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c140cessna
Penny Collector Member
USA
419 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2007 : 19:50:00
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Thought I'd start a thread on "Zinc Dumpster" topic.
I belong to 5 Credit Unions (9 branched within reasonable distance). I also belong to 4 Banks (well over 15 branches in area, but use about 5 or 6 in the area).
All my CU's have coin machines. 1 is free, 2 charge 2% , 5 charge 5%. 1 bank has coin machines....no charge.
When they have a coin machine....I buy their loose coin....I dumpster primarily at the bank that has no charge. Do not buy from that bank. I try to keep my dump to under $200 per branch...prefer $150. Do not want to over tax the coin gals.....even on self serve lobby coin machines, they have to change the bag about every $50....try to take it easy on them...
One of my CU has a no fee actual "CoinStar" machine....thus no bag limit on the machines. Coinstars just have a monster bucket and no internal bags. Coinstar services the machine and picks up the coins.
I did a test today on the Coinstar machine: $100 in penny took 25 minutes.....thus, 10,000/25 min = 400 coins per minute....very slow process....will probably not do that again.
Look forward to others experiences.....HCBTT....did you say you pick-up and dump at the same credit union branch? Give some more details on how you make that work...how to avoid your own zincs....
M41/1USMI:US1Cu240000,CA1Cu328000,CA5Ni35000
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2007 : 20:41:23
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Great idea for a topic. Getting rid of our zinc is a main concern for most of us.
What can I say? .. I'm a gambler, a gunslinger, a maverick.. LOL. I know conventional wisdom on this board says you are not supposed to get coins from your dump bank. But it is just so darn convenient to cart it in and cart it out in 1 trip at a bank that is about 1 mile from my house. It is a larger commercial bank. They provide me free shipping bags with their name on them. I hook the bags up to my 2 Glory CN-12 High speed counters (each counts 1800 coins per minute), set the batch stops to 5000, fill the bins up with zinc (5000-6000 pennies each) and fire them up. I seal the bags up and throw them in the trunk of the car. I put them on my handy little cart (rated for 660 pounds) and wheel them into the bank. At the bank, they take my bags off my cart and put them on to their cart and either count out C-notes or load my cart up with boxes of fresh unsorted boxes. My normal dump is about $600 per trip and I sometimes do 2 or 3 dumps in a week, depending on cash needs and what is lying around. They ship these out to their central vault twice a week when the big truck comes. This particular bank probably has about 60 branches between my home and work. I think of it as a river rather than a pool when I dump. If you allow a little bit of time for the current to carry it downstream you won't get your own zincs back. I dumped there today and picked up 24 boxes in the same trip. I will dump again tomorrow, and then a third time either Friday or Saturday. Anything I dump before noon on Friday won't go back to the central vault until the big truck is headed back on Friday after dropping my next shipment of 24 boxes off, which I will pick up on Saturday, since I already have a scheduled pickup for Friday of 24 boxes from one of my main banks. I probably won't preorder any boxes from this branch the following week to allow time for my zinc to be dispersed through their system.
I monitor my percentages by the box and the ones obtained from my dump bank have been consistant with boxes obtained from all my other sources, so I must be timing it right. I of course buy pennies from the other 4 banks I have accounts with as well as trying to get a few from other banks and S&L's I am not a member of. I have never seen a coin machine in any of the banks I go into. If I were to find a bank or credit union with a free counter I don't think I would use it.. I would instead try to get them to sell me all the pennies they take in. The entire transaction at my dump bank generally takes 5-10 minutes. I wouldn't want to wait around for some bank's slow machine or for them to change bags.
I really need to get out and join some credit unions. They would be a good source of more raw coins for me.
"Preserving REAL coinage.. 2 tons at a time"
HoardCode0.1:M49/15USCA:US1Cu691250(150000 Reserved):US5Ni9500:CA5Ni1150 |
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n/a
deleted
43 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 14:32:59
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I have tried with no success to get my CU branches to sell me the bagged pennies from the free coin counter. They all refuse saying "these must go back to the mint". Unsure what that really means.
I can now dump at 5 CU branches and 1 bank I joined today. This new bank has a free coin counter, however it is a table model and I have not tried it yet. Before I opened the account I asked the guy if very many customers used the counter. He said that a few customers bring in buckets of coins. That made me a little suspicious that someone else in the area was hoarding pennies. I live in a college town and find that unlikely, but who knows. |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 08/30/2007 : 17:08:54
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quote:
Originally posted by creekrat
I have tried with no success to get my CU branches to sell me the bagged pennies from the free coin counter. They all refuse saying "these must go back to the mint". Unsure what that really means.
Interesting.. ask them which mint they ship them to.. LOL They might ship them to a federal reserve bank, but not to the mint. I think they might ship damaged coins back to the mint for destruction. Maybe they want to ship all those coins back so they can be destroyed.
OK, here is the argument to present to them. Ask if it costs them money to ship those coins "back to the mint" Then explain how you will be helping the bottom line by taking those coins off their hands and saving them all those shipping costs. Savings to the bottom line benefit all the members of your CU. They may be just repeating what they have been told. You need to talk to someone higher up the ladder at the Credit Union.
Ask that new bank if you can get their bagged pennies from the machine. First run through the Ryedale will tell you if you have competition.
If your percentages are low.. just sort more.
"Preserving REAL coinage.. 2 tons at a time"
HoardCode0.1:M49/15USCA:US1Cu695300(150000 Reserved):US5Ni9500:CA5Ni1150 |
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MaDeuce
Penny Pincher Member
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 18:34:26
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Creekrat,
Whoever you are talking to at the CU has not a clue. But you already knew that...
