should tell you if your kiosk offers it, but the locator doesn't seem to be working.

And here is an article about the new Coinstar iTunes service: Coinstar turns loose change into iTunes songs

Ruckus

Here's a quick tip for NYU students if you want to save money, and time, on that music that you're paying for, or downloading illegaly:

USE RUCKUS! It has 1.5 million songs... and it's free...
It's a free subscription music service for college students. (If you're in Stern, you'll have learned about that in Computer Based Systems / Information Technology in Business and Society.)
Search the music library at www.ruckus.com
Yeh, I know that NYU isn't a partner school yet, but we're working on it! You can still use it for free though.
Join the facebook group: http://nyu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2201245097 and send an e-mail to the e-mail address listed there for a free account

Coca-Cola Blak

NYU doesn't sell Coca-Cola products because of alleged murders in Colombia so it was very difficult to find Coca-Cola Blak.
After a short journey to actually find Coca-Cola Blak, as none of the supermarket or drug stores had it (despite the fact that this is New York City), I found it at Gristedes. It was 6.99 for 4 bottles and was a definite waste of money.
You can barely taste the "coffee essence," and it has apartame in it, which basically ruins the flavor of the original Coca-Cola. Don't bother trying it, it's not worth it.

It is disappointing that Coca-Cola discontinued Vanilla Coke, but Black Cherry Vanilla Coke isn't so bad.

[And, this is my first post since I don't know what happened to my other blog that I never updated...]