Do you ever dump at retail stores?

[clovis97]

I've been spending/dumping some of the halves that I've gotten at some retail stores. I've had positive comments at all the places when I spend halves.

Do you ever spend halves at stores?

What is the most you will spend at one store on one transaction?

.50?
1.00?
10.00?
More?

 

[clovis97]

Another update for this thread:

A cashier at a local fast food place was amazed with the halves that I paid with...all $7 worth. I offered to pay with $10 worth of halves, instead of the $7, "so you can have them for your drawer. Just ring it in as if I had paid with a ten dollar bill".

As I was counting out the halves, he told me how cool they were, and that they were no longer made. We chatted for a moment, and I promised to bring him some 2010's when I found some.

When I went back for a drink refill, the cashier told me that he sold $5 of those halves to the next customer in line after me. "Oh, that leaves you with just a few. Do you want another $20 worth?"

I gladly sold him another $20 worth, which means that I'll have dumped $30 at retail tonight, and won't have to dump them in a machine tomorrow.

 

[clovis97]

Oh, and before I forget, I had to ship a Priority box today, and yes, I paid with halves. The post office teller is now in the habit of giving them back out in change!!!!! Since I do a bunch of shipping every day, and always pay in halves, this is GREAT news!!!!!

I also bought a $7 item for my business, and paid with halves.

Today at lunch, I spent $3 in halves, even though my bill was just $2.18. The young cashier rang it in as $3, and didn't think twice about handing my change back in quarters.

Total amount dumped at retail today:

Post office: $15
Lunch: $3
Business: $7
Kid's Night at local Fast food place: $30

Grand total: $55

Not having to dump another $55 in my hard-to-dump area: PRICELESS

 

[clovis97]

I went to an auction today, and as usual, I had a pocket full of halves.

Instead of getting in a bidding war with a gal that was buying some flower pots, I let her win the pots, and offered to buy the antique tools that were inside the pots.

We agreed on $1, so I handed her two halves.

"What are these?" she said, as if she had never seen a coin in her life.

"Those are half dollars. I've got a dollar bill if you would prefer that." I replied.

"No, no. I just haven't seen these since I was a kid. Where did you get them?" she said with a tone that I implied that was spending Morgan dollars.

"Oh, just the bank. They order them for me." I said.

Three minutes later, she was still standing in the middle of that yard, just staring at them, as if they held some sort of magical powers.

 

[clovis97]

I forgot to mention that I struck another deal with a different woman, and paid her $1 in halves too.

"My husband is going to be sooooo very excited to get these!!!!" she gleefully exclaimed.

Had I known she was going to be so enthusiastic, I would have offered her the $900+ in halves that I still need to dump.

 

[clovis97]

My wife and I have a flea market booth.

Today, we went to a thrift store to look for stuff to resell. Our total bill came to $58.

I paid in halves, and a woman in line behind us, kept saying "You ought to keep those. You shouldn't spend those coins. They are worth something." I smiled and nodded as we counted out 58 stacks of two coins for the cashier, who was still fumbling with the one of the rolls we had handed them.

As soon as we stepped away from the cash register, I turned around, and that woman was buying every half we spent.

Those clad Kennedy halves were worth 50 cents a piece to me, and to the thrift store, but they had far greater value to the woman who bought my entire dump!!!!!

 

[clovis97]

My wife and I were recently on a short vacation.

We went into a Five Guys restaurant, and paid in half dollars. The cashier abruptly left the register, went to the back, and summoned a woman in her fifties...who promptly bought all the halves we had tendered, plus another $20 worth of halves.

You would have thought that the woman had just won the lottery. It was pretty amazing how excited she was to get a bunch of clad halves!!!!

 

[That Canadian Guy]

I spend halfs every where i go.I have one pizza store that thinks there silver and takes 100 a week. I try to tell him there not, but he gives me free lunch and says i dont no what iam talking about.Overall most stores and people love to get them.The only time i ever had a problem was from a young casher who said she only deals with real money not foreign.

