Coinstar moves customer service center to Kennewick

Jul 23, 2008 (Tri-City Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CSTR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Coinstar Inc. is adding about 30 new jobs in the Tri-Cities, the company announced Tuesday.

The Bellevue-based company, which provides self-service coin-counting machines and self-service DVD rental kiosks, will relocate its customer service center to Kennewick from Bellevue and expand existing local operations.

The consolidation will help lower costs, said Kathryn McGavick, Coinstar's vice president for customer support.

The Tri-Cities has a competitive business climate, which will help Coinstar grow its call center team, she said.

The jobs offer competitive call-center wages with benefits, McGavick said. "We're excited to keep the jobs in Washington," she said.

Coinstar previously had an 11-person customer service group in Kennewick that handled customer inquiries and other business for the company's electronic payment division.

With the expanded group of about 40 employees, the customer service center will move to Marineland Village and also handle inquiries for Coinstar's coin and coffee kiosk businesses.

The new customer service center will be fully operational by the end of this month and will be serving customers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom with English, Spanish and French speaking representatives.

Coinstar actively is seeking French speakers in the area, and until that happens, calls from French customers will be routed through Bellevue, McGavick said.

Coinstar has more than 15 self-service coin-counting locations at the Tri-Cities area retail stores including Albertsons, Fred Meyer, ShopKo, Wal-Mart, Winco and Yoke's Fresh Markets.

To see more of the Tri-City Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tri-cityherald.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets -- Free Newsletter

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index