not sure if I got shorted on dimes

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I just got a bag of dimes and a bag of quarters. Before I had mentioned to Dozer that the dimes seem lighter than the quarters and halves. Today I weighed them, the dimes are 28 pounds and the quarters 50 pounds.

Doesn't look like 10k dimes. I am going to keep them in separate cans so when I return them I get a good count.

The bag seems to be about 2/3 the volume of the quarters, but the machine said it was full...

 

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[Dozer D]

Hope you are not SHORT, it will be hard to prove otherwise. Good luck, and yes, a full $1000/bag should be heavy, since it is an equivalent to 4-boxes. Just a quick test, if you have an unchecked box of dimes laying around, take all the rolls out and weigh them in mass = x lbs., then times 4, should give you a close weight factor of what 4-boxes ($1000) should be. I haven't had a bag of quarters lately, but I would think that it would be a little heavier than a bag of dimes.

Just rechecked numbers for you, but...each bag is $1000:
1-dime = 2.27 grams x 10000 coins in bag = 22,700 grams = 50.0449 lbs
Verses
1-quarter = 5.67 grams x 4000 coins in bag = 22,680 grams = 50.0008 lbs
So, technically each bag should both weigh the same, 20 gram diff.


Ben: looking at the text book numbers, I THINK YOU GOT SHORTED.

 

[TxAg]

Yep, I agree with Dozer. I weighed my last bag of dimes and quarters. Each weighed 50 Lbs on my digital bath scale. Ben, if you haven’t opened the dime bag, I would return for a hassle free refund. Otherwise, if you open it then complain you might not win the argument that will ensue. Somebody got cheated....

 

[Diver_Down]

Yep, I agree with Dozer. I weighed my last bag of dimes and quarters. Each weighed 50 Lbs on my digital bath scale. Ben, if you haven’t opened the dime bag, I would return for a hassle free refund. Otherwise, if you open it then complain you might not win the argument that will ensue. Somebody got cheated....

To add to TxAg point -

If it is still sealed, you have a valid complaint that should be easily rectified. If you had already opened it, then eat the loss. Making a complaint over something that you can't prove will get your bag buying privileges revoked. Sucks to eat such a large loss, but that is the name of the game. Next time, you now know that the bag should weigh 50lbs. Even though you can't weigh it at the bank, you certainly can tell the difference by lifting.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I opened it and yes I would eat the loss, at the same time the last bag that was $1000 also felt like it weighed less. I had made the comment in a previous post. Where it is 28 pounds, that could be a $500 loss.

As I go through them I will keep them separated so I know how much I got. If it is short it will be a tough lesson, but I can also help the bank by the next time I get dimes look at the bag before they seal it and can question the number. I would assume it would mean that someone took a bag of early and didn't reset the counter as I saw the display and it full up

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

multiplied 2.27 x 10000 and it should be 50 pounds, mine comes out to about 28 pounds or about 5500 so I probably shorted by about $450, ouch.

I wonder if even when I saw the counter saying it was full if she pulled the wrong bag. And I wonder if they have reports they can pull on the counter so they could tell that the bag got changed at $550 rather than $1000

OR since this is about the only bank out of the 20 I have tried in my area with counters that will sell bags, do I just eat the $450 and not mention it to them or ask them about it but tell that it was my mistake and I just didn't want them to get into trouble if they do an audit...

 

[GlenDronach]

As soon as you complain you will not be getting any more bags, and it might be all branches.

Banks near me used to sell bags off machines and now don't because of this.

Figure out now if you want to maybe get the money back, or not get any more coins.

 

[Spizzerinctum]

I think I would tell them I appreciate them allowing me to purchase bags and that I realize they may not always be accurate. I consider it to be a cost of doing business if I am shorted. Then let them know you suspect the dimes to be way off and if they could check into it. Btw this is why I don't do dimes very much.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Since they have two bags of dimes and the person getting the bag off the machine, it wasn't in the vault but still on the machine, I think they grabbed the wrong bag. She didn't even know how to open the latch on the door of the slot holding the bag and I had to tell her how to close the machine.
I think it was an honest mistake, just grabbed the wrong bag. Their pennies and Quarters had two full bags also but since I was only getting the dimes she ignored those.

At this point (Sunday) I am thinking I will talk to the manager as to whether the machine has reports for audits as if it does and one of the things they do is as they sell me a bag they log it into the vault and then buy it from the vault to keep; track of every dime (no pun intended) so an audit would show a $450 difference. This would actually help them form being out of balnance, my thought.

I started getting a few bags there while waiting for their halves to fill, in 6 months they have gotten 311 halves, none in the last month, the manager thinks it will be about 1 1/2 to 2 years before it fills.

What if they cut me off from bags, well $450 is 4,500 dimes at 10x face. based on the number of dimes I have gotten about 2 every bag, allowing 1 bag a week, that will be about 2500 weeks or about 48 years! lets say the average is 10 coins per bag which I still think is high as that is 2.5 dimes per box, but would be a good average that is still 7 years until I break even ( or could buy 90 - 90% halves).

iF the bag had been in the vault then it would be a short change, where she grabbed it out of the machine I think it was an error. I am going to talk to manager but will tell her I don't want to get anyone in trouble and will eat the money if they would, but that they may have an issue with an audit and that I think it was an honest mistake.
At the same time if the machine doesn't keep records, i.e. once it fills a bag and shows it on the display and it resets the green bar chart to zero there is no record of how many bags and how full they are then I will just drop it.
But again, I can't believe it would do that since it wouild be very easy for an employee to steal from the machine by fishing out coins before they seal the bag and reporting it as less than it was.

