Realcent.org

OK, so, I have been hoarding pennies since, oh, 2005. I am small time hand sorter - usually $10 a week, sometimes upwards of $30-40 when I am ambitious and have some time off from work. Needless to say, it really does add up. SO, I go to 3 banks usually - SunTrust and BB&T for pickups and a local credit union for dumps. Lately it has been getting a little tough as I have begun to get the evil eye at BB&T (though they have been mostly pleasant throughout my 6-7 year adventure) and the last few times they have told me that they just don't have any pennies (to which I give THEM the evil eye).

BUT TODAY - I realized just how fast things are moving. I went to my usual SunTrust supplier where they too have generally been pleasant and I have actually shared with them some of me and my 2 boys finds. Note, the last time I went in here (2 weeks ago) I got $10 in pennies - and found only 2 coppers (brinks shrink wrapped rolls). Today I ask for $10 in pennies - I get an uncomfortable look, the two tellers look at each other and sheepishly, my teller says she can't do that any more. 'Why?' I ask. She looks to the other teller who, with a stern face (usually very pleasant) asks me why I need them. I didn't lie to her but I do keep the copper angle on the down-low. I say 'My sons and I search for dates to fill our books (true).' She lightens a little and says, "Well, our branch manager has told us we can only give out pennies, and any bulk change to businesses who have an account with us and we charge them."
OK, my stomach is gurgling, BP slightly elevated, I launch an ill-fated salvo - "I am only exchanging one type of American currency for another in a bank where I do business (I do actively bank with them)." I got the brook trout look (eyes unblinking and glazed, mouth gasping for air), and she repeats in the same tone the exact same thing. Realizing the battle is lost, I fold my $10 bill up and thank them.

Gang - get your pennies while you can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time to move to nickels??

Time to move banks.

or branches

Rodebaugh,

RE: switching banks/branches - Will do. It's just that, from my perspective, my World is little ol' southwestern Virginia. And the world revolves around me (toungue in cheek). Up until recently, it was really easy for my hoarding to take place. I don't want it to become a job. I think we all need to realize though, that TPTB are turning up the boiler on all the frogs sitting in their pots of water.

Keep stacking!

Next time bring chocolate and hand that over first before you ask. Wish them Happy Easter!

Copper Catcher

Good info. Chocolate it is.
Cheers!

There are always more fish in the sea! Look for some other branches or try other banks in your area...don't give up now!

Liberace once said "There are only two cars like this in the world...and I own them both". When I hear that it is getting harder to find coppers, it motivates me to keep finding new places to get my hands on them. I can't wait for the day that I read a post on RC that all the coppers have been discovered and there aren't anymore left out there. That only means that the value of the ones I have would go up. Simply supply and demand. Or as I like to say: "The golden rule...those with the gold, rule". Or in this case, those with the copper, rule. If you want more proof of this, look at the prices of a 2012 Canadian penny roll. I'm sure the day before Canada announced the end of the penny, you could get a roll for 50 cents. Never give up, when something gets harder to accomplish, it only means the potential for gain is increased. Just my 2 cents worth.

Unless I am missing something... you are just walking into 3 different banks, none of which you have an account with, and expecting them to to give you rolls of pennies?
Albeit a small amount, but I am pretty sure that most of the members here will tell you that they have multiple accounts at multiple banks...
Why don't you just ask them what the minimum amount they need to open an account, and open one! BTW.. tellers get "credit" for referring customers to open accounts, which translates into them getting bonuses and bigger paychecks! Which means that they will "lookout" for strange things.

OtusLotus wrote:Unless I am missing something... you are just walking into 3 different banks, none of which you have an account with, and expecting them to to give you rolls of pennies?
Albeit a small amount, but I am pretty sure that most of the members here will tell you that they have multiple accounts at multiple banks...
Why don't you just ask them what the minimum amount they need to open an account, and open one! BTW.. tellers get "credit" for referring customers to open accounts, which translates into them getting bonuses and bigger paychecks! Which means that they will "lookout" for strange things.

pretty sure he said he has a account there...

Stress not Silverflake. I'm sure there are plenty of other banks in the area. Accounts shouldn't be a deterrent. Just make sure you do all the things required to prevent getting monthly fees. I can relate to getting a CNS response when a teller/bank gives me negative news. At least you kept things friendly

Also under $50 a week is very small time indeed. That's two boxes. Most banks may not even require you to get an account with them. I know TD would let me return that much without an account and they wouldn't charge me the non-customer fee.

