anyone here own or operate vending machines?

[kidman232]

if so, just wondering how often you come across silver coins while emptying out the machine?

[NHsorter]

Even better, does anyone here have an Ice Cream Truck? I can only imagine some of the stuff that you must get! I vividly remember when I was a kid scrounging around anywhere that I could to find some change when I heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. Probably kids all over the place raiding their dads horde to finance a chocolate eclair.

[justj2k78]

Even better, does anyone here have an Ice Cream Truck? I can only imagine some of the stuff that you must get! I vividly remember when I was a kid scrounging around anywhere that I could to find some change when I heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. Probably kids all over the place raiding their dads horde to finance a chocolate eclair.

Isn't that a doughnut? A doughnut truck? I think you just invented something with unlimited potential!!!

[NHsorter]

Yummy Goodness!

[NHsorter]

A doughnut truck would not be able to cover much ground because it would be constantly getting pulled over.

[PennyBoy]

I have two machines here at my work that I empty. They only take quarters. I think in the 18 months that I've been doing it I've found one or two silver quarters. I find more silver in the cash registers than I do in the machines. My father has a couple at his location that he empties, he rarely finds silver either.

My father also has a candy machine that takes pennies. I recently bought the pennies (about $23FV) off him at face value, only to be highly disappointed. I think my copper % was about 14%, with only 2 wheats.

I'd rather own/run a nickel-nickel arcade. Better yet, I'd rather be the one in charge of emptying the fountains at an outdoor mall or amusement park.

[scrapper2010]

A doughnut truck would not be able to cover much ground because it would be constantly getting pulled over.

Nice one!

[twentybux]

Even better, does anyone here have an Ice Cream Truck? I can only imagine some of the stuff that you must get! I vividly remember when I was a kid scrounging around anywhere that I could to find some change when I heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. Probably kids all over the place raiding their dads horde to finance a chocolate eclair.

I remember my dad had a few Morgans sitting out along with some other silver. My younger sister was scrounging around and used them for the ice cream man. My dad learned a lesson. Lesson: "Teach your kids about money v. "real money"." Oh yeah, and also, "pick your sh*t up so that the kids can't give it to Mr. Chill".

[Lemon Thrower]

when i was a teenager, i would have my mom drive me to the next town to buy fireworks (where they were legal) and sell them to kids in my neighborhood for double. i took in a few silver dollars at face value. on a percentage basis, probably better than the ice cream man.

[highroller4321]

Unless they are older vending machine they will not take silver quarters....

[Rodebaugh]

when i was a teenager, i would have my mom drive me to the next town to buy fireworks (where they were legal) and sell them to kids in my neighborhood for double. i took in a few silver dollars at face value. on a percentage basis, probably better than the ice cream man.

bootleged fireworks!..... .........Thats great!

[warthog]

From mid 80's to mid 90's I dropped newspapers at stores and filled a few machines along the way. Largely the machines went to locations that didn't do enough volume M-F for the stores to mess with so they weren't exactly high volume (some were only 5 or 6 copies a day), but I'd say 10+ years worth 5 days a week is still a significant sample. It was pretty rare then to run accross any 90% and silver was considerably lower than it is now. I never got a rosie let alone a merc and probably only got 4 or 5 quarters in all that time.

those machines worked off the diameter of the coin rather than the weight so I also got more than a few slugs and foreign coins. I didn't know at the time to check for canadian 80% which looking back might have had better yields.

[cesariojpn]

Even better, does anyone here have an Ice Cream Truck? I can only imagine some of the stuff that you must get! I vividly remember when I was a kid scrounging around anywhere that I could to find some change when I heard the ice cream truck coming down the street. Probably kids all over the place raiding their dads horde to finance a chocolate eclair.

[PennyBoy]

Maybe we can start a tracking thread for those of us that do empty machines? My guess though is that it wouldn't see too much action.

[fansubs_ca]

when i was a teenager, i would have my mom drive me to the next town to buy fireworks (where they were legal) and sell them to kids in my neighborhood for double.

You have a cool mom, if I'd been doing that I'd have to hide it from my mom so she wouldn't
flip out. You got help! 0_0 I did make a bit of money selling X-rated magazines after I
found a bag of them by the side of the road, then some guy that noticed I was selling them
had me sell some of his on consignment. I learned with comic books to avoid tying up money
in inventory, it's harder to predict what will sell and at what price than you think, thus I
wouldn't buy them outright from him. (Under my comic books was a good place to hide
them over the summer. ^_^) I probably didn't do anywhere near as good as you did with
the fireworks though.

On the topic, a coworker of mine once got a silver dime (I believe it was 1967 CDN
centenial) as change from the vending machine at work. Don't know anyone on the
running a machine end of things. Funny thing about the old vending machines some
of them seemed only capable of counting up to 3 of any one coin, it would ignore
but eat any additional coins starting with the 4th. This makes things tricky as the
price gets higher. ^_-

[thedude]

I have a gum ball machine at a BBQ joint in a big ten college town. In the 14 months I've had it I haven't come across any silver.

[Mercuryman]

One of my friend's parents runs a vending company here in NC, They found quite a bit of silver in the last few years. Even a standing liberty quarter. But recently its been rare, he maybe occasionally finds a war nickel or a sliver quarter here and there. But nothing substantial. Too bad they can take halves!

[rainsonme]

For a while I was picking up all the coins from a series of vending machines, through the bank. A very friendly teller was married to the man who ran the vending machine concession, and she kept all his coins separate for me. Over several months it was many thousands of dollars in quarters and dimes. Absolutely 0 silver. And I confirmed with her that her husband was not checking any of the coins. I think HighRoller provided the answer a few comments above. Newer vending machines don't accept silver. (therefore, I always look in the coin reject trays as I pass vending machines)