Woman cashes 14 $20 gold coins at bank

Where do you draw the line? Should a teller be bound to inform a depositor that out of his $5,000 cash deposit that one silver Rosie Dime in his deposit has a melt value of $0.72 at the current spot price of silver? Should tellers be forced to look for error coins (e.g., Wisconsin Extra Leaf Quarter) and inform depositors if they have any?

Like the article I quoted said (in another thread on this same topic), banks deal in face value. I can't see how it can be any other way. In an extreme case such as this one, obviously a depositor should be told their coins are worth much more than face but I don't think that should be a rule or a law but rather a matter of conscience.

 

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It's quite simple... if the teller deems a coin or bill is worth putting to one side for his or her (or co-worker's) personal use or gain, then they should tell the customer that made the deposit. It's the right thing to do.

As I said, I can see it from both sides of the issue but I can't get the image of a little old lady with a coffee can of old, saved up coins, going to the bank to try and keep ahead of her heating bill payments...

 

IMO, I think the guy who got fired has a lawsuit..the bank should not have fired him, as he legally did nothing wrong.

Not saying it was ethically right, but it was not legally wrong.



stainless

 

I honestly cannot see why he was fired as well. He did his job, he exchanged the coins for their face value. And, as others have said, where does the line get drawn for bank tellers who do this? I have friends that work at cash registers and are bank tellers and most who know the value of older or rare coins buy them at face value. I know a manager that I used to work for in a store that came across silver certificates all the time... she did the daily deposits for the store we worked at and she always had a stash of "swap" money in her purse, so any silver certificates or old regular bills she found she swapped. She is still the manager of the store to this day and she has an absolutely amazing collection of old bills/silver certif's.

 

i guess there are some unscrupulous tellers who will now be scared. there is a clear difference between silver coins witht he current design that might slip through and gold and silver dollars. if a cashier cant figure this out then they might as well take counterfeit money.

 

There is a Huge difference in someone turning in a 1964 silver Kennedy vs 14 double eagles worth $12,600 in melt value and much much more in numismatic value

One would assume that a Financial Institution's core values are based on Intergity, Honesty and Fairness.

The teller didn't do anything legally wrong, but ethically he did. The Lady stated she wanted to cash them in for face value to buy groceries which means she is living on a small fixed income and has no money.

The ethic-less teller knew the coins were gold and worth thousands and greedily bought all of them and took them home.

The right thing to do would have been to inform the Lady that the coins were worth thousands. Its quite apparent that the teller has no ethics or integrity. I'm glad the Bank Manager fired him. He did the right thing.

 

The manager did the right thing because the teller did not. In an age when doing the right thing is becoming less and less common, people claim the line is sometimes blurred. I say it is morality that is becoming blurred.

 

My take on the fired teller is that as an employee he agrees to work according to bank policies; certain bank policies may have been violated in such a transaction.

 

Another good reason to slab, she would have had a ***** prying those suckers out of their cases.

Made me kinda queesy watching that bank guy rub them together like they were pocket change...

 

thank god. i was begining to feel like i was the only one who felt that way. It was only a matter of time till Harry read it :thumb: now where is the rest of the golden gang?

 

yes greed blurs morality and brings in self justification

 

Actually believe it or not the bank is not required to tell you it's worth more than face & they can only pay face value for the coins.

Also banks have contracts to sell all & any silver to a large dealer who is required to pay for it all at once. They can not hold silver coins back for an individual.

Most banks will not hold types of coins or bills for an individual. Only exceptions have been with small banks that know you. Also most of those bills & coins are so beat up they are only worth face. With the exception of the 1979 Susan B.

I know this sounds mean but she only wanted $20 for them & that's what she got! You can't save dumb people from being dumb. Now granted if I'd been the teller I would have told her. Unless bank policy says he can't pay them what they paid for the coins I don't see why they should have fired them.

 

jgreenhood, you can't save dumb people from being dumb, but you can save misinformed people from being misinformed. More to the point, you can certainly (and in my opinion have a duty to) protect vulnerable people such as those with learning disabilities, or older people who may be getting confused, from the difficulties their situation can get them into. We don't know whether the hapless lady in question fitted into either of those categories or not.

I'd have to agree with stainless for saying something may not be legally wrong, but nor is it ethically right.

I suppose to most of us it sounds quite amazing that someone could be "misinformed" enough not to click that gold coins were worth more than their face value, but speaking as a Briton, there may be a few Britons alive old enough to remember when Sovereigns were legal tender at £1 face value. To these people, now very old and possibly getting confused, it would seem the most natural thing in the world to try and cash some sovereigns, but you'd need to be incredibly cold-hearted to just let them.

Mule

 

and here is the conclusion to the story....I guess she was a thief after all and not someone dumb and in need.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12056143

 

I knew that she must have stole the coins!! :hammer:

 

Even more to the the point, you have an obligation to do your job. Bank tellers are paid to exchange US currency for face value. They are NOT appraisers of coins or currency. They are paid to exchange currency and sell products to make the bank money. Anything else is wasting time while they are on the clock and basically stealing from their employer.

Also, why is it that the person who deposits coins worth more than face value is always assumed to be a disabled elderly woman? The article says nothing about her age. It is assumed that she is because it makes it easier to attack the teller when you assume the woman is more "vulnerable." It makes the teller evil to assume that she is a little old lady on her way back from church bring food to the homeless shelter. It's called a stereotype. This forum has a long history of ripping people apart with their "Holier than Thou" attitude about things like this because they assume the absolute worst about people and the situation. As it turned out, in this case she was a thief.

 

Ok I don't consider people who are retarded as dumb or those who have diminished brain power due to old age. Both of which were not indicated so one just presume this was not the case.

Since she stole them she was stupid for going back. Granted she could have gotten more at a pawn, jewelery or coin shop but.... They all keep records of who they sell stuff too! So the bank was an easy out as they don't have to.

Also don't get me wrong. Although I don't think the teller did much wrong, unless it was against the bank policy, I wouldn't have done the same. I would have alerted a manager after I'd told her she could get more at a coin shop. BUT... I would have been so ticked to have known I aided a thief!

 

"The family didn't know the coins were missing until police told them, but the coins are now secure in a Zions Bank vault and bank security officials are arranging to return them, Brough said. "

Great! I feel so much better now, this was really bothering me for some reason. Thanks for that update

 

I had a feeling they may have been stolen & thought I'd said that in a prior post but I didn't Oh well.

 

Although not ethical not illegal..