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Castrensis
New Member
6 Posts |
 Posted - 02/10/2010 : 17:28:52
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So, being a relative noob to copper collecting I've already learned some valuable lessons, but want some advice from the old pros so I can avoid any more hard-learned lessons.
I started hand sorting with a small digital scale about a week ago, sorting ~$200 so far. My bank & tellers have been quite nice about it but it is a small community bank & they're reluctant to dole out more than one box of pennies at a time. I thought the perfect solution to this was to just hit a couple extra banks & exchange my FRNs for cents -- not so much. My worst experience was at another community bank where I explained what I was looking for & requested a box of pennies. I was told in no uncertain terms that they would only consider fulfilling my request if I was a customer of their bank. With much kindness I convinced the teller to hand over $5 in cents only to have her hand me new rolls of LP4s. Meh.
Every bank in the area has entertained my penny requests precisely once & now everyone refuses to give me pennies save for the bank where I do business. Anyone have suggestions as to how I can acquire more pennies with less grief? I've briefly considered opening a saving account at each of the banks so I can legitimately claim to be a customer, which most seem to require to exchange my paper for metal.
Being able to acquire pennies elsewhere is particularly important in my situation because my bank allows me to use their coin counter without taking a cut of my change but the tellers then re-roll the pennies & use them at their two branches. As a result I'll just keep getting back the pennies that I dump. Although the tellers have been quite nice so far I can also see that rerolling all my sorted pennies is going to wear on my good standing pretty quickly. I've already ordered a case of wrappers & a tube for quick counting so I can return them in a less labor intensive form!
Succintly, how & where do you folks go about getting pennies? Anyone opened multiple accounts to ensure teller cooperation? Do you re-roll your pennies? I'm addicted to sorting but don't want to torture the banks & their tellers until I become their own personal nightmare. Anything else I should know so I don't get banned by my local banks?
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Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms. AL III:17 |
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toomuchcopper
Penny Collector Member
USA
406 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 17:53:32
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Multiple accounts is a must. You can open accounts for free at most banks. Open accounts at banks with multiple branches so that one account gives you multiple offices to buy at. Stop buying at your main bank and use that as your dump bank as the dump is always the hardest and if they have the free coin counter that makes for a great dump bank.
When looking for new banks to open accounts at, try and find ones with coin counters, if you do, you may be able to buy bags rather than boxes. Bags, if you can find them are the way to go. good luck. |
visit www.crazycoinguy.com
for information on how to sort, what to sort, and sorting equipment. We also sell copper pennies in bulk, and other coins. |
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Mcprice302
Penny Collector Member
USA
404 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 17:54:48
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Yeah, stop returning coin back to where you got them from IMMEDIATELY! It's either a source or a dump bank, but never both.
I've never had a problem getting the coins, but dumping requires some work for me. I think it's safe to assume that most every member here has multiple accounts soley for the purpose of CRHing. It's the only way to have longevity in this game.
Always smile and be polite. Try not to go in the banks during peak hours (lunch time, Fridays) if at all possible. Thank them often and let them know that you appreciate them and not just what they do for you. If you find a spot where they take real good care of you, an occasional gift of chocolates is a good way to keep the ball rolling. I dont re-roll cents and 99% of the time dont re-roll halves either. Find another credit union or bank with a coin counter in their lobby and set up an account with them. That should be your first extra account in my opinion. I'm sure others will have some more to add.
Oh yeah, Welcome to RC, glad to have you! |
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dakota1955
1000+ Penny Miser Member
2212 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 18:41:49
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| You will need to open more accounts. Get coin from all the places that you can and dump where you can get coins, put them back in for deposit. Then draw the money back out. It does take time to get it all work out and then the bank will change the rules. And also welcome to the fourm and alway be willing to ask questions. |
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psi
Penny Collector Member
Canada
399 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 18:59:08
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| Buying without an account is possible but your odds may be better if you ask for less initially. Having an account at a bank makes it easier though obviously. |
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slickeast
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2533 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 19:08:06
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Ask for the customer wrapped rolls. Most banks want to get rid of these.
Multiple banks accounts is pretty much standard. You will have to use one as a source and one to dump at.
Welcome aboard and ask as many questions as you want. |
You don't have to be the BEST you just have to be.......SLICK
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marine70
Penny Pincher Member
USA
150 Posts |
Posted - 02/10/2010 : 20:26:19
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| Always be nice to the tellers they are just doing their jobs. |
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Castrensis
New Member
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 01:54:39
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Thanks for the tips, folks! The local Chase teller offered to order more boxes for me. Given that she's the only person to offer so far & they have a coin counter at one of their branches in town, seems like I'll be opening an account there first!
RE: customer wrapped rolls, I cruised through the a local drive-thru bank-hut & tested the water asking for $5 in customer wrapped coin. The tellers were surprisingly nice but handed over rolls with big blue X's on them. It appears I'm not the only game in town because these rolls didn't have a single penny pre-1980, a small mercy because otherwise I would have been skunked. This is quite clearly some other guy's dump bank, so I'll cross it off my list of possible pick-ups.
