Don't want to start an arguement but have a question..

While mailing something out the other day I noticed a wad of cash on top of a credit card processor and notified the service rep. She kind of looked at me like I was crazy! The chances of that money ever being returned to the owner are very slim but at least I increased that likelihood.

To me, there's a difference between doing something like that and using your own personal knowledge base to pick through coins. But like everything in life, it is all situationally based. In your insance I'd have simply stopped looking.

I know one thing, my blood would have been boiling lol

 

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as a teller myself i would tell the person, sorry you handed these in. they have plenty ample time to sift through this stuff. you know it was collecting dust in some old jar in the garage, we have other collectors that get rolls and exchange them the next day. i know what they are doing. if you have it rolled and change it in for cash its no longer yours. i could end up giving it to the next customer who needed coins. now depending on how well i knew this customer i might mention i found a few items and see if they would want it back. on a side note i wish we had these coin counters at my bank. :headbang:

 

If he threw in a please or thankyou, I would keep my eyes peeled.
If he said it like he did... I would've tossed back the silver dime, couple wheats, and said. "Nope. Nothing good", and turned my back to the machine as it counted.

 

It's very nice of you to do that seriously but if it were to take time from other things you should be doing at work an employer would not be to thrilled. That was really my point in my first post.

Banks are businesses and coin shops are as well. If I show a guy ten coins and he turns down every one offered my boss starts to get irritate. If I show someone five coins and he agrees to buy two I keep showing.
Doesn't matter to me either way but it does to the boss. He pays me by the hour.

 

From what I cather here the coins go into some sort of machine? well if they are dumping the coins into said machine the responsability lays with them. Now on to the customer saying anything good was his! can he actualy proof that he deposited those exact coins from the pile in front of you LOL If he wants you to sort his change then let him pay you the going rate but off the banks time
The old lady bit, if a old lady or anyone else walks into a bank and shall we say tries to deposit a gold coin at face then yes the teller should speak up, the same goes for Morgans and large cents LOL but run of the mill stuff then no.
All in all Bah Humbug

 

Ain't dealing with the public grand?

 

You, with a smile on your face retrieve the older coins which require minimum effort and give them to the customer. Else you will probably end up with a workplace policy forbidding employees from exchanging any coinage from the coin sorter.

 

passive/aggressive

"Sir, now that you have brought it to my attention I'll check more carefully. And please stand right there and don't move. I thing the FBI would like to know about any counterfeit money you tried to passed."

 

Exactly.

 

Ok, here is my take on this. I would of just let the machine do its thing and tell the customer that it sucks to be them if there is anything collectable in the mix. We are a bank, not a coin store. Maybe you should of taken them there first, would you like them all back? then promptly said something really nice like.. dont let the door hit you in.. never mind..

Actually maybe you should try and be a bit more discreet in the way you search. In this case I think in all honesty I would of said something like, I'm sorry, I thought if there was anything of value in there you would of already taken it out, I am looking for bent, corroded etc coins and you will certainly be getting them back. Really what are we talking here? A few Wheat Cents? Here lady, I found 3 Wheaties in your jar take them to a coin shop they are worth 2-3 cents a piece.

Heck, If I lived close to where you are at I would toss a few wheats in each batch just to watch a pretty lady like you go through them and smile when you found them.

 

Oh the answer to this question is simple........NO! The bank or it's cashier employee's have no responsibility to that customer, except for "exact" counting.

 

Here's my 2-cents:

First, the odds are the customer was somewhat joking. In that, they really didn't care about old coins, that is, as long as they weren't worth a small fortune, and they just said what they said to make small talk. :secret:

Second, as to the original question, I think it totally depends on who the customer is. If it's a person fully capable of doing the search themselves, they should have looked at them before handing them over but if it was a nearly blind 90 year old grandma, if something is found, I'd let her know. :hug:

Lastly, the underlying dilemma here is you question the morality of this situation, which means, when you should tell the customer, I know you will! :hammer:

Ribbit

 

I'd ask the customer, "I need to look for objects that will jam the machine, would you like your coins back to look through them before depositing them?" Chances are they'd say no.

 

That would be awful hard to enforce because typically bank employees are also customers who make deposits and withdrawals. If they make a withdrawal from the bank, who is to say that the coins they get from their withdrawal were hand picked out or just the next one's on the tray.

 

I work at a very slow branch where we have alot of free time and my manager looks at it as good customer service and making the customer happy. I promise you that my things get done. I'm also in charge of the vault and do new accounts and schedules and reports and so on. Just wanted to clarify that my work does get done.

 

Next time sit there and pick out a totaly ordinery cent and start whooping LOL give it him back and whatch him run out of the door :whistle:

 

LOL, now that's not a bad idea.

 

I agree with Clembo. In your particular case, the customer was unreasonable. Of course since he asked, you always have the opportunity to go beyond what is minimally expected of employees these days and hand him anything you spot just to maintain good customer relations. The occasional silver coin and wheat cent situation is different from the proverbial little old lady depositing 50 rolls of uncirculated silver halves.

 

I have to agree with many of the posters here. It is not always black and white. It is situational. Kdkenn, you sound like a nice, moral person (otherwise, why would you be asking our opinion!). Sometimes in life you have to let some of the good stuff go and give it back. i've found that many times unexpectedly better stuff comes along in my searches. In the name of great customer service you probably should have given what you had found back to that customer, but with a polite warning that he/she should check their change first. Who knows, that particular customer might now bring you "cool and unusual" coins/bills becuase they know you are interested in it and they can't be bothered to discern it's value or find a shop to sell them at. you never know. But at least you know you did "right" by a customer. Never underestimate karma.
Continued good luck in your searches!
-Dano

 

I promise you my job gets done and usually I'm doing another certain someones job at work as well. We are a very slow branch and I'm still finding things to organize or clean and keep myself very busy. I think that helping that customer complete her collection was an act of customer service and never thought that it was taking time away from my work.