Home U.S. Coin Forum

Buying rolls and bank tellers

hyf88hyf88 Posts: 294 ✭✭✭
Went to the local bank today that happens to be across the street from an elderly assited-living complex and bought $20 in cents to look through, as I do every month. There's always some wheats and lots of older memorials to check for varieties. There was a new teller at the bank and he had to check with his supervisor to see if he could sell me the rolls. He also asked me if they were for a business and gave me a very strange look when I told him they were for me to look through as a hobby. Anyone else get this reaction from bank tellers?

It always makes me smile when people think we coin collectors are a little left-of-center!

Comments

  • It's not the bank teller's business what the coins are for... Maybe I want to carry around 10 pounds of wheats and pay for all of my items in THOUSANDS OF PENNIES. You're there to exchange money, for whatever reason. They should have to ask if they're allowed to. It's a BANK for God's sakes.
    image
    To support LordM's European Trip, click here!
  • I get wierd look every now and then
  • tincuptincup Posts: 5,423 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Some banks tend to be like the US Mint was back in the sixties.... not very friendly to collectors. I've gotten that kind of reception before.... but not very often.
    ----- kj
  • ldhairldhair Posts: 7,354 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>He also asked me if they were for a business >>


    Thats what it's all about.
    Banks don't wish to supply a business rolls if they don't have an account with them.
    Larry

  • The worst I have even gotten was a mini lecture on how it cost them (the bank) money to roll these coins, and for someone like me, who just buys them to just look through and return, is a waste of money and their resources. That caught me off guard to say the least. I noted her name but didn’t say anything at the time. The following Monday when I got to the office (just happen to be the same bank). I emailed her and her branch manager stating my disappointment with her attitude toward me and had I been a non-employee customer, she could have likely caused them to leave the bank and take their business else where. She did not know I was a bank employee. And worse, all I was buying at the time was four rolls of quarters and five rolls of nickels.

    She is the weekend teller manager and with a couple of exceptions now, every time I have to cash in change I wait until Saturday and go in when I know that she will have to oversee the teller running the change machine. Let’s just say if look could kill, I’d have died a thousand deaths by now. image
    - There are 10 kinds of people in this world...those who understand binary and those who don't!
  • I just deposited 1000 GW Presidential dollars to my bank from a $1,000 brick I searched for smoothies. The teller was very pleaseant, while she counted them we had a nice conversation regarding the new presidential dollars and their place in todays coinage and how much the government would save if the paper dollar was discontinued. She even gave me some wrappers so next time I wouldn't have to wait for her to count them image
    Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig image

    image
  • kiyotekiyote Posts: 5,588 ✭✭✭✭✭
    The only reason banks would be upset is because they haven't found a way to charge you for getting rolls yet.

    The worst I have even gotten was a mini lecture on how it cost them (the bank) money to roll these coins, and for someone like me, who just buys them to just look through and return, is a waste of money and their resources.

    Oooh, Big Banking Institutions, how I weep for you. *plays violin*
    "I'll split the atom! I am the fifth dimension! I am the eighth wonder of the world!" -Gef the talking mongoose.
  • skier07skier07 Posts: 4,394 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have to beg to get a roll of George Washington Dollars from by bank and I do all my business there.

    Bruce
  • TomBTomB Posts: 22,093 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I bank at a great place. As soon as I enter the building all of the tellers say hello to me by first name, they promptly let me into the vault to gain access to my safe deposit boxes, they order all the rolls or boxes of change that I could ever want and they accept all the coinage back, loose, with no problem.
    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
  • jjrrwwjjrrww Posts: 151 ✭✭
    When I go to a bank to purchase coins to look through, I try to select banks in residential areas. It seems, around here, anyway, that these branches tend to accumulate surplus coin that they have to ship to the Fed. These are the branches that individuals deposit coin into that they have saved up for awhile, etc, since they are near subdivisions, nursing homes, etc.

    When I take my coin back to deposit back into my account, I try to select a branch that is near a major shopping center. Those branches tend to have to order large quantities of coin for their business customers on a regular basis, and are always more than happy to take the coin off my hands. It works 99.99% of the time, and I do find some interesting pieces.


  • << <i> kiyote - The only reason banks would be upset is because they haven't found a way to charge you for getting rolls yet. >>



    Which is surprising odd, since it is about the only service they don't have a service charge for.
    - There are 10 kinds of people in this world...those who understand binary and those who don't!
  • DarkmaneDarkmane Posts: 1,021
    They don't like me when I tell them, YES, I want ALL the half dollars you are willing to sell me.

