Is Coinstar entering the beauty biz??

If you're reading this blog, there's a very good chance that you already know what a Coinstar machine is, and if you don't, allow me to enlighten you!

Coinstar machines are the big green "slot machines" usually located at the front of your local grocery store. Coinstar machines convert your change (pennies, nickles, dimes, etc.) to paper cash. You just pour your loose change into the big green machine and voilà! In a few seconds (depending on how much change you dump in) you'll get a paper receipt that you can redeem at your grocery store for paper money, or to use toward your groceries. Either way, Coinstar can be very helpful if you've got a large amount of change you want to convert into paper money quickly (although there is a small service fee but, hey, you're paying for convenience). I've helped friends bring old coffee cans full of pennies to the Coinstar machine in the past, and it's always fun to try and predict how much paper money they'll get in return (I'm always way off in my estimation).

Speaking of estimating, while researching this post, I discovered that there is a nifty little change converter on the Coinstar site. You can enter in how much change you have (a gallon, 12 oz, etc.) and it will tell you, roughly speaking, how much paper cash you'll receive. Who knew that a gallon full of coins is worth around $228?

As many of you probably know, Coinstar also owns the extremely popular Redbox DVD rental machines, which seem to be popping up just about everywhere these days. So when I saw this article this morning, it immediately grabbed my attention:

(From DrugstoreNews.com):

NEW YORK (Jul. 30) Coinstar, which offers new release DVD rentals through its self-service Redbox kiosks, might be trying to do something similar with cosmetics, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

While Coinstar would not comment on its potential plans, Dow Jones Newswires reports that it is looking to hire a VP-level manager to oversee a new venture in cosmetics or beauty market. The job opening, posted on the Internet, indicates that Coinstar is looking to create partnerships in the beauty industry and develop vending machines.

In a statement emailed to Dow Jones Newswires, Coinstar stated: "We are continually looking at new opportunities in the self-service, automated retail space and plan to have a number of seed businesses that we're testing and evaluating at any given time. It would be premature to provide comment on any of these early concepts."

Redbox has rented more than 750 million DVDs and is available at approximately 22,000 locations nationwide, including select McDonald's restaurants, leading grocery and convenience stores, and Walmart and Walgreens locations in select markets.

OK lovelies: IF THIS HAPPENS, would any of you like to try and predict what types of beauty products will be in these vending machines? I'm guessing, given the availability and accessibility of Coinstar and Red Box machines, we won't see Sephora-level products. I'm predicting it will be drugstore-oriented beauty products.

What would you LIKE to see in a potential beauty vending machine that might be right next to your local Red Box or Coinstar machine? Or would you like to see a beauty vending machine at all? I'd love to hear your thoughts.