Gifts seems like a good idea to keep teller opinion in my favor, but I certainly don't want to become the creepy penny guy who tries to pick up bank tellers. I considered tossing 5% every now & again to the gal who empties my coin into the bank's dreadfully slow coin counter &, I assume, has to rewrap them as well - two of the three other coin counters in town charge 10% (!!) so I definitely want to preserve my good standing at my bank!
Thanks again for the advice, hopefully I'll stop embarrassing myself around town! |
Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms. AL III:17 |
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Castrensis
New Member
6 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 02:40:54
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I was thinking on having received some other guy's dumps & wondered if there's a penny sorting registry so we can find others near us & coordinate pick-ups & dumps.
Platial (formerly Frappr) offers the ability to make a map with digital pushpins to catalog sorter locations. I just made a quick map as an example, You must be logged in to see this link. .
Thought on avoiding picking up other people's dumps? |
Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms. AL III:17 |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 02:48:16
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I friendly box of chocolates goes a long way. I've "deposited" a coin box full of chocolate coins a couple times. It was a big hit. As others said, multiple accounts is key to success. I think I've got about a dozen accounts and relationships with banks and credit unions in two countries. Not all savings accounts either. For a while I was dumping against a bank issued Mastercard at a bank where that was the extent of my relationship. Recently I opened a savings account and designated a large national bank as my exclusive dump bank. Now everywhere else (including branches I don't dump at) is fair game for buying.
I developed the banking relationships for my real estate business but they really help with coins too.
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“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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knibloe
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1066 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 06:09:47
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The only thing that I can add to the above is that the new LP4's carry some premium now. You could list them on ebay. Look it up. You might want to go back and buy more.
Also, I don't think that you can tip the teller 5%. Chocolates is the way to go. I don't think that any of the tellers that I do it with think that I am trying to pick them up.
Smile, smile, smile. It goes a long way. |
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garnede
Penny Collector Member
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 12:31:07
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| If the bank is rolling the coins they probably have a machine for doing it. So it is not as hard/time consuming for those tellers as you think. |
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toomuchcopper
Penny Collector Member
USA
406 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 16:06:18
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I like the map idea, I think that would be very interesting to see. If we could get a trusted member to make one of these up I would be willing to give location information.....probably not bank dumping and pickup location.
It would be interesting to cross reference this with the sorting percentages map by region and see if the number of sorters per region corresponds to lower percentages within that region.... |
visit www.crazycoinguy.com
for information on how to sort, what to sort, and sorting equipment. We also sell copper pennies in bulk, and other coins. |
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CoastalEdge
New Member
USA
20 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 20:13:27
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| Hello everyone! I'm a new member and this is my first post. Living in a somewhat metropolitan area, I have no problem getting $25 boxes of cents. I have gone into banks that I am not a customer of and they have had no problem giving me a box or 2 if requested. I have learned however though, that I need to go to banks that are on major roads near commercial/retail stores, and not banks that are in "bedroom" communities as they rarely have a box available and to get any quantity the one teller has to buy rolls from the other tellers to get to the $20-25 face value of cents. Hope this info helps! |
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garnede
Penny Collector Member
USA
386 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 21:00:17
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| Coastaledge that is good advice, but sometimes those small branches can be very helpful. I went into one this week and ended up getting some good stuff to sort and I got them to order me $1000 in half dollars. |
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kirkland
New Member
USA
0 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 21:06:18
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Welcome to RealCent, CoastalEdge! Yes, I agree with garnede, small community branches are great because they are less busy and more willing to take the time to help you get your coins. Plus, they usually have the best coins! My 9 Indian Heads in two boxes came from a small branch of Wells Fargo, my rolls with solid and almost solid copper came from a small bank, and the best percentages of Wheat Pennies come from small branches too. Enjoy!
Kirkland  |
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snappy
Penny Collector Member
USA
301 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 21:57:55
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| don't carry more then you think you can handle in each trip out of the bank. And carry less then you think you can if the ground has ice or you have intestinal problems, could cause some embarrassing situations. lock doors when making more then one trip, place coins out of site. |
Selling Ryedale sorted USA cents
1.5 each + shipping over 500fv 1.5 each +1/2 shipping
If you pick up 1.35 each
located MT/ND boarder.
after Ryedale sorting they are hand sorted to remove canadian then rechecked with Ryedale to insure all copper and count out $50 FV then placed in cloth bags and sealed with #1 copper wire. |
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kirkland
New Member
USA
0 Posts |
Posted - 02/11/2010 : 22:00:46
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| Correct, snappy. I usually only get one box a trip or even just some loose rolls because it's nice to avoid struggling out the door with multiple boxes. |
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Dos & Don'ts of Penny Sorting
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