What characteristics make up your best CRH banks?

[DaytonaRacer]

I've been to all types of banks in my area, and maybe it's because I'm in a populous area of NJ and others have struck before me, but I've never found anything other than clad Halves and non-proof Ikes. And far too often I hear about someone whose father had collected and they were just cashing in that collection now that he's passed (all dumps obviously). So me being a bit OCD I began trying to analyze what makes 1 bank better than another for hunting.

I can order boxes from my main national bank and coinLoks from my credit union. But beyond that I have yet to "crack the code". Maybe you all could help me with some analysis. Do you find rural area banks better than suburbs or cities? Small chains vs. nationals vs. local credit unions? Those with "bankers hours" (ie - BoA) vs. those with more customer-friendly hours (ie - TDBank)? Those that have coin counters (meaning they sell MWR) vs. those that only take deposits via CWR?

Thanks.

 

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[Codes]

I have two pickup banks: both of them are of a small regional banking company. One branch is a small bank in a small town that has Brinks boxes. The other is the main branch of the company and they have their own wrapping machine and there seems to be no limit to the number of boxes they have on hand. They actually seem happy to get rid of their coin boxes because they're always offering me an extra box (which I usually can't take due to my small CRH budget).

As far as dump banks, I have an account at a nationwide banking company which happens to have about 6-8 branches in my immediate area. That means I typically don't dump at the same branch more than once a month. Long enough for them to remember me but also long enough that they forget how much volume I cash in.

 

[CoinFetcher]

I want to say a bank a little off of the beaten path is my preferred bank.

I also like the bank right in the middle of everything.

I like it when the tellers are NOT little old ladies. I want young foreign women. They know less about coins, and give me silver! Althought, sometimes they do snipe. Had a teller the other day with about 2.00 face of silver in her tray. I asked for it, but she collected it. I'm happy for her.

From my experience small town banks normally do not put out. Also, they can somtimes be pushy about getting an account. Or just not sell you any coins without a membership in their 12 branch company.

The banks inside Stores do okay. like a Fred Meyer with a chase bank in it.

National chains put out well. chase, BOA, us bank.

Or, How about this. The bank I perfer has no line. OR, the bank I perfer has all the tellers on duty when I show up.

I am interested to see what other folks say.

 

[fish on!]

I haven't had a huge teller/cwr score yet, but I have had plenty of nice little scores. (ie, one time was 3x'64 kennedy's from a teller tray, another time a 64 and 8 or 9 40%'ers from a teller tray). I have heard on here to look in areas that have older people living in it etc. I've put a lot of thought into road tripping for teller tray scores and I have been on a lot of them (more unsuccessful than successful).

I think to find silver in a teller tray there has to be a perfect alignment of a few factors:

- I think all areas have some silver turned into tellers on occasion. I would bet that some areas have a higher frequency with which silver ends up in teller trays. For this portion of the puzzle, I seem to find more silver in trays of suburbs that border cities. These areas are lower middle class-middle class. I almost never find silver in the cities, both the city centers and the surrounding parts of the cities. I occasionally find silver in upper class areas, but it is rarer than in the lower middle class - middle class areas. I also infrequently find silver in truly rural areas (I think this has more to do with volume of customers more than anything else).

- You also have to find areas that are not pounded to death by other hunters. If I am asking for halves at a bank where 5 other guys ask for halves every week then my odds of getting silver are much lower than elsewhere. I think this is a small part of the "city" problem. The other part being that tellers in the city seem to snipe more frequently. I will say that my best teller tray score banks are not rural, but they are a little isolated from other banks (not major commercial areas).

-sniping tellers: The most critical part of teller tray finds are finding banks that do not have sniping tellers. I think most banks have sniping tellers. A key factor here is the size of the branch. If you compare a branch with 15 tellers to a branch with two or three tellers, the one with 15 tellers is MUCH more likely to have a teller that is sniping the silver from all the others' trays. Additionally, if I am at a branch that has halves and the teller looks down at them carefully before handing them to me then I know I am wasting my time every going back to that branch. I know a lot of members here get mad about sniping tellers. I do not. I'm actually grateful when a teller gives me a visual or verbal cue that he/she is a sniper. This hobby is about time invested and that teller just helped me not waste future time. Sniping tellers are a part of this game and I can't blame them for doing it because I would do the same thing. Now on the other hand, any bank that I have found silver at becomes a regular stop because that is an indication that this bank has all the stars aligned and I am likely to find silver there again. I never stop at these banks more than once every 3-4 weeks though. In my opinion, any more frequently is just likely to start conversation amongst the tellers about what I am doing and that leads to the possibility of a new sniper being created.

