Banks: The good, the bad and the ugly!

Thanks man, it's probably worth it as a cautionary tale for others who use coin machines to count their dumps.

It's a different situation, but I've gotten shafted a few times before in another bank in the past, if someone puts wet coins or particularly dirty/sticky coins through the machine it can affect the sensor in a way that makes it so the machine will not appear to have anything wrong with it, but the next few people will not have all their coins counted (I think I lost about 15-20% of my dump).

At this point I'm pretty much an expert on their counting machine... I could probably fix it faster than the tellers could lol. That's probably part of the reason why I'm so angry over this, because I should have caught the problem earlier. Oh well

 

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bummer dude.

 

If I ever heard a reason to stop using coin counting machines it is in post #19. I will keep this post in mind from here on out and will use it as an example when telling people why re-rolling is so much better than using these machines. When you re-roll you never have to worry about bags filling up, jamming or taking a loss, let alone one that is $50 or more. I have heard of people taking losses before from these machines but the example cited above is by the far the most I have ever heard of from someone.

Your fellow coin machine users profited from your loss. I think it is safe to say that most people who redeem their change jars (which is what these machines are there for, not to redeem bulk amounts of coins from box searchers) don't have a lot of halves. Point being is they knew they made extra money from coins that didn't come from them and said nothing about these halves showing up on their receipts. They cashed out and laughed all the way home. Your bank will probably take the viewpoint that these halves were redeemed and the money for them was paid. Still though, I would like to know what they ended up telling you and if you'll be getting reimbursed this $50-60 or not.

 

I would like to hear the results as well. The machines that are available in my area do not take halves, so I am required to reroll them. I did take a loss of $2.50 on a box of dimes last week. Based on that alone I would never want to put halves into a machine.

 

Yeah, I don't really mind re-rolling either. Plus, other people can't count very well, or just don't care. I probably average about one extra dime per two CWR. Doesn't sound like much, but it covers parking!

BTW, NOS, do you ever buy wrappers or just get them from banks? Any tips on racking up a nice stockpile?

 

I stopped by the bank again to see if there's been any update, they said it was bumped up to the regional manager but the teller I dealt with emailed everything I told him to them as well. I'll keep everyone posted.

Anyway, in my area it really doesn't make any sense to re-roll, as my dump bank won't even take rolled coin since they have a counting machine, and the rolls of change they get in never have anything good, so there's no reason to make them into a pickup bank. There are other banks in the area I could dump rolled coin at, but I already have accounts at most of them to use as pickup banks.

But probably the biggest upside to using counting machines, at least for me, is the fact that I've gotten incredibly lucky with reject tube finds. Since January 1st I've found 11 Silver quarters, 21 roosies, and 2 mercs. That's reason enough for me to eat the small losses from time to time.

 

Well, enjoy that $50+ loss you took. Sounds like it is no big deal to you since you have more than made up for it by finding bullion. I've given up on checking reject slots out here, only one bank has a coin counter and it is designed in such a way that coins will never be left behind. Also, every grocery store in my region uses Coinstar which has updated all of their machines to aggressively tell you to check the reject slots for coins.

I don't really have a need to buy wrappers because I just buy coins that already come rolled such as CWRs or boxes. I am careful not to tear the rolls so they may easily be reused. If you want to get some wrappers you can ask your bank tellers for some or you can buy them by the bagful cheaply at places such as Dollar Tree or 99 Cent Store, etc.

 

Yeah, I really think it depends on the area you're in. I've asked my local bank if I can use coin lock bags, just to make things easier for them, and they said no. I try to dump relatively low amounts of change (and not too much of any particular denomination) to reduce the amount of times the tellers need to change the bag. As it stands I usually only fill a bag once out of every 3 visits, and I am on really friendly terms with my main dump bank tellers, so it works out.

And you're probably right, between all the bullion, canadian and other foreign I've definitely more than made up for the amount I lost the other day, so I won't be too torn up if I can't get it back... but of course I've still gotta try.

 

Keep the stories coming folks! Great info for the newbie kid here. Something I'd like to discuss is fees. I have a bank that I'd like to add as a pickup bank. They have several branches in my area and I seem to be having really good luck with their dime boxes (which ironically are Loomis paper wrapped). One can open a statement savings acct with them starting with any amt, but there is a $4 monthly fee (or $3 is you go paperless/online). The fees are waived if you have at least $250 in the acct at all times. At this particular time, that seems a little high for me for just a statement savings. I've opened accts for dump banks at credit unions which only cost me $10 to start. Subtract my time and effort...I'm more than happy to take some silver off a bank for face value, but really no more than that. I'm torn! The real tipper is that this particular bank I'd like to pickup from is open 7 days a week.

Perhaps I should start it with $50 and eat the fees for the first couple of months til I can build up the $250 to get the fees waived? It's hard to me right now to leave that type of money as completely untouchable. I've got an old beater of a car that needs repairs.

