What lessons did you learn from your first job handling coins and currency?
Coinstartled
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I learned quite a bit. After many short term fill in type jobs, I found myself behind the liquor counter of a Detroit drug store at 18.
It was in the mid 1970's when the city was hitting 1000 murders a year. The Sweda cash register was more of a target to be protected than a device for ringing up sales and making change.
The store was small with the owner chomping on a cigar while he filled prescriptions. His old man, the floor manager, had a pipe filled with Captain Black, dangling from lips. This was not a brightly lit CVS, by any means.
Calculating change was easy. The old register didn't give you the figure, you counted it out and it didn't take a Mensa candidate to do so. Sales tax was 4% and as the chart stuck to the counter was time consuming to use, I just punched in a number that was close. Very close.
Don't recall finding any silver and I didn't really look as the premium was not significant ten years after the advent of clad. Bigger issue was the Canadian coins that overflowed from the border a dozen miles to the South. Canadian quarter was worth 23 cents. We accepted them at face. Most of the customers did as well, but a few didn't. Of course a lecture came with the request for a "real" quarter.
If you worked there 12 months full time, you were going to get robbed once or twice. Closing time was when you were on high alert as the criminals knew that the place had plenty of cash. The guy behind the booze counter was respected though as he controlled the alcohol. Before Opioids hit their stride, that was the drug of choice. We had three regulars that were alcoholics. One bought only Budweiser, an older attorney bought only Boones Farm Strawberry and a third guy would come in the morning with a handful of change to buy Mother Goldstein's fortified wine.
Not sure why I remember the details 45 years later. I do recall that the owner's brother had a store a few miles away and the pharmacist filling in got shot in the face during a robbery. I knew the pharmacist. Not well, but well enough. It was time to move on.
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45 years ago or so, As an Infantry LT, in Korea, one of our jobs was to pay the troops. We had to go to the finance office at another base, pick up about $30K in US and a shopping bag of Korean Money. You were personally liable for the cash, and were armed. Before picking it up, we had to clear our weapons into a safety barrel, and there were a lot of holes in that barrel, and one day someone was shot in the head, but survived, due to someone not clearing their weapon correctly.
So with the large amount of cash, 2 incidents. First was having to pay in the field up near the Demilitarized Zone. My driver was heading down a dirt road, my guard was sleeping in the back seat of the jeep, and I suddenly saw an overturned jeep on fire ahead, with a 1/2 dozen North Korean Soldiers. I literally grabbed the wheel of the jeep, turned us into a rice paddy, and my driver and I both popped out with M16's loaded, to engage. That's when we saw people frantically waving and yelling. They were filming a documentary, it was not real, but had failed to block the road from the direction we came from.
It almost turned out really bad.
The other was one time after the all the checks were cashed, word got out that one of the LT's in another company was in trouble. He was short on cash compared to the checks he took in. Everything had to balance. It was his first time to pay. We do not know if he had $20's stuck together, paid the wrong amount, miscalculated the exchange rate with the Korean Money, but he was big time short. We took up a collection of $200. He did not tell us how much he was short, but the $200 barely dented it. His paycheck from Uncle Sam was very light for a few months.
OK Mustang...you win.
Working 9 to 5 for someone else sucks.
Working 6 to 6 for yourself is what life is all about.
I think this might be the most important lesson I learned:
In order to gain knowledge about rare coins and the rare coin market, you need to be around people who have both the knowledge and willingness to teach you and you need access to the right coins.
Many numismatists have great knowledge to pass on to others, but lack the time and/or willingness to do so.
Many others have the time and willingness, but lack the knowledge and/or the ability to impart it to others.
You also need to have exposure to the right coins, in order to gain the essential perspective. By that, I mean a broad array of coin types, varieties and grade ranges. For example, if you’ve never seen a gem or superb example of a given coin type, you won’t have the proper perspective to evaluate the series.