I can guarantee you that no CU is rolling their own coins. Even VERY large banks outsource that now. A super low bargain basement price for getting coin rolled would be $0.06/roll. And I bet that Brinks would charge more (see note below for unrelated comment).
The pitch to the branch manager is that you will buy their pennies (or whatever) at face value. In so doing, they save (in the case of pennies) 12% of the cost of the deposit ($0.12 to roll two rolls of coins with $1.00 value). But, bank managers are not known for innovation and risk taking (apologies if any are on this list), so I'd be surprised if they bite.
Now, about that unrelated comment...
What I have discovered in the past six months is that coin processing, in general, has many layers of lies (or, perhaps more generously, "marketing spin") vis-a-vis the banks. I have been dealing with one of the top three largest banks in the nation. They claim to have a "coin vault." Their "vault" even has a street address. However, in reality, they have no such thing. Even their employees don't know this.
This bank's "coin vault" is outsourced to Brinks. And they are not alone -- Brinks operates the "coin vault" for a number of large banks. So, when I order coins from Bank A's coin vault, they actually come from Brinks. When I send coins back to the coin vault, they go back to Brinks.
But wait, there's another layer of obfuscation! I send my rejected coins back to Brinks so that they can get rolled and subsequently deposited. Brinks tells me that they have a massive coin processing system that will quickly and safely roll my coins and deposit them. If this is the case, why does it take as long as a week for the coin deposit to show up in my bank account? I'll tell you why... Brinks doesn't own a fricking single piece of coin processing equipment! Brinks outsources the coin processing to a "service provider."
Now, back to your CU... There's no way your CU does their own coin rolling. They outsource it to Brinks (or whoever). And I'll bet you a six-pack that Brinks (or whoever) doesn't do their own rolling -- they outsource it to someone else. This is why I say that $0.06 is most likely the lowest amount they can pay for rolling. It could easily be more.
Good luck on your negotiations.
MaDeuce |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 08/31/2007 : 20:12:54
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That certainly makes sense MaDeuce. That must be why most coins obtained from BofA or Wells Fargo come in our favorite packaging known affectionately as "Brinks wraps" or coin condoms.
The other good thing is that if we use one of these banks as our dump bank, because of the multiple layers of outsourcing and the time delays there is very little chance of getting your own zinc back on your next delivery.
I believe you once mentioned you were looking into becoming a "service provider." Can you share your experiences in that area?
If your percentages are low.. just sort more.
"Preserving REAL coinage.. 2 tons at a time"
HoardCode0.1:M49/15USCA:US1Cu698250(150000 Reserved):US5Ni9500:CA5Ni1150 |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 09/01/2007 : 22:04:55
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Guess I overloaded my dump bank this week. I need to come up with some plans to spread my action out a little bit since I am going to have a pile of zinc to dispose of next week.
If your percentages are low.. just sort more.
"Preserving REAL coinage.. 2 tons at a time"
HoardCode0.1:M49/15USCA:US1Cu700250(150000 Reserved):US1Zi150000:US5Ni9500:CA5Ni1150 |
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cyberdan
Penny Collector Member
USA
289 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2007 : 16:18:35
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quote:
Originally posted by MaDeuce
I have been dealing with one of the top three largest banks in the nation. They claim to have a "coin vault." Their "vault" even has a street address. However, in reality, they have no such thing. Even their employees don't know this.
This bank's "coin vault" is outsourced to Brinks. And they are not alone -- Brinks operates the "coin vault" for a number of large banks. So, when I order coins from Bank A's coin vault, they actually come from Brinks.
I have first hand knowledge of the BofA bank vault. I have even seen one of the ones in Los Angeles county. MaDeuce you are right. I ordered a bag and a half of IKE dollars last summer and offered to pick them up directly from the source, an armored car service (not brinks) I wanted to see the inner workings of their operation. It is in an industrial neighborhood in a normal looking factory type building. But once inside all the walls and halls are iron clad. After I counted the $$$, (almost 1400) and paid for them I asked the guy in charge for a tour. He took me to a few places of interest. One of those places is a large indoor garage for the trucks to load and unload. In one corner was a chain link enclosed area that had some pallets or boxes covered with cloth or canvis. I asked about that area he said it was their "Bank of america vault"  I wonder if the next two boxes of halves that I got were sitting right on top. I really wanted to see the half dollar skid to see how old looking the bottom boxes were.  |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 19:30:16
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Interesting. I had thought it might work something like that. When I order pennies from Bank of America or Wells Fargo they come in those plastic Brinks-wrap tubes.. so both banks may be using the same coin servicer as their "cental vault." Another interesting thing is when I see the truck pull up to deliver my coins at BofA every Friday it is a Bank of the West Armored truck. I suppose if I start ordering from my Bank of the West branch they will come on the same truck, from the same original source and I assume they would be wrapped the same and have the same percentage copper. I will have to try that and see. I am curious how it all works, but I am happy as long as they get me lots of pennies, they get delivered on time, and they never mention the "F" word.
If your percentages are low.. just sort more.
"Preserving REAL coinage.. 2 tons at a time... and FAKE coinage.. a quarter ton at a time.. just for speculation"
HoardCode0.1:M49/15USCA:US1Cu675600(60000 Reserved):US1Zi150000:US5Ni9500:CA5Ni1150 |
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jello_g
Penny Sorter Member
Canada
41 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2007 : 21:36:20
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| What are the best options for dumping unneeded coin in Canada? |
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Zinc Dumpster Information
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