Anyone ever tried this?

I have done it with success BUT you need to make sure you are in good standings within the community.
I offer free metal detecting services to find lost items for people and I also volunteer to scan for historical relics. I am a member of a number of historical civic organizations and frequently post stories of finds and recoveries. I also frequently speak at these groups and volunteer for local clean ups and work with youth groups. I’ve worked hard to establish a high level of trust.
Because of this, I have more areas to metal detect than I can ever complete. Also many of the people who had lost items found for them or even when I couldn’t find their property gave me a ton of coins when I asked to buy some. I recently received a jar of wheat and Indian Head pennies with a handful of silver dimes and quarters from a lady because I spent 3 days searching for a lost ring and did not charge her.

 

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I don't think there is an unusually larger number of persons out to cause harm to others for their own benefit in today's society than there has been in the past. There have always been crap people in the world.

If you run into a halfway intelligent crap person in the given scenario, they will have a cohort waiting at the house with the gun ready, pointed at the door.

Personally, given the option to deal some rando off craigslist or use a coinstar, I would use a coinstar and eat the fee. Not only is craigslist generally the sketchier option, it's also usually a timesink. It takes time to set up the arrangement. It takes time to travel. It takes time to sit by the door waiting. I value my time.

 

Thats why we love you Rodney

 

My daughter has a friend who is getting divorced and it had been a family project to throw change in jars and then separate it with the intent of cashing it in. Now, since the family is no more...she is totally bummed out with doing anything with it. I offered to do it for her. I posted the picture before, but imagine four 1-1.5 gallon containers with cents, nickels, dimes and quarters. I actually went through the quarters with nothing of any interest and was bummed about doing the others. There was an ad on Craigslist where a person was offering to do this same kind of thing..."Save Money Instead Of CoinStar" he was offering to pay 2% extra for amounts above $200! I was getting ready to do this when my daughter said "You're really going to take $500 to some guy from Craigslist?" I decided to take it to my local coin shop.

 

Yes, there have always been "crap" people in the world, but how many illicit drugs were being used 50-100 years ago compared to today? Addicts will do almost anything to get a fix, and drug dealers will go to any length to protect themselves.
~ Chris

 

That is AWESOME Chip....i applaud your apparent consistency of character and impeccable integrity....we need more like you these days......my main target would be elderly and maybe widows/widowers who are trying to sort/consolidate..... as I did when I collected all manner of petroliana and advertising, the major thrill is in the finding, so I'm not looking to get rich just have some fun, learn something new, meet/help people and keep someone from being taken advantage of or throwing away dollars to get dimes.....
As in the case of my customer with the wheat pennies, her low life grandson has already robbed her of her silver, no telling what got away. And it burns me up for that to happen to anyone, especially someone who let the person live with them because they had nowhere else to go.....
But I'm the guy who NEVER locks his house, NEVER takes his keys out of the ignition, etc......and I've been on THOUSANDS of homes and have learned that 99.99% of people are good......thanks for the input

 

In that instance I've learned that Facebook somewhat keeps people more honest.....if somebody around here screws somebody over, it's known and spread so the person can't do it again or gets the deserved street justice dealt.....i would only be willing to deal with folks with mutual friends as myself......i may give it a test run the next rainy week we have.....

 

Let's cancel that "illicit" crap since that is a modern construct. How many ways have people used to escape reality? Lots and lots!

 

He is also a CT member. I can't remember who but they did a thread on doing just that.

 

Yessir I was gonna say I've got a collection of old bottles and I was explaining to my daughter yesterday that much of the medicine that was used back then had cocaine, morphine and other types of drugs as part of its ingredients. And I was going to add that 50 years ago I would dare say that there were more people using drugs weather they were illicit or not

 

If you do something like this, you may want to invest in a decent scale that can discriminate to the cent. Require the customer to sort into bins of denominations. Weigh each group on the scale in their presence. Pay cash rounding up in their favor. Have enough to cover but not more than you are willing to lose if you’re held up. Make it fast and courteous. Roll elsewhere when you’re through. Safer.

 

http://www.lostmystuff.net/

 

BTW, $1,174.60

 

I tried it on Craigslist last year. Was a big waste of time. Too many other ads for buying coin collections.

 

I had an aunt who shut my dad (her half brother) and her other half brother out of her life after their mother died in 1973. Other than seeing her once in 1978 at their uncles funeral, they had no contact with her. In December of 2008 my mother got a call from the county sheriff about doing a wellness check on her as a neighbor was concerned since she hadn't seen her for many weeks. Since my Dad was in the hospital, my mom and a cousin went to her house. The sheriff broke the door down and immediately wouldn't let anyone in. In the years since she shut out the family she became a horder. The house was unfit to live in. After digging through pile of trash the sheriff found my aunt's body. She was probably dead for several weeks. Afterwards, my oldest brother and one of my sister's went through the house before a hazmat company cleaned three big dumpsters of trash. They found a big plastic tub full of rolled up quarters and wheat cents. Knowing that I collected coins, I agreed to look through the change. It was a big waste of time for me. I went through over $600 worth of quarters. Most were state quarters and the rest clad from 1965-1998. All of the wheat cents were from the 40's and 50's and well circulated. For me, what started out as a treasure hunt became a monotonous adventure. I guess I became overwhelmed by the volume of coins I was going through and the realization that there wouldn't be any good finds. That pretty much took any enthusiasm I had for roll hunting.