Saw a Guy get the Talk today

[Morsecode]

He comes into TD Bank with a small handtruck & 4 cloth bags of half dollars. I was waiting to use the coin counter with my $35 in dimes...argh! He beat me into the bank.

The manager is hovering. They limit half bags here to a ridiculous $100, so a teller had to station herself at the machine for what seemed like 15 or 20 minutes. 21 bag changes later, the customer line is out the door (she was one if two tellers on duty), late on a Friday/payday. The manager finally boiled over.

"I don't want to see you in here with those half dollars again! This is the second time this month. We don't carry them for a reason, and you're abusing your privileges here...We don't cater to coin collectors. Why don't you take them back to where you bought them..."

The guy sheepishly cashed out, and I figured I was next in line for the lecture. I mean, this manager sees me three times a week minimum, though I only count dimes or quarters in small batches. Plus, she's not the friendliest sort to begin with.

I poured my dimes in slowly, trying not to make noise.

"Can you believe that guy?" she said, winking at me.

[Numis Pam]

Dodged a bullet there didn't ya???

[Engineer]

Moderation is the key...and tellers never say no to a tray full of strawberry shakes.

[rexmerdinus]

Yeah they limit the halves on the machine to $100 here. They haven't refused me yet when I've brought in two $500 boxes re-rolled, though. One time I was told "you know, you don't need to roll those up--the Penny Arcade machine will count more than just pennies." I just shrugged it off and thanked her

[slickeast]

I never dump more than $500 at a TD Bank. I just go to several in town to spread the love around.

Also go on a Tuesday around 10am. They are usually not busy and enjoy chatting with you

[neilgin1]

color me stupid, I don't get it......you guys are prospecting halves and dimes for 90's?...and then you take the clad stuff back to the bank?

and they don't like this, right?....let me ask this....has the rate of hitting pre-65's gone down?...or in the case of Halves, pre-71...it would seem to me, that the pickings must be getting very slim...yes?

[Morsecode]

Has the rate gone down? Sure, quite a bit from the Reagan era...but then again, not so much as you'd think. New silver is returning to circulation all the time. We're not plucking only the 90% that has somehow escaped attention since '65. That would've dried up years ago.

Banks don't like to be treated like dumps, so the key is not to rub their face in it. Counting large amounts of coin on a busy banking day is going to put you on their $#!t list if you do it often enough. Spread it around, keep it reasonable and yes, they'll be happy to see you. Assuming you don't otherwise act like a whiner.

[TwoAndAHalfCents]

color me stupid, I don't get it......you guys are prospecting halves and dimes for 90's?...and then you take the clad stuff back to the bank?

and they don't like this, right?....let me ask this....has the rate of hitting pre-65's gone down?...or in the case of Halves, pre-71...it would seem to me, that the pickings must be getting very slim...yes?

Pickings are slim around here when it comes to finding silver halves. I occasionally get small batches of loose or rolled halves that a customer brought into the bank that have a few silver mixed in. But the few times I have come upon a box of halves that one of my banks happens to have in their vault they have all been skunks. Those $500 batches of clad halves that I need to dump all get rolled up in new wrappers and deposited at a branch of a different bank. It's a pretty quick deposit transaction and usually at one of the branches around here low down on the list of those I need to keep happy. My only access to a coin counting machine is with my credit union and there is no way I'm going to disrupt my relationship with them by dumping $500 batches of clad halves in their machine.

[scyther]

Has the rate gone down? Sure, quite a bit from the Reagan era...but then again, not so much as you'd think. New silver is returning to circulation all the time. We're not plucking only the 90% that has somehow escaped attention since '65. That would've dried up years ago.

I don't think that's true, at least not with dimes. They show up consistently enough that I think some of them have been in circulation consistently for decades... kind of like wheat pennies. If it was just people dumping previously hoarded silver, I think they would show up in big batches at a time, and then not be seen at all in a great many boxes... like half dollars. But instead it's a fairly consistent 1-2 per box. Besides, there can't really be that many people dumping silver...

[Elwood]

I don't think that's true, at least not with dimes. They show up consistently enough that I think some of them have been in circulation consistently for decades... kind of like wheat pennies. If it was just people dumping previously hoarded silver, I think they would show up in big batches at a time, and then not be seen at all in a great many boxes... like half dollars. But instead it's a fairly consistent 1-2 per box. Besides, there can't really be that many people dumping silver...

You'd be surprised. I deliver to a large chain of convenience stores overnight. One of the guys I deliver to has been there since 2010 and has over $100 face in junk silver and he's sold some of it. Some of the guys who were there in 2008 and 2009 have significantly larger stacks. The ones who didn't care to keep it were happy to add to my stack (unless they were cool, then I'd educate them). The economy tanked and it came flooding into circulation. It has slowed but its still happening. Things I've personnally witnessed in the last 2 years- a guy purchasing a cigarello with a (almost certainly stolen) Morgan, a 10 dollar gas purchase made with a solid roll of 64 quarters, a purchase of decent amount of junk food made with roughly $18 face of junk silver. Most of this never really made it into circulation but some did and still does.

[scyther]

I don't think that's true, at least not with dimes. They show up consistently enough that I think some of them have been in circulation consistently for decades... kind of like wheat pennies. If it was just people dumping previously hoarded silver, I think they would show up in big batches at a time, and then not be seen at all in a great many boxes... like half dollars. But instead it's a fairly consistent 1-2 per box. Besides, there can't really be that many people dumping silver...

You'd be surprised. I deliver to a large chain of convenience stores overnight. One of the guys I deliver to has been there since 2010 and has over $100 face in junk silver and he's sold some of it. Some of the guys who were there in 2008 and 2009 have significantly larger stacks. The ones who didn't care to keep it were happy to add to my stack (unless they were cool, then I'd educate them). The economy tanked and it came flooding into circulation. It has slowed but its still happening. Things I've personnally witnessed in the last 2 years- a guy purchasing a cigarello with a (almost certainly stolen) Morgan, a 10 dollar gas purchase made with a solid roll of 64 quarters, a purchase of decent amount of junk food made with roughly $18 face of junk silver. Most of this never really made it into circulation but some did and still does.

Nice. I should look for a job like that. I still think the regular distribution is a sign that it's not all coming from hoards, though.

[Engineer]

Nice. I should look for a job like that. I still think the regular distribution is a sign that it's not all coming from hoards, though.

There's still about 1 per box in circulation, but the occasional hoard is where you find the big piles.

[scyther]

Nice. I should look for a job like that. I still think the regular distribution is a sign that it's not all coming from hoards, though.

There's still about 1 per box in circulation, but the occasional hoard is where you find the big piles.

Closest thing I've found to a hoard is 8 in what box. Nice, but hardly comparable to what some of you have found. I want to search bags, but for some reason my bank never has them, although they always have quarters .

[NHsorter]

Morsecode, That guy must have had to try pretty darn hard to get the talk. That is quite an accomplishment. I have brought in $1000 in halves a few times and they say that it is no problem. They have the $100 bag fill here too. It takes forever. My hope was that they would get sick of doing it and just take my full $1000 bags without running them through penny, but that never worked out. I stopped doing it because I value my time. But I never felt that I was about to get the talk. Aside from the evil eye from a few specific tellers when I scrape the magnet, it's basically anything goes. Great story though. I love how you described how you were feeling at the time he was getting lectured. I would have felt the same way.