    I am often given an odd look when they reply, "But sir, we have $700.00 in half dollars"

    My reply is usually "Great, thank you!"



    That's when the dirty looks come image
  • I don't think the department of the treasury, which makes a huge profit manufacturing currency, would appreciate banks selling money at a markup over face. That's the mint's job.

    Banks aren't your grandfather's institutions anymore. Banks don't exist to sell rolls of change, accept rolls of change, cash SS checks, or interact with customers. That's all carryover nonsense from eras past. If they had their way, they wouldn't interact with people to do anything except sell loan products and add-on services.
  • RichieURichRichieURich Posts: 8,563 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Why would I want to buy bank tellers? Or did I misunderstand the thread title?

    An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.

  • A reader asked the following question in the current NN issue. Regarding the Fed coin distribution-

    image
    Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig image

    image
  • My local bank, Sovereign; I go there 2 times a week typically for various things...very familiar with all the tellers (first name basis) They put aside IKES for me when they get them, I don't think they would have a problem with me getting vast quantities of anything. I tried getting rolls of dollar coins, but the manager only allows 8 at a time. Craziness!
  • Some of these banks have a limited amount of rolls of cents, nickels,
    etc. What if a bank teller gives out all of these rolls of change and
    then later in the day the bank has trouble making change for
    teller transactions at the bank? What if all of these rolls of change
    are given out to a coin collector and then the next person in line
    is the owner of a convenience store (and a regular bank customer for
    30 years) and this store owner is about to run out of coins to make
    change for customer transactions at his store and the bank
    does not have anymore rolls to spare?


  • << <i>My local bank, Sovereign; I go there 2 times a week typically for various things...very familiar with all the tellers (first name basis) They put aside IKES for me when they get them, I don't think they would have a problem with me getting vast quantities of anything. I tried getting rolls of dollar coins, but the manager only allows 8 at a time. Craziness! >>


    To be honest, banks that limit the number of state quarters or presidential dollars to a set amount per customer are actually those banks that care about collectors. Banks are not there to distribute collectible coins to every man woman and child that walks in off the street. They make absolutely no money dabbling in the mint's latest marketing schemes. They don't profit from coins and they certainly hate dealing with them. It would actually be the easy way out to sell the entire stockpile to the first person that asks for them. The banks that don't want change, don't want to deal with change, and can't stand collectors roaming in asking for change, are the banks that don't have limits on these coins. My bank has no limits on these for this very reason. Sold out on the Washington's on day 3 of issue. The banks that set limits still have them--the tellers aren't very happy with it, because now in addition to dealing with 90 year old women and their old fashioned checks and other nonsense, they have to count out 8 coins per customer and enforce "limits", while the manager believes this to be a fair way to generate business among collectors.
  • KaelasdadKaelasdad Posts: 1,232 ✭✭✭
    I opened a brick of washingtons, and instead of taking them to the bank, I just take what i think I might spend in cash that day.

    I went to a Best Buy and picked up a DVD, and laid out $20 in Washingtons. The girl looked at me, picked up a coin , read it, then said please wait, called her supercisor and asked "do we accept these quarter dollars?". I have no idea what went through the supervisors mind--isnt a quarter a quarter dollar? Anyways, the answer she got was yes. So she put them in the till and gave me my change. I was sooooo tempted to say hold, I have to call my wife and ask if we accept these penny coins. The look on the girls face stopped me though. She looked ticked already.
  • Rob85635Rob85635 Posts: 1,230 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I just deposited 1000 GW Presidential dollars to my bank from a $1,000 brick I searched for smoothies. >>


    That tells me you looked at 1000 coins and not a single smoothie, what rotten luck.
    Rob the Newbie
  • Yea, the date on the bank brick was Feb 8th. at least I only paid face value for the box. I've heard the most smoothies were from the Feb 12th-13th boxes.
    Never teach a pig to sing. You'll waste your time and annoy the pig image

    image
  • StrikeOutXXXStrikeOutXXX Posts: 3,352 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i> kiyote - The only reason banks would be upset is because they haven't found a way to charge you for getting rolls yet. >>



    Which is surprising odd, since it is about the only service they don't have a service charge for. >>




    They do in both banks in my town. If you have a business account, getting change carries a transaction fee. When my Dad still ran a local store, he would only try to do it once a week, as it was a transaction fee - getting one roll of pennies or $500 in change carried the fee.

