Don't Pay for things with Half Dollars

Don't Pay for things with Half Dollars unless you have time to stand around while the cashier looks them over one by one.

Every time I pay for anything with searched half dollars the cashier grabs them, and flips each one over and over apparently looking to see if it is silver before putting it in the drawer. Like they think I'm some idiot cashing in a coin collection. They don't even bother to say anything, they just look it over, as i stand there waiting...and waiting.

Anyone else get this treatment? :yes:

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Thats the type of cashier I wish I could give a counterfit coin to

 

So, do you expect cashiers to simply accept "anything" thats put in front of them without first determing its authenticity or what?

Especially for a coin that coin collectors know about but given the fact that they do not circulate, many folks don't?

 

now that's not nice, jmon...

I would think as coin collectors that it would be refreshing to see someone who knew that they were US coins to begin with and even more so that the cashier showed an interest at all. You're paying for things with Half Dollars, it's kind of out of the ordinary, and I might expect it to take a second.

mkoenig, Why don't you take the opportunity to start a conversation about coins with the cashier? Maybe you can make a friend that will look for coins and put them aside for you, who knows? Even if she is wondering if you're an "idiot cashing in a coin collection" if you start talking coins, you may make a friend for life.

 

I bet that rather than looking to see if it's silver they probably don't see many half dollars and are looking at it to make sure it's a legit US coin.

 

No it's not, but, my evil side would love to see their face when I passed a 1804 dollar or somesuch.

I agree - I should have expanded on my comment - While I would want to toy with them, I would use the opportunity to discuss it more. Though it may be a hassle, I love the chance to talk coins.

 

I sometimes pay with almost slick buffalo nickels & wheatbacks. My mom brings them home from work and if they are useless to me I just dump them back in circulation. Of course I dont tell her that. I just love seeing cashiers faces, they usually put it under the drawer, lol.

Got a * $2 note in change yesterday at the grocery.

 

Exactly right! They don't have a clue what it is; same thing with the SBA's. They not only don't know what the coins are, but also don't know how to handle them once they get them. I recently paid for a $1.29 cup of coffee with a Kennedy Half and a Susie B. - got $.79 in change!

 

I had an experience once back in 2006. I went to buy some gas and gave the clerk a $20 bill. He handed it back and said it's fake, and I said, no, you just never seen a 20 dated 1969 before, It is real, he took it back and the owner came out who was way past the age of consent and I know was alive back in 1969, so I turned to him and said/asked, "This is a real 20, I'm sorry if your clerk can't tell real money from fake money, would you PLEASE take this, it's REAL! He said the date was too old, and I said here is another 20, feel the paper its the same! The first clerk said, see its fake the new 20 has a bigger face that one is much smaller! I told them it's how they were designed back then. Both clerks, the young kid and the owner would not take my 1969 20.00 Bill. I had no idea people in general were this.... I'm going to say it. STUPID. I'm sorry but come on. Didn't they teach these kids anything about money in school? They taught us how to count with it LOL They get the darwin award. it's not like it was an 1869 20.00 BILL, 1969 is still recent enough. The older gentleman should have known it was real.

I swear, sometimes I feell like I'm living in the Twilight Zone, or the timeline's have shifted. Americans not being able to recognize their own money. We're in serious trouble. lol...

 

If it's a younger cashier, they may not know what that coin is since there are no more business strikes made of halves.

You can get the same reaction if you use a presidential $, or Sac $ too.

 

I use president dollars and kennedy halves all the time. Sometimes they look twice at the half and will occasionally ask if it is a dollar, but they usually just take the money with no hesitation. I like to get them into circulation.

 

I think that person knew how to handle them, they just didn't know how to count. How could 2 coins add up to $2.08?? I could understand if they thought they were both dollar coins, but you're experience just doesn't make sense how anyone could do that. Unless you meant to say you got $0.71 in change.

 

I've got about 50 slick buff's. Don't particularly care much for them as they just take up storage space. Been thinking about giving them to little kids but I might try to spend a few too haha. Especially when I go on vacation this year.
and @copperhead: I spent a prez dollar once and got the same reaction lol. I have to say though I am one of those cashiers that looks at the coins when they are handed to me. I can usually tell before they even hand them to me though.

 

And did you correct the cashier?

 

It's possible that the clerk in the original post did not want to take a lot of half-dollars as he would have to account for them at the end of the day, so he decided to deliberately slow down things.

The clerks aren't stupid, but they are threatened with dire consequences if they take counterfeit or foreign money.

 

I did mean $0.71

 

Before giving me change she held both coins, looked at them closely, turned them over a couple of times and dropped them in the cash drawer apparently believing they were both Dollars.

I educated her on what they were and she admitted she had never seen either these types of coins before. She apparently lives in a vacuum.

 

Uh, the only reason I have a clue what a half dollar looks like is because I collected coins in childhood. It's not ignorance as much as it is just a lack of experience.

 

Okay haha that's good. I was gunna say that's pretty bad if you got $0.79 back.

 

I take any foreign money you wanna offer haha. As long as I can afford to replace it anyways....
Anybody ever tried to spend a steelie or two? I bet people would think they were counterfeit.