Stopped to pick up a pizza on the way home and while it was being made I went next door to a Smith's to kill time and check out their Coinstar.
First thing I see is a guy with a shopping cart in front of the machine. That means a huge dump. As I get closer I see the guy is sorta homeless-looking, the cart has two 5-gallon plastic buckets and as I walk by I glance inside. Hoo boy...they're both about half full - one with nasty, corroded zincolns and the other with larger-sized coins, but also equally corroded and filthy.
I walk by a second time to get a better look, but at the same time trying not to spook the guy, and sure enough, chock full of messed up coinage. The guy notices me and I say "That looks like a whole year's worth!" to which he reponds "Yeah" in a guarded way and subtly pulls the cart closer to him. Ok, I get the hint, and I walk away, but still drooling at the contents of these buckets.
Now I've got a quandry. Should I make him an offer for everything he's got? But do I want this crud? Would it be worth it? Plus, negotiating might take some time, and I've got a pizza waiting for me in a few minutes. Picked up a 2 liter bottle of soda to go with my pizza and headed for the checkout and to see the progress of our coin hoarder. A store tech was helping him unjam the machine and she was clearly frustrated. But she got it working again and he commenced dumping.
I eventually decided to bail on him, because I wasn't sure how much to offer him. Was $100 too little? $500 too much? Plus while this might be a trove of fun hunting, the ROI probably wasn't there. I do wonder what was in there though...
What would you have done?
First thing I see is a guy with a shopping cart in front of the machine. That means a huge dump. As I get closer I see the guy is sorta homeless-looking, the cart has two 5-gallon plastic buckets and as I walk by I glance inside. Hoo boy...they're both about half full - one with nasty, corroded zincolns and the other with larger-sized coins, but also equally corroded and filthy.
I walk by a second time to get a better look, but at the same time trying not to spook the guy, and sure enough, chock full of messed up coinage. The guy notices me and I say "That looks like a whole year's worth!" to which he reponds "Yeah" in a guarded way and subtly pulls the cart closer to him. Ok, I get the hint, and I walk away, but still drooling at the contents of these buckets.
Now I've got a quandry. Should I make him an offer for everything he's got? But do I want this crud? Would it be worth it? Plus, negotiating might take some time, and I've got a pizza waiting for me in a few minutes. Picked up a 2 liter bottle of soda to go with my pizza and headed for the checkout and to see the progress of our coin hoarder. A store tech was helping him unjam the machine and she was clearly frustrated. But she got it working again and he commenced dumping.
I eventually decided to bail on him, because I wasn't sure how much to offer him. Was $100 too little? $500 too much? Plus while this might be a trove of fun hunting, the ROI probably wasn't there. I do wonder what was in there though...
What would you have done?