    I do get strange looks when I get my rolls and they do ask if it is for a business account and you have to show your ATM/membership card not tied to a business account.
    ------------------------------------------------------------

    "You Suck Award" - February, 2015

    Discoverer of 1919 Mercury Dime DDO - FS-101
  • I have had a few tellers get a little froggy when I bring in large amounts of change, especially Kennedy halves. I have never had a teller say anything to me when I bought rolls.
  • cladkingcladking Posts: 28,748 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My banks accept only loose change. They don't mind a few rolls but split them
    open and run them through the counter.

    I wouldn't blame a bank for refusing to provide rolls or take back rejects but
    would switch to another bank if they did. With the spreads they use in interest
    rates now days they shpould be able to afford a minimum level of customer ser-
    vice. By the same token though I try to make my hobby as painless for them as
    possible. I avoid taking coin in when they're busy and am polite when requesting
    rolls. I' also try to spend a lot of the rejects to minimize the number.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
  • morgansforevermorgansforever Posts: 8,486 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I some times get the "What you gonna sell them on Ebay". I reply, "No I collect rolls"
    World coins FSHO Hundreds of successful BST transactions U.S. coins FSHO
  • I get rolls from banks all over the place. No problem:-) I get rolls from my own bank...No problem...I return rolls to my own bank...no problem...

    Here's why. I call ahead to see if rolls or bags of coins are available before I go to any bank. It saves me gas money and it saves the bank tellers aggravation.

    They have a little bit, (It really isn't much) of paperwork to do to exchange coin from the vault to their teller station. They will also gather up coin from other tellers for you if they have a chance to do it ahead of time. Again, more paperwork.

    Here's the scenario they are not happy with. Long lines in the bank and "Joe,the Roll Searcher" walks in and asks for a bag of cents, any halves that might be laying around and if they have them, a few Eisenhower dollars. Oh , and while your at it, "Joe" asks the teller... Do you have any two dollar bills? :-) Better still is doing all that while bringing back a bag of 5000 cents:-)

    I find that if I let them know what I'm doing and If I understand their system, I can be on their side so to speak and cause as little grief as possible. All the tellers know I'm the coin guy:-)

    It even becomes a little humorous now and then. The tellers know who I am and what I am doing. They saw me come in to the bank for my "pick up" and at the same time, there was another guy in the bank dropping off two bags of cents. I didnt tell him who I was or what my hobby was but I did ask him if he was one of those guys that likes to look through pennies. He got a little cagy but was still friendly when he said yes. He proceeded to tell me that there was this guy that writes for a coin magazine that looks through bags of coins and finds a lot of interesting collectible coins in the bags and rolls. So..( Tongue in Cheek) I asked him what kind of things he looked for. Then he really got secretive. His response was..."Well...Stuff" . Then he was silent. I still didnt tell him who I was:-)

    When he left, and when I got to the teller, she gave me a big grin as she got a kick out of watching the whole situation unfold. I then asked her to give me the bags that were just dropped off along with the coins that I usually pick up. The teller was happy to help and I was gonna go home and see how well the competition was doing:-)

    Well, I still found a nice 1984 D DDO Lincoln in one of the bags along with two 1998 Wide AM cents. The other bag contained a 1972 D DDO lincoln as well. It was a fair DDO and I had not seen one like that before. The competition wasn't going to be a problem, that's for sure:-)

    Anyway...the easier you can make it for the tellers, the easier it will be to have fun searching through rolls.

    Have Fun,
    Bill



  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    It's not the bank teller's business what the coins are for...

    It most certaintly is the banks business. They asked cuz it costs them money to have those rolls and are for the banks customers.
    (people with accounts) and people that need alot of coin can be charged for it too.

    They can and do charge business's for coin.

    They do not have to give you the coin simply cuz you want to exchange dollars for cents.


