Coin collectors and the free coin machine

[bankworking]

So, our coin machines are free to anyone who has an account at our bank. This is, normally, a wonderful thing. No more having drawer counts be off because of unverified rolls being off (we didn't always have time to check them before they got mixed in with other coin, and we could only credit/debit the account of the person turning in rolled coin if we checked their entire deposit without mixing any of their rolls in with the rolls of anyone else).

The coin machines have their own problems. We are responsible for changing out the bags, and they break way too often due to the non-coin crap that customers shove into them... or because a customer decides to wash their coin and toss the wet mess into the machine.

But for the most part, the machines are a vast improvement, and, being free, customers are generally happy with them as well.

Unfortunately, the coin machines produced a new breed of sucky customer: the coin collectors.

We were naive at first. A customer wanted to purchase a full bag of dimes ($1,000 in dimes, btw). Management didn't see any reason why not, so we did.

We sold it that week. And another the next. And another. Then a bag of dimes and of quarters too. And apparently we weren't the only branch selling our coin bags to a customer, a few others having picked up the practice. Two, three times a week. As many bags as we had full and ready for them.

Then communication channels came back around to us, and we discovered the, in retrospect obvious, follow up to our coin bag sales.

See, the customers bought the coins from us and another branch. Then they carefully searched through the bags for rare coins. And then they took all the non-rare coins back to a different branch, one where they were NOT doing the purchases, and they proceeded to fill that machine with thousands of dollars worth of coin.

And then one of the tellers had to babysit the machine to keep emptying the newly filled bags. For an hour or even longer. Multiple times a week.

Eventually management told us no more selling the bags. This caused a pause in the practice, but the customers were not to be deterred so easily. They switched branches, first. Then, discovering that we get our rolled coin from a security group instead of brand new from the federal reserve, they started buying boxes of rolled coin. My branch began to become the recipient of the purchased coin rather than the one selling. Management had to install a rule that only managers could authorize the sale of a full box of coin.

One customer started purchasing from another bank and turning in to us. A member of upper management ended up meeting with that customer, explaining that we do NOT have the staff for this level of cash handling and rather politely telling them to cease and desist or take their accounts elsewhere.

Fun fun.

[TheSHAD0W]

I'd recommend imposing a percentage fee on taking coin, and then rebating the fee up to $ per month for customers. I think this might wind up giving you the best of both worlds, since some people might be willing to pay the service charge to get rid of the coin, paying you for your work.

[protege]

Damn. I thought *I* was bad. I usually do go through my change, and the more "interesting" stuff gets set aside. But, I don't insist on buying bags of thousands of coins with the idea that one might be "valuable." Also, when I do turn in my change, it's neatly rolled

[sirwired]

At least you have a management chain that is allowed to tell a time and profit-sucking customer to take a hike. There are plenty of companies where the "front line" is told to cater to every whim of such parasites.

It'd be one thing if the nature of their business just wasn't profitable for the bank. But it's another entirely do do something like taking advantage of the bank not charging for things they could easily choose to charge for.

This reminds me a lot of the hard-core "Frequent Flyer" mile chasers, that will do all sorts of creative contortions to launder purchases through their airline credit cards in order to rack up points. (i.e. buying a bazillion in gift cards at a store, and then taking those gift cards to another store, using them to buy money orders, depositing those money orders back in their bank, paying off the credit card, rinse, repeat. This tactic started with these folks buying rolls of dollar coins right from the Mint's coin-collector website with a credit card (free shipping!) and simply dropping them off at a bank.

[sstabeler]

which actually raises an interesting question- presumably, these collectors are getting a return on their money sufficient to justify the effort, so why does the bank not employ people to check deposited coin (not just bags, all deposited coin) for valuable ones? Then the bank could sell the valuable coins, and pocket a neat little profit.

[Dreamstalker]

All coin machines I've seen reject high-silver-content coinage, so the likelihood of any being in the counter bags is slim (although you might find some abandoned in the return tray and they're relatively easy to spot in rolls if the wrapper is clear or slit lengthwise). I'm also not sure if the extra payroll could be justified (crapshoot what if anything would be found in a given day/week).

[Mr Hero]

Maybe the SC was hoping to find a 1955 double die Denver Mint penny so he could buy a Rolex and a ton of shares of stock.

[Shyla]

Sstabeler, not necessarily. Someone that dedicated to coin collecting would not count their time as effort.

[raudf]

Not every teller has a working knowledge of what coins are valuable, so the company would have to find someone with that knowledge and depending on how busy the coin terminal is, dedicate them to the sole job of tending the machine, sorting the coins, etc. Then comes the paperwork, because no corporation is without paperwork, that would be required to log the coins, their probable worth, and where they were found. Then that same corporation would have to figure out HOW to sell the coins, either via auction or what have you. And extra PR to keep the coin collectors from complaining about unfair trade practices, because the bank handles a lot more coins than they do during a single day...

It'd be too much time and money for a corporation to care about. Many individuals do it because they love collecting coins (my mom is a nut for it) and wouldn't consider the hunt as time wasted.

[justhere]

which actually raises an interesting question- presumably, these collectors are getting a return on their money sufficient to justify the effort, so why does the bank not employ people to check deposited coin (not just bags, all deposited coin) for valuable ones? Then the bank could sell the valuable coins, and pocket a neat little profit.

For many collectors the value is not in the dollar value of the coin (that sounds so odd typed out), but in the value it has in their collection. If they need a 1967 nickel to make their collection complete, the nickel still is only worth $0.05, but to the collector the value is much higher because of personal satisfaction.

[deadbody]

I worked at a bank for a while, you have no idea how much old silver coinage goes through those machines, kicked out, and the traded at the teller.

I used to buy them from the customers at face value. Best one I ever got was a guy brought in a 2 and a half dollar gold piece. I told him I could give him $2.50 for it and he should go to the pawn shop across the parking lot. He took the $2.50. I withdrew $2.50 from my account and bought it. Gave it to my dad as a Christmas present and he went nuts for it. Told me I spent way too much etc... Guess it was even more valuable than I thought.

[wolfie]

The coin machines have their own problems. We are responsible for changing out the bags, and they break way too often due to the non-coin crap that customers shove into them... or because a customer decides to wash their coin and toss the wet mess into the machine.

If a wet mess breakdown can be tracked back to a particular customer, does the bank "fire" them as a customer and report them to the authorities? After all, banks are supposed to be on the lookout for people who are laundering money.

[Kagato]

I worked at a bank for a while, you have no idea how much old silver coinage goes through those machines, kicked out, and the traded at the teller.

I used to buy them from the customers at face value. Best one I ever got was a guy brought in a 2 and a half dollar gold piece. I told him I could give him $2.50 for it and he should go to the pawn shop across the parking lot. He took the $2.50. I withdrew $2.50 from my account and bought it. Gave it to my dad as a Christmas present and he went nuts for it. Told me I spent way too much etc... Guess it was even more valuable than I thought.

Really depends on the year and type. For example a 1911 $2.50 Liberty head coin is worth around USD$365+ dependent on condition.

[Chromatix]

Gold is worth a crapload regardless, just as bullion. A proper gold coin - even one as small as a sovereign - is automatically worth several dozen dollars (or pounds or euros), just by virtue of how much gold there is in it. Any numismatic value it might have is a bonus.