I will not say much about teller demographics because I really don't think it has much to do with it. The most detailed conversation that a teller ever started with me about silver was started by a foreign-born teller. Also, in my area there is a large part of the city that is populated by foreign-born people. The tellers at all the banks in this area are also foreigners. I rarely have luck at any of these banks. I have however found silver in the trays of foreign-born tellers. The same goes both ways for younger female tellers. As it also does for younger male tellers. And again, I have gotten silver/found snipers amongst the "little old lady" tellers. I would say that the bulk of my teller tray finds come from the "little old lady" type tellers, but I think that is simply a function of most tellers I encounter being the "little old lady" type tellers. Do you see where I am going with this? Of all the things I over-analyze about scoring silver from teller trays, teller demographics is not one of them.

Sorry for the long post, but I will close with this: Of all the hundreds (actually probably thousands) of banks that I have asked for halves at, I would say 80-90% of my teller tray finds have come from the same 6-8 banks that are in two distinct areas that are less than a mile long. I don't think I have asked for halves at any one of these banks more than two or three times each, but I do keep finding silver at them when I stop by these areas. There is a pattern to these areas and banks. The above is what I see as that pattern. They are not too rich, not too poor, not too rural, not too urban, somewhat isolated in location, but not off the beaten path, but most importantly they don't have sniping tellers and they don't have other hunters.

 

[TimZim]

I would say move to pa the boxes there are full of silver and they take all the dumps you can give them?? It easy make friends and talk about there personal lives there cool with that. And will bend over backwards for you. Its just that easy. I do it now with everything. Be nice!!

 

[fish on!]

I would say move to pa the boxes there are full of silver and they take all the dumps you can give them?? It easy make friends and talk about there personal lives there cool with that. And will bend over backwards for you. Its just that easy. I do it now with everything. Be nice!!

HAHAHA!!!! I say the the opposite. Move to Jersey. That's where all the silver is!!!!!

Speaking of road trips, I did one yesterday in your dumping grounds and found a lone 40% in a tray and a silver quarter in a reject tube.

I think I dumped $100 in halves at one of your dump banks because the teller was going on and on about a guy that constantly brings in bags of halves. LOL.

I'm testing a new theory to see if it ups the silver in boxes. I dumped just enough halves to trigger a bag change at 10-15 branches of a bank that uses my supply armored car service. I call this new theory the "cleaning the silver out of the counter" method. I'm curious to see if it does anything beneficial to my boxes next week.

 

[fish on!]

I forgot a couple things about road tripping:

One that should go without saying: I very rarely (but have occasionally) found silver at banks that have coin counters. If you have a long road trip ahead of you, skipping banks that definitely have coin counters might be a good move.

I also think that boxes and teller trays are two different distribution routes that probably don't overlap too often. If a teller gets under $100 in halves, I don't think those will end up in boxes. At least not anytime soon. That's why I order boxes AND go on road trips.

Sticking with the separate distribution route theories, my box orders/hunts are profitable. Not extremely profitable, but I take in more in silver value than I burn in gas and time picking up and dumping. My teller tray scores/road trips are absolutely not profitable at all. I definitely, without a doubt spend more money in gas and time on road trips than I will ever find in silver from CWR/teller trays. I still do road trips, but it is completely about the thrill of the hunt. Maybe one day I will hit that big score from a dusty box that has been in a random banks vault for two decades. That's what keeps me road-tripping. It's probably not going to happen, but the thrill of the hunt is what I enjoy.

 

[Bad Wolf]

I still do road trips, but it is completely about the thrill of the hunt. Maybe one day I will hit that big score from a dusty box that has been in a random banks vault for two decades. That's what keeps me road-tripping. It's probably not going to happen, but the thrill of the hunt is what I enjoy.

Well said.

 

[Golden Eagle]

I wrote about it on my blog in the past but since crh is all a numbers game, the best CRH bank is the closest one that doesn't charge when you pick up and doesn't have a sniping teller. Otherwise, they are all pretty much random luck.

 

[TimZim]

crh is fun and away to find some silver for face BUT I SAY BUY BUY BUY!!! Its so low right now if you have any extra cash don't wait go for it. Am going to buy a few 100oz every few weeks untill it goes up some!!

 

[DaytonaRacer]

Thanks, guys. The comment on searching banks that don't have coin counters is one I need to put into practice more. I have managed to find more halves at those types of banks (though all clad) and never really thought about it.

I'm wondering if banks in downtown suburban middleclass neighborhoods are better if parking spots are at a premium around the bank, as opposed to banks with their own lots. There's a bank like this in downtown Somerville that I passed yesterday but it was starting to rain and there were no open spots on the street so I kept going. The more difficult it is to get to the bank the less likely it would have been hunted recently - right?

 

[sagittarius98]

The more difficult it is to get to the bank the less likely it would have been hunted recently - right?

The problem is that older people will not want to/have the ability to walk far to the bank, decreasing the chance of a large collection dump of a late husband or wife who hoarded silver since the 60s.