Opinions on obtaining more coins

Calvinhardiman

I've been using a local bank for the last 4 months to get coins to sort through. Today they told me they could no longer order coins due to the fact that they are being charged a shipping fee which they will not allow me to pay. Any advice on any other ways to obtain large amounts of coin to sort

JBK

I don't know in what type of area you live, but where I am there are more banks and credit unions and their branches than I can remember. I would open a number of accounts (just small deposits on basic free accounts, if necessary) to get a foothold in each bank and then get what you can get. That might mean boxes, or loose rolls.

Be careful how you work it. For example, if you order or get coins from one bank, don't bring your rejects back there. If they are nice enough to give you coins, don't dump huge quantities back on them - that is an imposition on both sides of the equation.

On the other hand, if a bank or branch will not give you coins, make that your dump bank. Bring all your rejects to that bank.

Sometimes discretion is the key - not tipping your hand in regard to why you want the coins. Sometimes telling them what you want them for will help you. You just have to figure out what each bank responds to.

I know of one bank where a guy orders boxes of half dollars and then brings his rejects back there. The bank pays fees on both sides of that. Why they put up with it I will never understand. The guy is a fool for asking that of them.

I have a few options for free coin counting near me. I have accounts at those banks and dump my coins there. I am careful how much I put in the machine per visit - I don't want to always be filling up the bags. Try to keep a low profile and do not make extra work for them. I do not try to get coins at those branches (would make no sense to them - why would I ask for coins if I am dumping coins?). I also try to have some kind of mix - I will sometimes buy a roll of dimes or some quarters just to mix in with the boatload of nickels, just to help make it look somewhat normal.

By using these simple tactics I can run through about 50,000 coins a year with only minor hassles.

JBK

@Calvinhardiman said:

I've been doing about 500$ in nickels and 100$ in pennies per week

That might be part of your problem. That is an enormous amount of coins you have to unload. That would be a huge challenge.

In any case, be sensitive to their concerns. The tellers hate coming out to change the bags in the coin machines when they get full, so I try to never fill them up (sometimes you can't help being the one to top it off). The tellers at banks that don't have coin machines hate CWRs (customer wrapped rolls) since they often times can't give them out to business customers, so I always take those if they have any. It helps to occasionally take any loose dollar coins they have in their tray since they hate those also.

I've never tried it and I have heard about people having mixed success, but if the bank has a coin machine and they will sell you the filled bags out of those it might (?) reduce their own costs if they don't have to ship them back to the coin processor to be rolled. Once again, this is a very delicate subject since you ideally aren't dumping coins where you buy them.

BryceM

Go to a different bank.

Calvinhardiman

@BryceM said:
Go to a different bank.

do you know of a bank that does not charge fees for ordering coin?

ms70

If they're ordering them for you it must be quite an unusual amount you are searching.

Calvinhardiman

@ms70 said:
If they're ordering them for you it must be quite an unusual amount you are searching.

I've been doing about 500$ in nickels and 100$ in pennies per week

Hemispherical

That’s rare in this day and age... no fees.

Good while it lasted @Calvinhardiman.

Might be hard to find another bank to do the same and depends on how large a city/town you live in.

Calvinhardiman

@JBK said:
I don't know in what type of area you live, but where I am there are more banks and credit unions and their branches than I can remember. I would open a number of accounts (just small deposits on basic free accounts, if necessary) to get a foothold in each bank and then get what you can get. That might mean boxes, or loose rolls.

Be careful how you work it. For example, if you order or get coins from one bank, don't bring your rejects back there. If they are nice enough to give you coins, don't dump huge quantities back on them - that is an imposition on both sides of the equation.

On the other hand, if a bank or branch will not give you coins, make that your dump bank. Bring all your rejects to that bank.

Sometimes discretion is the key - not tipping your hand in regard to why you want the coins. Sometimes telling them what you want them for will help you. You just have to figure out what each bank responds to.

I know of one bank where a guy orders boxes of half dollars and then brings his rejects back there. The bank pays fees on both sides of that. Why they put up with it I will never understand. The guy is a fool for asking that of them.

I have a few options for free coin counting near me. I have accounts at those banks and dump my coins there. I am careful how much I put in the machine per visit - I don't want to always be filling up the bags. Try to keep a low profile and do not make extra work for them. I do not try to get coins at those branches (would make no sense to them - why would I ask for coins if I am dumping coins?). I also try to have some kind of mix - I will sometimes buy a roll of dimes or some quarters just to mix in with the boatload of nickels, just to help make it look somewhat normal.

By using these simple tactics I can run through about 50,000 coins a year with only minor hassles.

I'm going to try this out thanks for the advice

ricko

Whenever I ask for rolls of halves at the local bank, they just ask "How many would you like?".... Nice people... Cheers, RickO

291fifth

If you order large quantities of coins nobody actually wants, such as half dollars, search them and then attempt to return them and order more you will wear out your welcome very quickly.

Calvinhardiman

Just a long shot here... but does anyone know a way to bypass the bank? Just throwing it out.