I consider myself very fortunate to have started my numismatic career with Steve Ivy Rare coins. I worked with smart, knowledgeable people who were willing to help me learn. And I was exposed to a lot of coins that coin shops rarely, if ever, handle.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
I learned to keep my mouth shut and do what I was told, in the infantry. But I learned the customer was always right when I was delivering their newspaper, in '67. And good servitude always kept me fed.
When I delivered papers in the mid-70s, I learned that people would often spend silver when they were otherwise out of cash. Also, halves and dollar coins were still in general circulation then.
Wash my hands (before and after handling) and keep my mouth shut. During a summer job, working at a small B&M in Florida nearly 50 years ago. I saw lots of polishing, dipping, burnishing, ….
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
My first job handling money was being a paper boy at age 12 in the mid 1980s. My biggest lesson was to always make sure you pay your dues before you pay yourself. For my paper we collected all the money and paid the paper their share and kept the rest. A few times I went in arrears for a while because I would spend the money before paying them. Thankfully, I wisened up quickly and it’s been a lesson I carry to this day.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
My first boss told me that my first money lesson was that all paper money in the cash register had to be sorted face up with each note oriented in the exact same direction. Failure to do so would cause the magnetic poles of the Earth to shift prematurely, and that Senator McCarthy felt the North Pole would shift into the Soviet Union, which could not be allowed by true Americans.
The second money lesson was that I was never allowed to touch the cash drawer.
When I was about 10 years old my dad was the manager of a really large department store. Some may remember S. H. Kress. Dad could not watch me all the time so he would park me in the cash room counting and rolling cents. I pulled out every wheat cent but my pay was only $1 per day.
The lesson I learned still holds true today. You can't take home every coin you you want.
When I was 6 years old I opened a lemonade stand in front of our house.
Charged 10 cents per glass .
At the end of the day I counted the money in the my hand and it totaled $1 .
I remember thinking oh boy I have one dollar .... it was a real thrill to have earned my first dollar ......and to this day I have been involved with money one way or another .
I give away money. I collect money.
I don’t love money . I do love the Lord God.
I could write a book on the subject. Seriously. Cliff Notes version; WATCH YOUR BACK!
I worked at a grocery/liquor store too between 16-23. In the end I was collecting the till extra, balancing the registers z-score to cash, and making the night drop deposits of mostly checks and a lot of cash. Always made me nervous but never had a problem. Things I learned: Know where the panic button was near the registers. When making change leave the bill(s) given on top of the till and count back their change. Only perform one transaction at a time - never make change in the middle of counting back. That's a common tick to get extra cash back. I never saw much silver then but we did get a few red seals and silver certs. that I cashed out.
When I was younger I would help my father who worked for a newspaper. One of his responsibilities was filling the newspaper machines with papers and empty the collection bin. We had to sort and roll all that loose change. He taught me then to look for silver and to pull slugs or anything else out as I sorted, Once sorted, we loaded the change in the rolling machine and rolled up nickels, dime and quarters for depositing at the bank. Since he had to pay for his papers, he got to keep the profit or more likely got shorted from the newspaper machines as some would take more than one paper.
Count the customer change back to them to eliminate mistakes.
Had a guy hand me a dollar bill with 20's stuck on the four corners. Took him a lot of work and i could see how someone in a hurry could take it by mistake. I tossed his arse out.
LOL on the newspaper machines. While I was in college I had a paper route for awhile that had a couple of Machines. 1 was a block or so away from a Nursing Home. The dang nurses would clean the machine out and I'm sure sell them to the residents. I started just putting 1 paper in. Of course the complaints rolled in. Caused a major rift between me and the Newspaper as they forced me to put papers in that were being stolen which I had to pay for.
I left with owing a bill that covered the stolen newspapers and told them to sue me!
My first few jobs all involved money. I started my coin photography business when I was in 10th grade, and it quickly lead to my eBay consignment business. I learned that I liked calling the shots, and also that I had a major responsibility to be honest. Treat my consignors well, and they come back. Treat my buyers well, and they come back. Fail at either, and soon neither side comes back.