 

$4/month to pick up change 7 days a week would be easily doable for me especially if there are no other banks open Sundays near you. Think about it... 2 silver dimes covers the fee... Sometimes it's not a bad thing to eat it. I pay about $20 in fees on checking/savings/etc accounts every month. I pull a heck of a lot more than $20 in silver from those banks every month. Therefore, I'm on the winning end of that equation.

 

Thanks, Merc. I needed perspective on that! They are THE ONLY game in town open on Sundays. Indeed, I've been rewarded the difference in monthly fees with a single box! My mom has an account with them and she did help me out once, but generally she views my CRH as a huge waste of time instead of being positive that I have a hobby I enjoy. I mean, it's not like I'm spending her money...I needed someone with an acct there because they're starting to catch on that I don't have one.

 

So you don't do plastic wrappers? Re-using those is a pain in the butt and they make up most of my purchases. And for some reason I feel the need to break them open even if they clearly don't contain any silver. I'll occasionally re-use paper BWR wrappers, but prefer not to. I do re-use most of the CWR wrappers I come across. If they're too worn out, taped shut, or interesting I'll use a new one. I have a nice little collection of unusual and vintage dime wrappers.

The biggest problem I have is finding a good supply of half dollar wrappers. Most of the banks I ask either don't have them or give me only 10 or 15 when I ask for a lot. Or they have the long $20 wrappers, which my dump banks won't accept. And since I've never found a store that sells them I'm stuck re-using BWR wrappers a lot of the time.

 

Yes, I most definitely do plastic wrappers. Some tellers find it hard to believe that I am able to re-roll coins with plastic wrappers. I like them better than crimped paper rolls. While there isn't as much mystery, I find plastic wrappers to be much easier to work with. One end of a plastic wrapper is actually larger than the other. That is just the way they are made. I put a finger in the smaller end and put the coins in through the larger end. Before you know it, the plastic roll is full and it is ready to go back in the box.

On a separate note, I feel that anyone who willingly accepts being charged a fee to have a bank account to be a bit of a fool. An $8 fee appeared on my checking account this past January from one of the banks I belong to. Apparently, the banks policies were changed and I had to have atleast $500 in my checking account to avoid being charged a monthly fee. I sat down to review my accounts with a banker who entered in a code so I could have less than $500 in my checking account and not get charged a fee in the future. The banker also submitted a petition to have the $8 charge removed. The moral of the story is don't be a pushover and accept being charged a fee to have a bank account.

 

I need to rant about Canadian dimes. None of the freakin banks will take them back. I found this very frustrating yesterday since I'm managed to amass $2 worth over the past few days from boxes. The banks are giving them to me in their boxes but won't take them back. That's SUCKS. I tried to pawn them off at a Rite-Aid, then a dollar store and was turned away both times. I get different stories - "oh they're worth less than US currency", "oh it's just the manager's choice"...a man at BofA actually told me to take a ride up to Canada half-sheepishly. I'm seriously considering just saving up to $5 so I can roll a solid roll and dump them at some random bank. Thoughts, suggestions?

 

It's $2, man. Stick it in a bag and forget about 'em. I've got a couple hundred bucks in foreign change I've accumulated over the past few years.

 

Yeah, $2 out of multiple boxes is not worth starting a fuss over.

 

Right, too much sweating the small stuff. On a different note, I always find it interesting when different branches of the same bank have no rhyme or reason. I went to the main branch of a local credit union to buy their coin bag from the machine today and was told no (yet a month ago they said they could do it.) I went to the next town over to a different branch and they literally wheeled the trolley cart out to my car for me. No beef, just an observation.

 

I really don't know what the issue is with these dimes. I usually just find one Canadian dime at a time and when I do I just re-roll it right back into a roll and bring it back to a bank. Nobody is going to complain about a Canadian dime here and there but accumulating them when you don't want to keep them seems regressive to me. Offloading a bunch of Canadian dimes at one time would not be too cool as it would be like finding washers to most people. I advise gradually dispersing them as you re-roll your rolls. I suggest a ratio of one Canadian dime for every five rolls. Before you know it the Canadian dimes will all be gone.

 

Just wanted to give everyone an update with my coin counter situation. I stopped by the branch today and the manager came up to me, told me that he spoke to his regional manager, and that since they had no way of knowing whose coins were whose they could only offer me a $10 customer satisfaction check.

I told them that it was better than nothing, but that it was unacceptable because it is their employee's responsibility to ensure the machine is working when changing the bags before closing the machine, which they didn't. He said that it must have been working or else the people next to me in line would have encountered a jammed machine, but he didn't seem to know that was exactly what had occurred.

The manager went to talk to his assistant manager who confirmed my part of the story, and said that I was right and he would reach out to his regional manager again. I cashed my 10 dollar check and now I have to wait to hear back again.

Again, I'm not expecting a lot but 10 bucks back (out of $50-60, although I suspect that I may have lost more than that) is better than nothing if the regional manager can't help out. I am going to call the manager later today and tell the regional manager to call me directly, so hopefully I can talk to them and try to convince them myself.

 

Get a Canadian dime Whitman folder and start a collection. Get a full set, or close to it and post a circulated Whitman on E-bay. I've done it with Canuck pennies and quarters and I enjoy both of my collections.