Catching 90% Headed Upstream.. Coinstar Alternative

[mortarman]

I've only been CRHing for 90% since '08, but have done somewhere between 50 and $100k in dimes, quarters, and halves. Virtually all of my finds have been coins headed upstream to the FED, i.e. CWRs, or coin machine bags. Only silver quarter I ever found was a canadian headed "up". Silver Dimes have been b/w 1:2500-1:5000 in Fed rolls, with a much higher frequency in CWRs. Same with halves, though even less have been found from the Fed. Does this jive with y'alls experiences?

Bearing this in mind, I believe there is a market for, and possibly a high enough concentration of silver headed upstream, to support a no service fee, CoinStar alternative, with instant cash capability.

I'd have to eat the expenses as I wouldn't charge a service fee IOT attract business from Coinstar. And these would be numerous: initial capital requirements for a coin sorter/counter, a roller, a cash dispenser, possible coin deposit fees from banks, location agreements with businesses, fuel, and my time. But there's really no way to know how much one could net until you cast it, so to speak.

Course another alternative may be to merely work out coin purchase agreements with local businesses, rolling with a sorter/counter in the truck, providing cash instantly on a regular basis. But again, you'd have fuel/time/vehicle maintenance.

I've got 18 months until I ETS from the big green machine and am bound and determined to make a go of this. Any advice/criticism would be greatly appreciated.

[Lemon Thrower]

if you count 40%, my experience with halves is better. data is very choppy but I probably average 1 or 2 silver halves per 1 or 2 $500 FV boxes.

[mortarman]

Likewise. I hardly ever find 90% halves, just the 40%s. And I'm convinced it's because an even smaller segment of the population is tracking on those.

I've been stuck on guard overnight (gotta love garrison), and got to thinking. If you processed bags of coins from every credit union around town, all the laundromats, and the vending machine service companies, you'd never need to set up your own Coinstaresque machine.

Course the $40 question is, once again, are they any mid-range sorters that can be used for silver? Highroller has mentioned the industrial units for $10k+ and we've all seen the coinalyzer style discriminators. With silver setting record highs, it blows my mind that there isn't a ryedale style silver sorter. Thoughts?

[Mossy]

If you processed bags of coins from every credit union around town, all the laundromats, and the vending machine service companies,

Don't the vending machines reject silver?

[97guns]

i remember reading a thread where a guy wanted to buy a portable sorting machine and run an add in craigslist for in house pick up of coinage, sounded like a good idea with a bit of cash outlay.

[frugalcanuck]

I know there are business out there that process coins for smaller business

[Know Common Cents]

Saw something on the Discovery Channel or something equally as random, that there's a company that processes coins that have been in wishing wells, cave lagoons and othetr places that are cleaned out once or twice every couple of years. I kept thinking what surprises may be lurking there.

I'd skip the ones that have been tossed over or into Niagara Falls. I'd rather use a barrel to hold my Cu or Ni.

[psi]

A few posts recently have hinted that comparitors to find silver are not available cheaply as for base metals, why is that? Is it the similarity between the properties of copper and silver?

[Number21]

I have been thinking about doing this too. I was thinking that if you setup a coinstar-like machine in a business, you could process the money for free for a voucher to spend at said business, and they might give you floor space for free. I think a gas station/car wash would be an ideal place for such a machine, for people cleaning their cars getting rid of change and people that need gas and only have change to spend....

I think you could compete with coinstar if you only charged maybe half of what they do, and put them in smart locations besides grocery stores.