2nd bag back w/ moral dilemma

Rosco53

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2nd bag back and I found a 2009 dump: 191 cents. Also pulled 13 wheats (oldest was 1939) and 3 canadians. Also pulled a JFK punch, always fun to find. Now for the dilemma: first bag I found 16 dimes. This one I found 80 and a nickel. I'm up $8.58, but if this trend continues, think I should probably let my bank know... Onto #3!
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In all honesty, I don't believe I would say diddly to the bank, as I doubt they would have a clue as to how the coins got mixed.
 

In all honesty, I don't believe I would say diddly to the bank, as I doubt they would have a clue as to how the coins got mixed.
I totally agree.

Sleep tight guy your moral compass is intact... Just let it go like DD said.
 

Whenever I get bags off the counter, if there appears to be an inordinate number of any other denomination, I let the employee know that their service technician should address the issue. This attitude and action is appreciated and frequently gets me “in the door” at other branches of the same bank or credit union.

Time for more coffee.
 

So yeah, after 4 bags, $20 in dimes. Nice little bonus, but I'm gonna let them know.
 

This is a tough one, as I am completely with you as it relates to the moral issue of telling them that their counter is off. However, given that it is not large amounts of money, and as MIhunter said above (coin counters aren't perfect), I would let sleeping dogs lie. If it turns out where you were getting many more dimes in a bag, then I would say something.

If you say something, you run the risk that they shut you off from buying bags off their machine (they can't guarantee the accuracy of what they sell you), and worse, maybe they shut all the machines like TD did in 2016.

just my opinion
 

This is a tough one, as I am completely with you as it relates to the moral issue of telling them that their counter is off. However, given that it is not large amounts of money, and as MIhunter said above (coin counters aren't perfect), I would let sleeping dogs lie. If it turns out where you were getting many more dimes in a bag, then I would say something.

If you say something, you run the risk that they shut you off from buying bags off their machine (they can't guarantee the accuracy of what they sell you), and worse, maybe they shut all the machines like TD did in 2016.

just my opinion
I bank through a small rural bank, next closest is over an hour away or so, and they only have the 1 coin machine. So I figure if its off by that much, telling them is not only the "right" thing to do, but as I'm just getting back into this will demonstrate that I'm trustworthy and someone they want to deal with moving forward. Its tempting to sit back and keep making $ doing so to offset what they want to charge me for bags, but already made $20 off this and that doesn't quite feel right.
 

I bank through a small rural bank, next closest is over an hour away or so, and they only have the 1 coin machine. So I figure if its off by that much, telling them is not only the "right" thing to do, but as I'm just getting back into this will demonstrate that I'm trustworthy and someone they want to deal with moving forward. Its tempting to sit back and keep making $ doing so to offset what they want to charge me for bags, but already made $20 off this and that doesn't quite feel right.
Ok I agree with you as that changes the calculus quite a bit.

I wasn't thinking about it from making a few bucks, as i agree, I don't think that is right. I was just thinking once you open some can of worms who knows what they do. However particularly given it's the only game in town, they must know you, and yeah you need them to know you are an honest person. So I would tell them what is happening. Hopefully it all works out for you.
 

So I figure if its off by that much, telling them is not only the "right" thing to do, but as I'm just getting back into this will demonstrate that I'm trustworthy and someone they want to deal with moving forward.

If that is where your moral compass is leading you, then FWIW I agree with your choice. Being true to oneself is far more important than a few bucks in dimes.
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Be aware, however, that oft times doers of good deeds are unfairly punished. No matter, really, as your honor and integrity are solid.
 

So yeah, after 4 bags, $20 in dimes. Nice little bonus, but I'm gonna let them know.
That would be the honest thing to do. :icon_thumleft:
 

The bank won't do anything about it. They are not the ones "short". When the people put their money in, if a dime went into the penny bag, they were credited with a penny. So the CUSTOMER is the one short. The bank credited one penny, sold it to you as one penny, and they are balanced. They have NO way of knowing which client did it, so they say congrats and keep the dime(s). Been there, done that. SO not a moral dilemma. Just a machine counting off and you happen to benefit. SOme unknown is the loswer, not the bank.
 

I wouldn't say anything, because there have been times where I've purchased bags of coins from the bank, and I have been shorted. I don't say anything because it's usually only a dollar here and a dollar there. It all averages out and If I go in there and tell them I have been shorted then they may stop selling me the bags.
 

So, cashed out the bags, 4 bags worth and I came out off by "short" by 4 cents. I had replaced all the cents I took out of them. Luckily, I had found the $20 in dimes and a nickel, so I was up $20.01. I did talk to the bank manager about the dimes as well last week when I asked about getting more coin. Didn't seem to matter though, as I just did another bag tonight and found, to quote Taggart, "A shit load of dimes". So did the right thing and am still making out like a bandit. Life is good :-D
 

No one at your bank branch has the knowledge, tools, or expertise to do much of anything with the coin counter other than change bags, basic cleaning, and clearing the occasional coin jam. For anything else, a qualified technician is required. It may, or may not, be the same tech that shows up for scheduled preventive maintenance.

The issue could be out of the local manager’s hands, once the report is made. Many banks and credit unions give locals as little authority as possible, preferring to have all maintenance issues run through centralized committees for approval and prioritization.

You have done your part by bringing it to their attention.
 

Although I haven't really done much CRH in probably close to 10 years now due to time limitations (mainly my other hobby taking all my time), I thought I would add my opinion as I think it may be relevant here.

When I used to buy bags off the coin machine, I tended to buy almost all bags the bank ever had (except quarters and small dollars) as I would stop by every week just before they were picked up to maximize the amount of bags purchased. As such, if the coin machine was off, the bank would have no way to know unless I told them as nothing was ever verified by another service. I didn't report every bag that was off as almost all of them were off slightly (sometimes up, sometimes down) due to miss-sorts, foreign coins, and junk that got counted as coins. As a result on average I would guess I was slightly short, but I figured that was just part of the cost of buying bags instead of rolls. However, I liked the bags as I felt they provided me with a wider selection of finds. That being said, I did tell the bank when bags were off by more than a certain amount when I would pick up the next week. My threshold was either $1 or $2 in a $50 cent bag in either direction, I forget which.

I always offered to pay them back any overages and always ate any shortages without complaint. They never accepted any payment for the overages as they only paid the customer cashing in the coins the amount in the bag. In other words if 20 dimes ($2) got cashed in 20 cents ($0.20), they only paid out $0.20. In other words the bank was not out money. That and there would not have been a way for them to account for why they were taking in the cash in their system. Typically, the main issue was with dimes getting sorted into the cent bags if I remember correctly and that was known to be something that was the first thing to need tuning by service techs. From my understanding of the system, typical coin machines require tuning every so often. Frequently when I reported a certain level of miscounting, the lead teller would tell me that they would have service in and usually by the next week it was back to more correct. While I didn't track it, it seemed to happen every few months, or perhaps it was after a certain amount of volume through the machine.

I guess my advice would be if you are buying all their bags all the time, I would definitely say something when off by some amount like a $1 or $2 or more in a cent bag as it will help build trust. If only buying the occasional bag here and there, it is still a good idea, but not as critical as they will probably catch the counting issue through their armored service.
 

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