~JobIII

Down south is a great area to be searching for even silver. Keep walking into banks, go to the closest ones first!, and ask, say I want one box of pennies a week ordered for me, can you do that? I'll tell you the truth, my bank does not like doing this, those stupid boxes weigh a ton, I asked them to double my penny order twice, and they won't, but I still get two boxes a week from them, and go in every other week and take any extra they have left. The other trick is to just bypass bank tellers and managers, go to the head branch, talk to the head teller, and get bags directly from the coin sorting machines, and just be done with it once and for all. Banks that want new customers are going to be more willing to work with you as well. I've gone through what your dealing with, and it's really a let down, good luck, you'll figure something out.

I've had one of my banks tell me that they need to save their pennies for businesses. I asked what size bank account do I need to be able to purchase pennies. I told them that while I do not have a business account, I do have what I feel is a substantial balance with them and although it could be an inconveniece to me I would be willing to move to another bank.

So far I haven't had a repeat of that conversation. In any business, they will either win or lose business on their customer service. The bank's do run into expenses on having coin available, but they have to realize that their customers are not just the local businesses.

My dump bank has a coin counter available to anyone who comes in without charge. Whenever I dump there, anything above a certain amount goes into a bank account. That way I feel that I am not taking advantage of a business. So far they haven't had a problem with me doing my dumping there. I'm saving money because I don't have to roll up my coins. I think that it's a win for everyone.

My credit union is happy to order boxes for me....as long as I give them some notice. I've tried going in at random for boxes, and they tell me that it's better to order them in advance, since some of the times, they can only give 10-20 dollars worth. They need to keep some on hand for business accounts.

Silverflake, it sounds to me like the bank you deal with could not care less about you as a customer. IMO, if they are giving you grief over JUST $10 a week in pennies you either aren't worth squat to them as a customer or their customer relations methods could DEFINITELY stand revising. Granted, none of us, except you, have dealt with these people so we don't have first hand knowledge of this situation but you sound like a reasonable person. I mean, COME ON, 10 lousy stinkin' dollars...

Playing the devil's advocate; if you can afford it ask for a box ($25) of pennies. Maybe, just maybe, the idea of breaking a box for your $10 rubs them the wrong way. A box of pennies doesn't take a lot of room and it might be less work for the bank. You don't have anything to lose by asking and they stand to lose a customer.

Whether your current bank plays nice with you or not, I think other forum members' advice of seeking another branch, bank, or credit union is dead on. There are a LOT of banks/CU's and I'll bet you'll be able to find some that will order pennies for you.

I might be spoiled, definitely lucky, by the way I'm treated at a CU and two banks. Everything is on a first name basis and they could not be nicer REALLY. Good banks are out there, all you have to do is find them.

P.S. WHEN you find one that will work with you, take a treat to the tellers once a month to show your appreciation...and bribe/spoil them. Could be chocolate, bagels, baked cookies, whatever. Little things like that are remembered. One caution though; be careful about taking a Bicardi rum cake. I did that once and by closing time a couple of the CU tellers were a tad light headed. Didn't stop them from asking for it again however.

You guys need to move down to the Deep South. Here everybody has known you since the day you were born, we are related to and/or were babysat at some point in our life by every teller in the place, the branch manager is our uncle, the bank president is our momma's first cousin and we get all the coins we want no questions asked. Your family tree only having one branch does have its advantages at times!! Seriously though, acquiring coins in a small southern town where you've lived all your life is a lot easier than dealing with the robot tellers at the bigger branches. I get 10 boxes of pennies and two boxes of halves every week from the same local bank no problem and could get more if I wanted. They actually start to worry and will call me to make sure everything is ok and offer to bring the coins to me if I miss a weekly pick up. It's nice!! I feel for you guys that have deal with all that hassle of so many banks just to get coins.

