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I'm not doing this as a formal poll, but I am curious- what percent of the time when you go into banks and ask for halves do you get at least one half dollar? Now I'm NOT talking about silver halves- I'm talking about any halves, including clad. I'm going to start the ball rolling and say that about 40-50% of the time do I get at least one clad half when I ask for halves. If the teller says "I have a couple of halves" and you look at them and say "No thanks", that still counts as success under this poll. Sometimes I go to several banks in a row where they say "Someone was just here and he took everything we had." Then I consider driving about 5-10 miles in a different direction to get a little better luck...

Recyclersteve,

This is a very good question. Thanks for bringing it up. I went back to my sorting stats for the past year and was surprised to find that 60% of the time when I ask for halves I actual get a least one half dollar. I didn't expect the number to be that high. Of course I have refined my technique over time. There are some branches where the tellers have told me they search for silver halves themselves so I quick asking for halves at those branches and tend to ask for pennies instead. Then there are those branches that regularly receive $500 dumps from other sorters in the area. I quit asking for halves there too. A couple of these branches have become dump banks for me and, as a general rule, I don't pickup and dump at the same branch.

I do not order boxes of halves but about 5% of the time I get bank rolled halves. Often times a branch will have a partial box in their vault from when they had ordered a $500 box to satisfy a customer request for a lesser amount. There is even one branch that I go to that regularly stocks bank rolled halves at the merchant teller window because they get so many guys coming in asking for halves. I don't make it to this branch very often because it is a bit out of the way but maybe I should go pay them another visit soon.

I only canvas banks in a corner of WA State, or when on vacation like when i was hitting up banks and casinos in Vegas. i guess 90% of the time they have some halves, almost never find silver. Never ordered 1/2s though.

I should try ordering boxes from the Bank of America that is closing. How many $ to the box and does B of America charge for ordering them?

JadeDragon wrote:I should try ordering boxes from the Bank of America that is closing. How many $ to the box and does B of America charge for ordering them?

Boxes of halves are $500. I don't know of BofA charges for ordering coins.

A quick thought on the BofA branches that have been closing recently. I remember there used to be a rule that no bank in the U.S. could have more than 10% of all deposits in the U.S. When BofA did one of their mergers (can't remember if it was Countrywide or Merrill Lynch or U.S. Trust or someone else) I believe it put them over the top. They may have gotten some type of temporary waiver to the rule, but perhaps it is now being enforced. Anyone else know about this?

Less than 10% of the time for halves.

As for bank closures, if you do web search you'll find articles like the following:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/25/pf/bank ... index.html
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1849681 ... of-profits

Operating a brick and mortar location is expensive for any business, and with more people using ATMs and mobile payments there is less of a need. Combine that with banks trying to stay profitable, and there are a lot of local closures.

Interesting that neither article brings up the shift to credit unions, which is another major factor. In my area, credit unions have opened up multiple walk-in locations in the past 5 years.

Another interesting observation of my own: I almost never use ATMs anymore; I now frequent them less than once per year. I wouldn't be surprised if wide acceptance of mobile payment systems causes ATMs to close.

It would be neat to be able to buy an ATM at a cheap price at a bankruptcy auction and set it up in your home just for kicks...

My BofA is a small branch in a small border town. Half the commercial space in town is empty. The branch usually has 2-3 staff, never more. So I get it just is not a money maker for BofA. Only bank in town, so the town is trying to attract a replacement.

JadeDragon wrote:I only canvas banks in a corner of WA State, or when on vacation like when i was hitting up banks and casinos in Vegas. i guess 90% of the time they have some halves, almost never find silver. Never ordered 1/2s though.

I have the ability the ability to order halves . once I'm done with the quarters and dime boxes I bought I will purchase a box to see what I get.

About 95% of the time I ask for halves they have some.

I get halves about 30% of the time, from "cold call" bank stops. My regular pick-up sites hold the stuff for me, so I don't need to ask anymore.

Recyclersteve wrote: If the teller says "I have a couple of halves" and you look at them and say "No thanks",...

My advice - Don't 5H!T where you eat.
If the teller takes the time to get said halves, take the halves. Don't Sort your halves on site, and hand them back to the teller.

"If the teller says "I have a couple of halves" and you look at them and say "No thanks",..."

If I ask and they say yes I take them no matter what they are...