My early jobs also taught me a lot about savings and taxes (namely record keeping). It helps that my mom is a CPA and had her office in the house from the time I was in elementary school and on. For a few years, I did her office work, which was a great arrangement. I could work at any hour I wanted (unlike regular high school kids who could only reasonably work right after school), and she could punish me if I didn't get the work done. But that job, and just having her around in general, really drummed in the importance of savings. Yes it's nice to have stuff and some spending money, but putting some money away will really help down the road. I still put a lot away before I have a chance to spend it, and while some benefits are waiting for retirement, others have come sooner. I bought a house because I'd been squirreling away money to savings. I know a lot of people who aren't in such a position because they haven't thought long term.
Finally, the summer after high school, I worked for John Maben in Sarasota as it was first morphing into ModernCoinMart. I was exposed to a lot more of the business than I had been in the past, which included seeing how things are different when you know people and can just make a call when you're looking for something or have a question. Also, when you have the opportunity to learn, pay attention and learn. Ask questions, but don't be a pain. I also learned some other things that are less useful, but have stuck with me: Florida summers are oppressively horrible. The 2005 state quarters were CKMOW (how many sets of those I sorted, I have no idea). When calling in a lunch order, they're not asking about the super salad, they're asking about the soup or salad.
When I was in college; I had a lot of jobs handling money... Mainly cashiering and dropping money off at the bank deposit box. Back in those days; I spent money like it was water and went through it like crazy. Setting it on fire, as they say. Tuition, partying, women, going out to dinner, movies... you name it. I even bought myself extravagant gifts. My rationale was that I was working hard and I deserved it. I owed it to myself and wanted to have as much fun as I could...Kind of immature. I was spending far more than I was making and went into serious debt. When I got my first real job; I spent a couple of years paying it off. I guess it taught me to watch my spending and to budget my money. Spend wisely and always save some.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
The irony today is that even banks do not "bank face" their bills anymore.
But it drives me bonkers to have money disorganized.
Well ... my first job handling coin and currency lasted about 2 years. I would handle 2 to 5 million in currency on a daily basis and 5 to 10 thousand in coin every day ( no week ends ) until my armored car was about to be hit by the bad guys. Very exciting day at work which turned out to be my last day ... I quit the job the next day. What did I learn ? #1... It's not worth dying for large amounts of money that belong to the banks and Thruway authority. #2... I learned to become a crack-shot with my hand gun. #3... I learned to count over 100.
I first handled a 'lot' of money as a paper boy.... I had a route (self devised) and also would stand in front of the market after the route....Usually just handled change, but a few bills....This was before clad....and seeing commemorative halves, IHC's and the occasional Barber dime was a thrill....Making change accurately - without a cash register - sure helped in math classes in school. Cheers, RickO
I'll add I had a paper route also starting at 11 since my dad worked for the paper. Back then we did not give receipts upon payment just an X in my book. After a while I caught on that some would not pay for weeks and then when you told them how much they owed they freaked out and said there was no way they could owe that much and challenged me that I forgot to mark it down. Soon thereafter once they hit the three week mark of no pay (daily paper) I cut them off until they caught up! I probably lost a few hundred dollars the first few years - all my tip money basically. Christmas, on the other hand I usually made out pretty good. I can still remember riding my 10-speed in the snow with all those papers. I don't know how I never wrecked in slippery conditions; guess my coordination was better then!
I never had a job that involved handling coins or currency.
You mean you never played store when you were a kid?
If you drop a coin on the floor it always seems like it takes forever to find it.....
HAPPY COLLECTING
That the most popular kid in high school was the nerd who had keys to the local grocery store for after hour beer runs..
My first Money handling job was walking dogs for the entire apartment complex I lived at in Las Vegas in the early 90’s
Hot as Hell and I only charged 25c per lap
Learned I Could charge double the 2nd week 🔥😂
Some of you have had some interesting jobs handling money, so thanks for sharing them. For myself I have never had a job that required me to handle money; so sad. My wife on the other hand did have a job as a teller at the bank and I would always tell her to look for silver or large denomination older bills. She came home with some. A couple of old hundreds and a $500 bill all from 1934 and a bunch of rolls of silver quarters, but no key dates.
Donato
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