I would think there have to be controls in place to tell them or an auditor what has been counted by the machine for each bag.

 

[engine823]

Keep us updated on this. I agree $450 is a lot. Sometimes I get shorted a few dollars between what I pick up at a bank and then what the dump banks coin counter shows when I return them. I agree in those instances you just deal with it and smile, but $450 is way more than I could afford to eat. I wouldnt make a huge deal of it. Like you said just go in with the attitude it was a honest mistake and try to work it out with them.
Fortunately my bank is a small town bank and I'm friendly with the tellers.
Good Luck
PS
A few months ago I cashed in some coins at my friendly bank and when they paid me for them it seemed like it was way to much, I stated immediately it seemed high but they assured me it was correct. Later that night when they were balancing their books they realized they had indeed paid me to much and called me at home.
I gave them permission to take it out of my account immediately to be able to balance their books so they could go home and they were very thankful. Got some good people at my bank.
I'm sure they probably realized something was a miss at your bank too when they started crunching the numbers at the end of the day

 

[GlenDronach]

Fine, if that's what you want to do, you run the full risk of not getting any more bags. You're in charge of yourself, do what you think is best.

I shut my mouth when I do really well, and do really poorly, and I'm still doing this. Whenever I've opened my mouth in the past, it has done nothing but work against me. I've been cut off on boxes, bags, and banks more often when I've raised an issue. It's no longer worth it.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I appreciate the advice and gave it a long hard thinking over, but the chance to get back $450 when I am starting Social Security in 3 months, well to me that is alot of money to throw away, for very little reward for eating it.

but my last 5 quarter bags from that branch have been skunks, they get them from a laundromat that I think skims the silver and the 4 dime bags have average 1 dime per bag from there, 2 bags had a whopping 2 dimes. at that rate as I mentioned it would take 48 years to recoup the $450 dollars, not worth worrying about loosing the contact.

The main thing I was watching there were the halves and they are getting about 50 dumped in the bag a month, and there are 1800 more to go, that is 3 years, which ties in with what they told me the last time they changed the bag. to get that bag I dumped in $500 of halves to fill the bag and then searched it and found my first cameo proof Franklin and 3 other 90% (nothing else).

I am going to talk to them that she might have pulled the wrong bag and therefore their totals will be $450 off. I will do it as a service to them, then they can decide what to do. I have to believe that the totals run through the machine need to match the totals they put in the vault and then money they get from them.

I mainly do boxes of halves that I get from 4 other banks closer to my home. If they cut me off from bags well then I will get another dump bank, I need more of them.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Fine, if that's what you want to do, you run the full risk of not getting any more bags. You're in charge of yourself, do what you think is best.

I shut my mouth when I do really well, and do really poorly, and I'm still doing this. Whenever I've opened my mouth in the past, it has done nothing but work against me. I've been cut off on boxes, bags, and banks more often when I've raised an issue. It's no longer worth it.

How much dollarwise have you been shorted? sort of curious

to me $20 or even $50 would be the cost of doing business but $450.00 that is to much. Being that I have gotten 4 dimes from all the bags from that bank making it $150 per dime it won't affect me that much losing that bank for bags.

 

[FormerTeller]

Best way to tackle the problem is to speak with the manager, and take the attitude that you aren't complaining, but that their totals might be off by $450 and you want to know if they can look into it. That much off will throw up a red flag, and they'll want to get it sorted out. Let them know you understand if there's nothing they can do, and that you're prepared to eat the loss and how much you appreciate being allowed to buy bags off the machine, just that you wanted them to know what you think happened.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

FormerTeller
You nailed it that is exactly what I am going to do, I will also let them know I don't want anyone disciplined or money taken from a teller I would rather eat it than someone how makes less than I do, it was an honest mistake that I should have caught myself by watching what she was doing but I was distracted.
I want to alert them so when a difference comes up in an audit they will know why and "maybe" I will get my money back, if not at least I will have been nice in dealing with them.

 

[fishnnut]

Reading this thread is the exact reason I quit going thru bags a few years ago. For the lone silver dime here and there I would find after getting shorted about every time I took the money back I soon figured out it was a losing deal. Fun to go thru them but when a silver dime is worth about 1.20 and ends up costing a guy 10 or 20 bucks from the shorting it just doesn’t pay in my opinion. Plus factor in the hassle of hauling them around and your time and gas it’s a losing deal..

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

fishnnut, sort of feel that way, but this was Masters weekend and I wanted coins to go through

 

[fishnnut]

Ya it does pass the time just not a moneymaker.. lol

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

It is like fishing, if you add up the time and the equipment, and gawd forbid you have a hole in the water you pour money into, I mean a boat, you are better off buying fish at the store but it is enjoyable and when you find/catch something it is a thrill

took the dimes to a local dump bank, $551 out of $1000.

 

[fishnnut]

Wow that had to hurt.... that’s why they call them banksters.... ha ha ya most hobbies are just for fun and huntin and fishin probably would be cheaper to buy steaks and fish at the store. Ya know what boat stands for right? Break out another thousand...lol