    Steve
    Good for you.
  • LongacreLongacre Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭
    The only time I go to the bank is to get into the safe deposit box. I bank at one of those big, faceless institutions, and the tellers there wouldn't know me from Adam.
    Always took candy from strangers
    Didn't wanna get me no trade
    Never want to be like papa
    Working for the boss every night and day
    --"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
  • CoinlearnerCoinlearner Posts: 2,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
    imageLeft of center? image I do not think so. But , then again I"m not exactly objective on the matter. I actually think alot of people have taken the hobby more seriously in the past few years. Perhaps, the state quarters had something to do with it.
  • My banks vary in how they handle coin requests. I went to one in the drivethru (no one else in line, not busy) and asked if she had any Eisenhower dollars after I made my deposit. She picked up four from her change slot, counted them and put them back and said, "one second". Then she walk around to the inside, returned in a mere second and said "no". This bank has been no help whatsoever and doesn't even get state quarters anymore. If she would have said she was saving them for herself or someone else, that would have been fine but the bald faced lie was unnecessary. I was tempted to ask her what was wrong with those, but I knew the situation would just degrade from there.
    Witty sig line currently under construction. Thank you for your patience.
  • tightbudgettightbudget Posts: 7,299 ✭✭✭
    I've been to banks for rolls of coins a billion times. And in that billion times, I've had weird things happen to me. One teller once told me to go to hell, several have called me a weirdo, and one asked to go out with me (I passed).


  • << <i>They do in both banks in my town. If you have a business account, getting change carries a transaction fee. When my Dad still ran a local store, he would only try to do it once a week, as it was a transaction fee - getting one roll of pennies or $500 in change carried the fee.

    I do get strange looks when I get my rolls and they do ask if it is for a business account and you have to show your ATM/membership card not tied to a business account. >>



    True - our bank handles business accounts different then retail accounts and charges the business a transaction fee. I think it ranges from 2-3 cents a roll for pennies, nickels and dimes or around a $1 for a box and like 3-4 cents for for quarters or between $1 and $2 for a box. Not certain about halves and dollars.

    The couple of banks that I usually go and buy change from, I don't get any weird looks or funny stares, and I also don't have an account there. Never have been asked if I have and account or what I am getting the money for and they always have rolls of halves. Gotta like the little small home town banks.
    - There are 10 kinds of people in this world...those who understand binary and those who don't!
  • Here is a transcript from one of my favorite SNL spoof commercials.

    First Citiwide Change Bank I

    Customer #1.....Jan Hooks
    Bank Representative.....Jim Downey
    Customer #2.....Kevin Nealon




    [ Announcer: "When you do only one thing, you do it better" ]

    Customer #1: I needed to take the bus, but all I had was a five-dollar bill. I stopped by First Citiwide, and they were able to give me four singles and four quarters.

    [ Announcer: "At First Citiwide Change Bank, We just make change" ]

    Bank Representative: We will work with the customer to give that customer the change that he or she needs. If you come to us with a twenty-dollar bill, we can give you two tens, we can give you four fives - we can give you a ten and two fives. We will work with you.

    Customer #2: I went to my First Citiwide branch to change a fifty. I guess I was in kind of a hurry, and I asked for a twenty, a ten, and two fives. Their computers picked up my mistake right away, and I got the correct change.

    [ Announcer: "Correct Change" ]

    Bank Representative: We have been in this business a long time. With our experience, we're gonna have ideas for change combinations that probably haven't occurred to you. If you have a fifty-dollar bill, we can give you fifty singles. [ SUPER: "We can give you fifty singles" ] We can give you forty-nine singles and ten dimes. We can give you twenty-five twos. Come talk to us. [ SUPER: "We can give you twenty-five twos" ] We are not going to give you change that you don't want. If you come to us with a hundred-dollar bill, we're not going to give you two-thousand nickels.. [ SUPER: "We're not going to give you two thousand nickels" ] - unless that meets your particular change needs. We will give you.. the change.. equal to.. the amount of money.. that you want change for!

    [ Announcer: "At First Citiwide Change Bank, Our business is making change" ]

    Bank Representative: That's what we do.


  • Could it have to do with the recent concerns about melting and selling of pennies?
  • ttownttown Posts: 4,472 ✭✭✭
    I've never had an issue of getting any roll from any bank in Tulsa. In fact I put all my change in a crock and roll it up every few years and deposit it in my Credit Union. The last trip I put in $930 in rolled coins all I have to do is put my account number or name and phone # on the rolls. Never had a problem but I must have shorted them a quarter on one roll since they took it out of my account a week later on my last change deposit.image

Leave a Comment

BoldItalicStrikethroughOrdered listUnordered list
Emoji
Image
Align leftAlign centerAlign rightToggle HTML viewToggle full pageToggle lights
Drop image/file