Would it be unscrupulous to ask a store clerk to watch out for any 1988 or 1988-D pennies and tell them I'll come by now and then to check them and if they find the one I want, I'll give them $20 for it? Of course, most of you know that I'm looking for the 88 with the 89 reverse. Do these even have any kind of set premium yet? They aren't even listed as an error yet, are they? Tell me what you think. I don't find very many 88's in rolls. I'd say I find 1 or 2 in every other roll.
Do coin collectors have a certain "moral value" they live by. This is a good question, I haven't a clue.---John
Well if I knew the coin had a set value for a certain grade, say $2,000 for an MS 67, I wouldn't offer them only $20 for it. But since it's not even listed yet, there is no way to know for certain what they will be worth. If I found one through a clerk who was saving them for me, I'd give him/her the $20 but if I later found out the coin was worth, say $1,500 I'd sell it and go back and give them a 10% finders fee or something.
I think it unlikely that the clerk would have either the time or the inclination to sort pennies for you.
Everyone has their own moral compass. IMO, as long as it is ok with the store clerk's employer and the clerk knows that you are looking for a valuable variety and agrees to the $20 up front, then no harm done. Suggestion: Go to the bank and get $25 boxes of cents and roll search. You probably have a much better chance finding varieties that way. Good luck! TC
I dont think its immoral. The penny is not owned by the clerk, the clerk would just be a transporter, tranfering the penny from the store itself to you. That would be like spotting a 1988 penny and just asking someone to hand it to you. Now if the clerk owned the penny, if it was in her private pocket, and you told her you'd give her 20. That i'd feel guilty about.
I dont see anything wrong with it. If he wants to spendhis time looking for a certain penny for your $20 then go for it.
i would 2nd this motion FYI - The 88/89 have been given a variety cherrypickers number of FS-901 just as of last year
Clerks (unless they are coin collectors) could care less about the coins in their till. I have a staff of forty and not one of them looks twice at the coins. Every couple of days I'll find a silver dime or quarter, or a foreign coin in the till. I've asked repeatedly for them to watch for old banknotes, coins etc. and I've only had one come to me with a banknote. You can ask all you want but don't get your hopes up.
Any clerk who is looking at the dates of all of the pennies coming into and out of their drawer sounds like someone without enough to do. If I saw someone doing that the first time I would warn them and give them more to do, the second time I would probably send them home for the day. I think it could be dangerous to their jobs to do this for you. Have you tried going to coin stores or shows and asking to go through their 88 cents, or buying rolls of 88 cents? That is quickest.
If it is a one clerk store and there is a lot of down time on that persons schedule, it might happen. However, if it's a department store or such, the clerk is told not to remove money from the register (other than to issue change) and that is usually monitored by security.
Unscrupulous? No, but is asking a lot. Asking a bank teller to keep an eye out for silver or old notes is one thing, but a store clerk digging through common modern cents is a different ballgame. It would be in your best interest to pick up a few cent boxes from a bank and dig through yourself. This way you will find more of whatever date in a few hours than a store clerk would in a month.
