I read a lot on this message board about people searching rolls, usually half dollars. It's something I'm interested in but I have a few questions. 1. Do you search other types of rolls besides half dollars? If so, what do you search and what do you look for in those rolls? 2. How often do you actually find anything? Like one per 100 coins, 1 per 1,000, etc.? 3. Where do you get half dollar rolls? I've asked at three branches of my bank and they said they don't carry them. Can you recommend a bank in Chicagoland that carries half dollar rolls? You don't have to tell me your personal branch so I don't step on your toes, but I need to know where to look. I know TCF doesn't have any.
I think the halves are popular because of the possibility of finding silver, but I think most people search rolls of what they really love to collect. For me, that is rolls of Lincoln Cents.
Banks can be hard to deal with, even if you are a depositor. If you are a client, just tell them you want half dollars. They will ask you to pay up front for them, and then make you wait for the delivery. Change is an expense for a bank. We expect change to be free, but it is a service, an overhead expense, basically, a deadweight loss. But it is what they do, and given that you are willing to pay first and wait, they ought to do it. If they do not, take your money to a bank that will. Myself, I have been a member of several credit unions since 1984. My current one sent me a reminder to vote for the board of directors. Does your bank let you choose the board, or run for the board in an open election? Credit unions have their downsides and not suprisingly, change is one of them. Halves are hard. Presidential dollars are easier. There is an interesting book called The Big Problem of Small Change by Sargent and Velde. Francoise Velde is a Federal Reserve economist who sometimes posts on these coins boards. The book is mostly about the Middle Ages because we solved the problem with token coinage and centalized banking. But even in the 1800s in America in different decades merchants were selling change at a discount or buying it a premium. Banks have the same problems only moreso because money is their stock in trade.
I do understand that there's really nothing in it for the bank by giving me rolls of change, since I'll be paying face value. Shoot, one time I just asked for a roll of quarters so I'd have money for laundry and the teller acted like it was a big inconvenience. But a lot of the posts on here make it sound so easy to get these half dollar rolls so I thought maybe I just wasn't in the right place.
