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Some of you are going to think that this is a great problem to have, but I am trying to figure out the best routine here. I basically have 3 sources:

Bank 1: They are happy to order me any boxes that I want. I pick up on Tuesdays. I have done a ton of Halves from this bank off and on. The halves have been awful. Dimes and nickels are about 1 a box, nothing ever any better. So the coin from this place is consistently dull. Copper percentages are steady near 30% though, so that is nice. I have a standard 4 box per week order that I grab when I am there making a commercial deposit. This is nice because there is no extra time involved. Since I do a decent amount of non-coin-related banking at this branch, I don't want to go overboard and wear out my welcome so that is why I just do the 4 boxes a week lately. They seemed to get a little huffy when I was taking a 3' high stack of halves out on a hand truck for a few weeks.

Bank 2: They have a lobby counter, but they don't generate too much coin. Average 2 bags of pennies a week and 1 bag of dimes every 2 weeks. I pass on the nickels and quarters. They probably get one bag of halves a year. It is a fairly new bank so I am hoping that the quantity will pick up. Trouble is that this place is about 20 miles round trip off of my normal path. This is not economically acceptable to me so I really only hit this bank on weekends if I happen to be close for some reason. I am sure that there has been a time or two where I made a trip in that direction with coins in mind when I could have saved a few miles going somewhere else. But oh well.

Bank 3: Lobby counter. 10 miles round trip off the normal commute. MIXED bags of coin. LOTS of quarters in these bags all the time. I had been going in here on the occasional Friday to make commercial deposits. They would have a bag or two (typically 300-400 per bag) usually. In a recent discussion with a teller there, she said that the machine gets most of it's use on the weekend and they ship Tuesday. So if I go on a Monday, I can expect an average of 10 bags per week.

So the only consistent gig I have is bank 1 with the 4 boxes per week. The rest I just pop in when it works out. I was thinking about making a point to go to "Bank 3" on each Monday and just buy a bunch of bags from them. I would need to carry around a little bit of a bigger wad than I do now, but that is not a problem really. The biggest problem is the extra dumping. Sooo many quarters to unload. Just for a measley average of $3-4 worth of silver found in each bag of about $350 worth of coin. I know that some day I could hit it big, but these bags are painful to go through compared to sorted bags. I love penny and dime bags cause they all just go through the Ryedale.

What I REALLY want to find out is how to get the half dollar bags that are filled at the TD bank penny arcades. I always see silver in there and with the exception of 1 branch, they won't let me swap them out. I have tried at least 10 branches to get them to sell me bags and it IS NOT happening. Oh how I wish I had a contact at Loomis (or whoever they use) to buy those bags before they hit the sorter. Or at least a chance to buy the boxed up halves that they process. I have asked for TD to sell me half boxes before, but they all say they can't get them. Wonder where all their halves go?

Anyone want to set me straight. Guess I just felt like venting a little. I could tell my wife all of this but she does not want to hear it

What are you best sources like?

TD Bank is my bank, I usually only ask for a couple dollars worth at a time , I haven't gone big yet or asked for boxes.

But yes Loomis picks up and takes the penny arcade at TDbank, Then brings them the rolls, I have only rolls I have gotten from TD are paper rolls with there logo"loomis" on it.

I can tell u that they do not sort out copper or canadain coins. (But I do and dump there)

On monday I had to deposit a check so I got 4 rolls of pennys, the teller had to ask the other teller and she only had 4 rolls left.
I got 1 wheat 47 beat up, 1 candanian 1960. and at least 20% copper

I also got a 1 roll of nickels it had 1 Canadian

Xip

TD doesn't really care, but their service companies push them around. Loomis, Garda, Wells Fargo (Garda here) all pretty much the same attitude. One can understand their need for cents, nickels, dimes and quarters, since they repackage and re-sell. Halves and dollars are only bagged and sent back to rot in Treasury vaults. On the way, they get poked thru for sure. Probably more than once.

Garda, via bank management, sent an email out here some time ago advising TD branches that all coins from the magnet should be bagged and given to the driver at every scheduled pick up. Pretty ballsy if you consider they have zero legitimate claim to them. Most branches are not complying, thankfully.

Whenever I've asked to buy the bags straight from the machine I've been given some canned reply having to do with balancing accuracy...which is also a joke since, as we all know, the machines are only as accurate as their last cleaning and testing.

They will order you boxes if you ask. They probably even have spares there, but they just don't want to volunteer that info because they would have to go open the coin safe.

The excuse that I was told with halves though is they can't order them because the computer system they use for coin orders does not have a half dollar option.. "would you like dollar coins instead" - No thanks!

xippi wrote:TD Bank is my bank, I usually only ask for a couple dollars worth at a time , I haven't gone big yet or asked for boxes.


But yes Loomis picks up and takes the penny arcade at TDbank, Then brings them the rolls, I have only rolls I have gotten from TD are paper rolls with there logo"loomis" on it.

I can tell u that they do not sort out copper or canadain coins. (But I do and dump there)

On monday I had to deposit a check so I got 4 rolls of pennys, the teller had to ask the other teller and she only had 4 rolls left.
I got 1 wheat 47 beat up, 1 candanian 1960. and at least 20% copper

I also got a 1 roll of nickels it had 1 Canadian

Xip

my credit union sells bags. never found anything in the halves. people tend to dump in those machines, so they are not as great as you think.

there is a bank chain in my area that has counters, but for security reasons they won't sell the bags.

Lemon Thrower wrote:my credit union sells bags. never found anything in the halves. people tend to dump in those machines, so they are not as great as you think.

there is a bank chain in my area that has counters, but for security reasons they won't sell the bags.

There are credit unions and bank chains ALL OVER the place here with counters. Dozens, all close by. I have asked multiple times at a bunch of them and the "Security Reasons" is the most common BS excuse. I try to call them on it all the time and can't get a real answer though. "because of the way our system is set up" and "Company Policy" are also very common.

"Bank 3" with the mixed bags was a hard one to get started with. I had to pull some strings to get them to sell to me. I highly doubt they would sell to anyone that walked in there and asked.

Just keep asking, even when they vault teller changes. I get both bags and boxes and even bags right our of the machine. It changes and as long as I can get them I am fine. But one day I know I'll get cut off "AGAIN"... Just keep asking around.

BTW: My round trip long haul dump is 72 miles. My shortest trip is always on the way home.

In my area getting pennies is easy, dumping is easy too at small volume, but at mine I have to drive far away every week or two to get rid of a lot of pennies. However, I only get rolled pennies. I would really like to get a ton a week of loose pennies if possible. I could even drive to Orlando or Jacksonville for this...

I can't believe the miles some of you drive.
My three source banks are all on my drive home from work (less then 5 miles, in a company truck).
All my dump banks are less then 10 miles round trip, my newest one is about one mile.

I still haven't found a bag source though.