With easter coming up ask your local charity what they do with all of the change? Win Win situation. I have a charity that calls me whenever they are going to bring in pennies to the bank. I meet them there and the bank facilitates the exchange. Everyone is happy. The charity doesn't pay a fee for dumping, the bank doesnt have to store it and I get pennies. YaY. On average I pick up from them $500 in pennies a week. Biggest problem is sorting those darn wheat cents.

mtldealer wrote:With easter coming up ask your local charity what they do with all of the change? Win Win situation. I have a charity that calls me whenever they are going to bring in pennies to the bank. I meet them there and the bank facilitates the exchange. Everyone is happy. The charity doesn't pay a fee for dumping, the bank doesnt have to store it and I get pennies. YaY. On average I pick up from them $500 in pennies a week. Biggest problem is sorting those darn wheat cents.

What kind of charity do you work with for this deal? If you dont want to reveal your secret in public, PM me. I cant compete with you since I am in the midwest.

Guys, OK, just got home from work and as usual, all yall's info is fantastic. Somebody mentioned that I had been frequenting only 3 banks. You are correct. I broke out of my stubborn ways and stopped at another SunTrust bank on the way to work. Slapped my $10 bill down and asked for pennies. Not only did they not hesitate, three tellers scrambled around scrounging up pennies. When they realized they didn't have enough, one of them went into "The Vault" to bring my order up to $10. Then my teller found me a sturdy bag to carry them in.

So, there is hope and no, the world is not coming to an end.

One thing bugs me about the original branch (the one I have been going to for years) and I think one of you mentioned it above. It's this: it's not like I cleaned them out by asking for $100 in pennies. I asked for a measly $10. In the economic environment we are in now and with the bad rap banks have (even regional banks) you would have thought they would bend over backwards for 'the little guy'. Hmm...Oh well I am now 'branching' out.
Thanks gang.

Shifty51 wrote:You guys need to move down to the Deep South. Here everybody has known you since the day you were born, we are related to and/or were babysat at some point in our life by every teller in the place, the branch manager is our uncle, the bank president is our momma's first cousin and we get all the coins we want no questions asked. Your family tree only having one branch does have its advantages at times!! Seriously though, acquiring coins in a small southern town where you've lived all your life is a lot easier than dealing with the robot tellers at the bigger branches. I get 10 boxes of pennies and two boxes of halves every week from the same local bank no problem and could get more if I wanted. They actually start to worry and will call me to make sure everything is ok and offer to bring the coins to me if I miss a weekly pick up. It's nice!! I feel for you guys that have deal with all that hassle of so many banks just to get coins.

+1 Same here for me, Love my small town banks where everyone knows me... Can even go up to 45 miles from my town to other small towns and even they know me or know someone else who knows me.. I feel really lucky not to have the buy and dump problems some of the you seem to have...

Shifty51 wrote:You guys need to move down to the Deep South. Here everybody has known you since the day you were born, we are related to and/or were babysat at some point in our life by every teller in the place, the branch manager is our uncle, the bank president is our momma's first cousin and we get all the coins we want no questions asked. Your family tree only having one branch does have its advantages at times!! Seriously though, acquiring coins in a small southern town where you've lived all your life is a lot easier than dealing with the robot tellers at the bigger branches. I get 10 boxes of pennies and two boxes of halves every week from the same local bank no problem and could get more if I wanted. They actually start to worry and will call me to make sure everything is ok and offer to bring the coins to me if I miss a weekly pick up. It's nice!! I feel for you guys that have deal with all that hassle of so many banks just to get coins.

Dang, I'm jealous of that...I'm still bouncing from branch to branch and can't convince anyone to order more than 5 boxes at a time.

Simple - the branches that will not give you pennies become the dump banks. They obviously are short of pennies for the business customers so help them out.

JadeDragon wrote:Simple - the branches that will not give you pennies become the dump banks. They obviously are short of pennies for the business customers so help them out.

+1 Love it!! ha

JadeDragon wrote:Simple - the branches that will not give you pennies become the dump banks. They obviously are short of pennies for the business customers so help them out.

+1, I've done that. It feels so good.

silverflake wrote:One thing bugs me about the original branch (the one I have been going to for years) and I think one of you mentioned it above. It's this: it's not like I cleaned them out by asking for $100 in pennies. I asked for a measly $10. In the economic environment we are in now and with the bad rap banks have (even regional banks) you would have thought they would bend over backwards for 'the little guy'.

You may be polite in asking for change from your bank, but you don't know how many other jerks were in earlier asking for pennies/halves/silver coins and giving them an attitude when they didn't get what they wanted. It only takes one jerk to ruin it for everyone else. There are a lot of jerks out there.