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Do banks or tellers know what you are doing? Would you tell some or none? (maybe I put this comment in wrong place before)

I live in a small town about 5000 pop. Two cities 25 -30 miles in 90 degree directions. One teller, friendly for years, in my long time bank asked me why I want pennies. I told a small white lie.

In same name bank, 25 mi dist, one young woman seems happy to give out halves and pennies no questions asked (except once, “Do you want any $2 bills?) I have taken only $200 in halves so far with no silver found. Can’t go there often - Gas dollars spent. (This young woman reminds me of the girls in black mini-skirts and glasses in the Robert Palmer music videos a few years back.)

If they ask (rarely do), I tell them I'm a collector. It's totally true, just they don't have to know the volume I'm "collecting" or that I routinely sell my collection. I also tell them about Whitman folders and how I fill them in with my kids (also true, just not the primary reason for "collecting").

I learned a great method for warming up the tellers from the guys on here- if you want to thank them, or to say "sorry for being so annoying about the coins," give a small bag of chocolates. Just did this for the first time with the tellers at one of my dump banks after doing 3 dumps on the same day. It bowled them right over! Kinda helps that I went to college with one of them, but still, they're not expecting this and it's a great way to keep them friendly and in a helping mood.

PS- Don't get discouraged by the skunks on the halves. In my experience, I have long dry spells punctuated by little "silver strikes" of several coins in a small batch of halves. The little bonanzas really get you excited and keep you going!

if your doing halves they may Know what you are up to...If your doing pennies most likely not, they don't care, just dont over use them until you find a nice friendly teller...if you want boxes then ask to order them and be patient and pickup on time and all should be good. Remember to dump somewhere else other than your pickup bank. Forget the white lie and man up they wont care but then I live in a county of 6 million people with banks on every corner and sometimes branches in sight of others. I have tellers ask so i told them..they were intrigued that I could sort 50,000 pennies in an evening. Good Sorten.

I've only had a few ask, and after stammering the first couple times, I now simply tell them that I love to sort out the old pennies. I had one youngster ask me about some kind of wheat thing on pennies in the 50s--I'm gonna start carrying some old wheats with me.

Speaking of chocolates, saw some small packages of Lindts--six packages (four candies per) for $3 at a "discount", gotta have a card to get in the door store. That's just 50 cents each, and girls go nuts over Lindts.

Some of my "girls" know and others don't. Heck I get more questions from other customers as I leave than from the bank workers. I've been dealing with most of the same "girls" from the get go. Very accomidating.

Depending on who asks, the answer varies. I've used the this-is-a-practical-joke line, I even told a guy that bags of pennies stop bullets better than sand bags, hehe. Honestly I've never tried it but it would be interesting. Hmmm....

Deal

Some people are just nosy no matter what job they do. Some tellers, like other unsatisfied employees, hate or dislike their jobs. I just tell them the truth...I collect coins...all kinds...old and new....and I save the better ones for a collection for my son to start when he's old enough. I then show a picture of him...and act excited and smile no matter what they say...sometimes that is hard! I walked into my favorite bank for the first time and asked for a box of pennies, the assistant manager heard me and then came up to speak to me. I'm thinking shot down again...no account here. She asks me if I was one of those "penny guys"? I smiled and said proudly...YES I AM! She laughed at me and asked me if I wanted the two $50 bags in the vault.....hello....why yes I said....and then I informed her that no other bank that I've tried will sell me the bags off of the machine. Now she saves 'em all for me...still no account there. I do take cookies and candies once or twice a month to her and the girls behind the counter. But that first day she told me that, they themselves, divide all up of the silver halves that go through the machine. So, I have all the penny, nickel, dime, and quarters bags they have if I wanted.
Sorry for the long story...just be honest and you never know. BE PROUD you're not crazy.....YET!