What would you do?

OK so when I pick up my boxes of cents to search I get them from my local credit union where I know the tellers well. When a person brings in rolled coins they are required to print thier name and/or phone number on each roll. Consistantly now, I find strange ones coming from rolls marked with the same name. They appear as if someone is honing their art of altering coins; one example specifically looks like an attempt to remove a mintmark. What should I do?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

You should do nothing, IMO. You have no clue where that person is getting their coins from that you are finding in the rolls. Also, the bank should be using a marker to cross that information out before they give it to another customer. Personally, I wouldn't be happy if I found out I had to put that information on rolls only to find out that the bank was just handing it out to whoever asked for rolls.

 

Can someone explain why the credit union would require people to write down personal information on each roll? Seems odd.

 

The reason is, some dimwits will try to skip out on them. $4.60 in a dime roll, or .48 in cents, etc.

It's crazy what some folks will do to scam someone.....

 

We do the same thing at the store where I work. been shorted too many times. Had quarter rolls come in 1.00 or more short, they just throw in some pennies or nickels to make it look the right size.
But you also have those dimwits who throw in an extra 3 or 4 dimes in a penny roll or extra quarters.

 

I agree you should do nothing except tell your credit union that they should cross off the name and number before they give them to you. Its very discourteous to do so. If I ever did that, (whihc I wouldn't), and they were passing them out like that I would stop turning coins into the bank, and probably close the account.

Its very dangerous, what if a thief gets one and assumes this person has a lot of money in their home?

 

It seems to me that they are putting their customers at risk because they are afraid of being shorted a few cents here and there. If they are really that afraid they should do what the bank I worked for did. We simply didn't accept customer rolled coins. If someone brought them in in rolls, we broke them all open and dumped them in the coin machine.

 

wow... I'm suprised nobody else seems overly concerned with the REAL issue, which is the alteration of the coins. Normally I wouldn't concern myself with such a thing but consistantly the same guy? Also... banks are not the only place to dump change. Ever pump $20 gas in the tank & go pay with pennies because that's all you have? Well I have, and after I volunteered to call the police they were accepted provided I put my name AND phone # on the rolls. This bank accepts ONLY customer wrapped rolls and never orders any coin, so I see no issues with the "I.D. the roll" theory. (Paranoid or guilty people will give a fake name & number anyway). Another point: I do not ever give notice and do not regularly search and recycle coin, and the tellers scrape up whatever they have when I pop in. Again, where my hobby is concerned, as am I. My real worry is over someone practicing this fraud... maybe to try to sell me a coin someday.....

 

You do know that businesses are within their legal right not to accept the $20 in cents as payment...don't you?

 

You really have no proof that the fellow was doing anything other than perhaps sorting his cents with most of the altered or cruddy ones he'd find would go into a specific stack.

 

The cops would have chuckled to themselves after dismissing such a silly call.

 

I don't think it's being paranoid with respect to the I.D. issue. When making a purchase at a store, I am periodically asked for my phone number. I tell them it's unlisted, which it is. Why do you think state issued drivers licenses moved away from using your SSN for your DL number? Privacy! As for the doctored coins, that can be taken up with the U.S. Treasury Department as it is a Federal crime to alter coins or currency in an attempt to defraud. It doesn't matter if somebody is removing/adding MMs, altering dates, making mules, etc. IF the intent to defraud can be PROVEN (That's the tough part). Many alterations have been done as novelty items and are sold as such. For example: 1964 Peace dollars.

 

I don't know if it is still on the books or has been repealed but the government set limits as to the maximum number of cents, nickels, etc. were legally required to be accepted in transactions. Anything over the limit was up to the merchant as to whether it was acceptable payment for the transaction.

 

I never knew any amount a merchant HAD to accept.

Its a common misconception. A merchant can only accept Thai baht if they want to. There is no law in the world that can force a merchant to accept anything. Now, legal tender refers to settlement of debt. If you owe someone, and you offer them legal tender and they refuse, they are not allowed to charge you interest from then on. Other than that, you walk into a store and the merchant can demand whatever he wants to, and has the choice to accept whatever he wants to. His sales may suffer but that is his decision.

Of course, all of this is assuming he is not doing to discriminate against a protected class or something.

Chris

 

this debate was settled in a previous thread where an informed member showed the specific law in question in it's current form. while at one point in time there WAS a limit, there is no longer one. ANY legal tender US currency MUST be accepted. No questions. And the cops would NOT have chuckled. The gas was in my car already. I could not have been charged with theft when attempting to pay, so I volunteered to call them. That is why you never see a sign stating a coin spending limit at any given business. But again, this is askew from the point of the thread...
Also, I don't need to prove anything to anyone, just observe and report. Thank you coinhead for sticking to the topic of the thread. I take my hobby very seriously and want to prevent any damage to it as I can.

 

You are completely and 100% incorrect. There is no federal statute that says a business or person must accept all cash or any other kinds of payment. Haven't you ever walked into a store that said they "won't accept any bills larger than $20?" That is the businesses right, and yes they can refuse to take $20 in pennies and if they do refuse...you still have to pay.

Now, I do believe that there is a law on the books that says if you try and satisfy a debt in this manner and it is refused, you can't be charged interest on that debt thereafter.

 

heres what I know. http://www.snopes.com/business/money/pennies.asp it is fairly concise. not the INTEREST, but the DEBT is wiped out if payment was offered and refused. No, they don't HAVE to accept it, but if they take me to court I won't have to pay. Even if I set a new national precedent and DID have to pay, it would be done in the default currency of this country: ANY legal tender. Restitution paid would be to the court, a federal institution, which cannot refuse pennies. No matter how you look at it, I'm golden. Besides, I didn't scatter them all over. They were rolled. I have a feeling the gas station doesn't give a crap what form the money comes in, as long as it comes in. THAT issue is simply a lazy individual who just didn't want to count change.

 

I'm not going to argue with you...I know the law and you think you do. Perhaps your state has state laws regarding this but there is no federal statute. But, it doesn't really matter.

 

Consider this thread. http://www.cointalk.com/t139217-4/ rlm appears to have used the same link on a thread actually devoted to this topic and nobody attempted to belittle him. Texas John provides further collaberation. For a moderator, you sure are instigating negative feedback. Seems like you think you know a lot, all but for how to moderate. You have followed the mob, off topic, trying to look good when you should have directed the conversation along its topic.

 

Look friend, I mean no disrespect...but I do know the law. This is one of those things that is very commonly misunderstood. At one time, decades ago legal tender meant that one must accept payment but it does not anymore. You can choose to believe whatever you want and so can I. I'm not trying to instigate anything. If you can show me a law that tells me I'm wrong I will admit I'm wrong.