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What happens to bulk coins returned to the Banks ?


I go thru a lot of rolls in my area. I don't mark very many of the coins that I search, but do run across a few every now and then. I hate to think I'm re-searching the same coins over and over.

I deposit them in the heavy plastic bag in $500 bulk. I've tried asking various Bank personnel if they stay within their banking branches, sent to a local company that rewraps and re-distributes locally, or if they are sent to the Federal Reserve and could be therefore re-distributed any where in the country. None of the tellers/mgr's really seem to know, in addition to asking 2 armored car personnel I've spotted at different banks.

A few yrs ago a local underground depository for various banks were robbed with a professional team carrying automatic rifles. That and other factors apparentely have caused the banking group here to be top secret with any of the basic information.

Does anyone here know ? I live in a large metro area.

Thanks for any insight you can give me.

Comments

  • I can't speak for every bank but I have worked in several different ones myself and I can tell you what we did. One I worked at we dumped rolls and wrapped them with a machine ourselves and so we reused them that way. another one we sent them to the main bank via the brinks truck after dumping them in bags and the one I work at now we dump them in bags from the rollers that people bring into us and sell them to a man who wraps them and brings coin to us also. So you may or may not be looking thorugh the same ones. Depends on what the particular bank does. If they count and roll their own coins then you probably are, if they send them to someone you may not be. Just ask them if they roll their own coin and surely they will tell you if they do. We only accept rolled coin and then we unroll it and dump it in bags. Of course there may be other people's coin in it too. I got in $100. in pennies yesterday and had to dump them in bags and I watched what I could and never saw a wheat pennie so I suspect someone had gone through these already.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most coin old, new and recycled all go the counting houses to be wrapped into rolls. Most
    are then packaged in boxes and shipped to the banks. It's an interesting situation since it
    almost looks as though it was set up to be sure every coin circulates. Everyone uses a first
    in first out storage system so nothing gets to sit very long. Most new coin is mixed right in
    with the circulating coins so solid date rolls can be very tough to acquire. Some rolls that ap-
    pear to be solid date head/tail rolls are actually heavily mixed with circulated issues since the
    bins aren't emptied before the new coin is added. They've been providing solid rolls of the
    states issues quite a bit but be careful with any other clad roll, especially anything after the
    1970's.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • fishcookerfishcooker Posts: 3,446 ✭✭

    Depends on if we're talking about Halves or pennies. I'd say you have no chance with re-searching pennies. But I would be surprised if you actually did get new halves. I've seen the same half dollar on 3 different bank trips, after spending it in 3 different places....
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,720 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Depends on if we're talking about Halves or pennies. I'd say you have no chance with re-searching pennies. But I would be surprised if you actually did get new halves. I've seen the same half dollar on 3 different bank trips, after spending it in 3 different places.... >>



    Good point. Half dollars rolls are much more likely to come back to you. Even individual
    half dollars don't move around as much as other coins. The same is true for Ikes and to
    a lesser degree with the small dollars.

    Even a quarter can get caught up in a loop of circulation or be repeatedly tendered to the
    same individual. It's normally not noticed. As a general rule we do use the exact same
    coins as we have before much more than you might think. Usually these will come back to
    you within a few weeks or a few years but even those used decades ago can find their
    way back.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • MurphyMurphy Posts: 903
    I go to the bank on a regular basis and they get several boxes of Fed-wrapped pennies each week from the armored car company. They use them up by catering to businesses in the area that need change, so every week the bank has to order more coin from the armored car company. It seems to be that way with a lot of local banks here. The main bank is the one that has the coin counter and they get customer rolled coins in and bag them loose in $50 bags by running them through the coin counter. Then the armored car companies pick up their excess and haul it off to God knows where. But I would say that if your bank caters to a lot of businesses and they have boxed, Fed wrapped coins for you on a regular basis then you should be able to get fresh coins to search without having to worry if you've searched them before.
    image Monster Wavy Steps Rule! - 1999, WSDDR-015, 1999P-1DR-003 - 2 known
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  • BearBear Posts: 18,953 ✭✭✭
    When coins are returned to a bank, they are run

    thru a scuffing, scratching and gouging machine.

    This process assures, that the bank will not be bothered

    by coin collectors actually asking the bank to provide a service.

    Banks only exist to take your money and hold it without interest.

    Providing a service in even the smallest degree, will reduce profits.
    There once was a place called
    Camelotimage
  • IrishMikeIrishMike Posts: 7,737 ✭✭✭
    In most areas of the country a bank does not get its coin directly from the Fed. The Fed ships coins to one bank who then distributes them via armored car to outlying branches and other banks. Coin is ran through a machine in your local bank and shipped back to the bank that supplies them with coin. This is a weekly occurrence in most parts of the country. Cash and coin sitting in your bank vault is a worthless non-earning asset to them. If you walk into a typical branch and place an order for coin it comes from that original bank. If you want to increase your chances of getting coin from the Fed find out where your bank orders coin from and then go there.
  • While I do not know for a fact I strongly suspect my credit union rolls their own coins so they do not have to pay an armored truck service to bring them any coin.

    They accept coin in anything but rolls. It is all fed into a counting machine.
    Some call it an accumulation not a collection
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,720 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Now days most new coin is shipped straight to the counting houses from the mint at the behest of the FED.

    Essentially this work is just being contracted out to companies like Brinks and Purolator.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.


  • << <i> and the one I work at now we dump them in bags from the rollers that people bring into us and sell them to a man who wraps them and brings coin to us also. >>



    Sounds like the prefect coin collectors job, I'm sure you need to be bonded, but I will, for a smaller fee than brinks, take your coins and roll them and return them as you need them. I get to look at all the edges for silver before it gets redistributed. This may be an idea.

    Does anyone know what brinks charges extra for rolled coins?

    And actually you would not need to be bonded, you could just buy the bags of coin from the bank at face, when you take them. Then they issue you a check when you return wrapped rolls. Hmmm.
    Life member of the SSDC

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