Tipping with coins, giving coins as gifts, dropping gold in the red kettle
Weiss
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This is something we've revisited over the years.
I think it can be a nice gesture. But it's important to remember a few things.
A) Coins shouldn't be given in lieu of a standard tip. People who work for tips or who count on them to pay their bills can't keep the lights on with coins. Your heart may be in the right place. But don't make them decide on keeping a coin and eating this season. Or make them spend time they don't have tracking down a shop where they might sell the piece for a fraction of its "value".
B ) Not everyone knows the value of precious metals or what to do with it. If you're giving nicer coins, make sure they understand this isn't to shove into a coin star. A nice flip, maybe with mintage info, designer, etc. will help them understand it's not just "money".
C) Always be careful. Coins as tips lets someone know you're a collector. You might trust the recipient. But do you trust the folks they'll tell?
It's become a tradition for me to give a nice silver coin to the server at our favorite Mexican joint the Friday before Christmas.
What are your thoughts? Your experiences? Good idea, bad idea?
--Severian the Lame
Comments
I gave my gardener his holiday tip today.
Told him it was easier to blow leaves than rake them.
Just don't leave anything highly salacious.
I left a silver dollar at a Chinese restaurant.
I opened the fortune cookie and a cac sticker fell out.
Bad idea. Recipients and charities do not really want things that require extra work to convert to cash, and do not appreciate your gesture. Krugerrands and Double Eagles put in Salvation Army kettles are sold at or below bullion in most instances. That means your good intentions are actually wasting money the charity could use to help others.
Leave cash or credits.
For a Bar Mitzvah gift, I gave the son of a very good friend a 1/10 oz. AGE and a silver Lewis and Clark Commem. (The family is nuts about Lewis and Clark.) I thought it was a decent gift, especially since the gold spot was about $1500 at the time.
Two years later, for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah, he gave her a bulk order of M&M's as a gift. I have since wondered whether he thought the coins were a stupid gift, so he decided to one-up us on stupid gifts. We are traveling to Italy with them this spring - maybe after the right meal and appropriate amount of wine, I will ask him.
Gold coins are more or less traditional Bar Mitzvah gifts. I usually give a $5 or $10 US Saint-Gaudens type depending on how well I know the family. But that's not the core subject of the OP's comments.
If you are serious, I advise NOT asking him. It sounds like it is a good friendship if you are traveling together, and that may make things awkward. As it is, your gift was thoughtful and that is all that really matters.
Can any coin shop owners tell of a time when the representative of one of these charities showed up to exchange the bullion or rare coin for cash?? I sometimes wonder what becomes of these.
I have tried giving my oldest son some coins and PMs (nothing too expensive) as gifts. At Christmas (not as his only gift) and just at various moments. I believe he still has them in his desk (I hope). I did it mainly because I had stumbled upon some themes that I knew might interest him.
But the OP is right-never as the sole gift and explain value so they understand.
Dropping "maple leafs" etc in the Salvation Army kettle is Bad Form. Period.
It'll wind up at a pawn shop.
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Clearly both gifts were valued below melt.
Without the sticker no one would want it anyway.
Chopstick marks were the problem.
I agree with those that say that it’s best to just leave cash as a tip or gift “regular” money. If you know someone that likes history or a particular subject, then something like a Modern or Classic Commemorative might be a decent gift (maybe along with a book about the person/event).
The level of "coin" knowledge among the general public is very low. The chance your "coin" tip will not be understood or appreciated is very high.
In my 13 years working at Spectrum/Stacks-Bowers, I had 5 or 6 occasions when a church in Newport Beach brought me $20 raw Saint Gauden’s usually 2 or 3 at a time, to purchase. They had been donated by unknown church members in their offertory box at back of church.
Good points made.
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New dollar coins and $2 bills are ok. Other than that I would not leave collector stuff. It would likely be wasted. Most people just do not know better.
Not necessarily. The Salvation Army in Chicago got many gold coins in their kettles over the years, and one year they brought them in to Harlan Berk's for an offer. I offered full melt on all the bullion and over our normal buy on the U.S. gold, but the officer who brought them in said that they would get more that that at auction because people felt good about overpaying for a good cause. After that we gave them base prices for things in other years as well, but never bought anything from them because they always did better at the auctions.
One year my first wife had had an unusual year of good health (they were few and far between), and we had a good year in many other ways, so I decided to drop a Krugerrand myself. I wrapped it tightly in a near new Silver Certificate and dropped it in a kettle in front of Marshall Fields. A few days later the same officer I always dealt with brought in a few gold odds and ends and that same Silver Certificate (yes I am sure). I asked him "But what about the Krugerrand that was wrapped it it?" and he smiled and said "Oh, we know how to sell those, but I was wondering if this was anything special." He got that I had dropped it.
TD
I always thought the Salvation Army could try publicly auctioning the donated gold piece. For instance, there is a local Christmas fundraiser a behavior management service has every year. Donated decorated Christmas trees sell for thousands. A publicized auction could surly bring a ton more than melt and the new owner likely resonate it anyway and restart the process. I always think they miss the boat just cashing it in. The news always takes up the story and all it would take is a blurb that “ there is an online auction for the gold piece and is now at an amazing X price already!” And watch what happens.
My local Sam's Club had a 1974 gold Krugerrand dropped in the kettle last month.
Here it is:
He might be a coin collector since he knows how to properly hold a raw coin.
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"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
This.
The person/organization who receives these can turn around and immediately use them.
I have a very worn $1000 bill that I thought about putting in the red kettle. I intended to this year, but didn't.
Stuffed a few Benjis in, as per custom.
I kinda just wondered how they would deal with an old, fragile bill. I figured that they would probably just toss it out as a fake, so I kept it. I did promise myself that if I ever do get around to selling it, I will donate the proceeds.
I've given low end coins in flips with Halloween candy, but I've never dropped coins or gold in the Salvation Army pot...
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You did the right thing by not putting that $1000 note in a kettle. I am sure your donation of a few $100s was greatly appreciated.
When we were remodeling our farmhouse in 2000, We ate at our local restaurant 3 meals a day for 4 months. I would ask the waitresses if they would like a quarter or $3.00 tip or a 50 cent tip or $5.00 depending on the tab. One day one of them said I'll take the 50 cents. I gave her a circulated Franklin. After that whenever she saw us enter, she would make sure we were seated at her table and she always elected the coin , and you can bet the service was always excellent.
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I use circulated Kennedy halves (1971 or later) for tips quite often in the bars where I play league darts. I would never use silver or collector type coins for tips as most recipients will either not know the difference, not care or sell them at a discount to their value. Copper-nickel clad Kennedy halves, various dollar coins or modern deuces are good for tipping in my book.
Jeff
For the 20 years I lived in Seattle, there was a $20 gold piece dropped in a Salvation Army kettle each year... made the newspaper every year. I have no idea how they converted it to cash - that was never explained. Cheers, RickO
For those who say the Salvation Army doesn't really want gold coins (presumably you mean they'd prefer dollar bills), I'd suggest the promotional value to them of the local news talking it up and thereby encouraging others to give generously more than makes up for the lost time and effort expended converting the gold coin to spendable digits in their bank account.
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I gave each of my cousins an ASE for Christmas
And even if the Salvation Army should happed to lose a percent or two converting a Krugerrand into cash, they get thousands of dollars worth of publicity from the local TV stations first, and an unknown amount of extra donations from the public because of it.