Some people these days.......

 

[clovis97]

Just the other day:

I stopped at the busiest gas station in town, and paid for $20 worth of gasoline, all in halves. The cashier was trying to hide her excitement about getting the halves.

She finally blushed a bit, and then blurted out, "I've gotta have those. I buy them for my 5 year old granddaughter."

While I understood her excitement about getting halves, I'm not convinced that the 'granddaughter' spiel had an ounce of truth to it. (You are going to give your 5 year old granddaughter over two hours worth of wages, just because some 'rare' coins came into the store?)

Even though there were 6 people in line behind me, the cashier immediately locked her cash drawer, walked to the in store ATM, and promptly withdrew $20 in cash.

As she walked around the counter, I tried to tell her "just buy them later out of your drawer..."

It was a bit odd to see the only cashier in the store close her line in order to withdraw cash from the ATM to buy my halves!!!!! Just looking at the faces of the people behind me in line, they thought it was odd too!!!

 

[AU24K]

Just the other day:

I stopped at the busiest gas station in town, and paid for $20 worth of gasoline, all in halves. The cashier was trying to hide her excitement about getting the halves.

She finally blushed a bit, and then blurted out, "I've gotta have those. I buy them for my 5 year old granddaughter."

While I understood her excitement about getting halves, I'm not convinced that the 'granddaughter' spiel had an ounce of truth to it. (You are going to give your 5 year old granddaughter over two hours worth of wages, just because some 'rare' coins came into the store?)

Even though there were 6 people in line behind me, the cashier immediately locked her cash drawer, walked to the in store ATM, and promptly withdrew $20 in cash.

As she walked around the counter, I tried to tell her "just buy them later out of your drawer..."

It was a bit odd to see the only cashier in the store close her line in order to withdraw cash from the ATM to buy my halves!!!!! Just looking at the faces of the people behind me in line, they thought it was odd too!!!

Pictures, y'all! We need pictures of these lucky recipients!

Best,
Scott

 

[db23]

I can't help but think of all of the cash back, points or mile rewards you're missing out on by not putting purchases on a rewards cc.

 

[ramjet2187]

Just the other day:

I stopped at the busiest gas station in town, and paid for $20 worth of gasoline, all in halves. The cashier was trying to hide her excitement about getting the halves.

She finally blushed a bit, and then blurted out, "I've gotta have those. I buy them for my 5 year old granddaughter."

While I understood her excitement about getting halves, I'm not convinced that the 'granddaughter' spiel had an ounce of truth to it. (You are going to give your 5 year old granddaughter over two hours worth of wages, just because some 'rare' coins came into the store?)

Even though there were 6 people in line behind me, the cashier immediately locked her cash drawer, walked to the in store ATM, and promptly withdrew $20 in cash.

As she walked around the counter, I tried to tell her "just buy them later out of your drawer..."

It was a bit odd to see the only cashier in the store close her line in order to withdraw cash from the ATM to buy my halves!!!!! Just looking at the faces of the people behind me in line, they thought it was odd too!!!

Pictures, y'all! We need pictures of these lucky recipients!

Best,
Scott

LMAO.

 

[mws_1984]

No I don't personally. I just dump back at the bank. Replacing anything I removed with enough so that I return what I picked up. If I search cents and took out $1 worth then I'll just throw 4 quarters in to make it add up. Since I have my regular change jar from purchases I make. Only change I use for the store is if I have it onhand or if I am paying a bill I'll take change from the jar so I can pay the exact amount.
But wonder if I should just start paying again in bills so then they can give me change from their drawer and I can hope I get something good.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

I do not use half dollars in retail transactions, but sometimes without asking, a cashier would hand me a half dollar back as change. This happened a week ago, a really worn... thinking a silver one right?... Nope.


A really worn 1990 half dollar.

 

[clovis97]

I do not use half dollars in retail transactions, but sometimes without asking, a cashier would hand me a half dollar back as change.

You really should consider spending halves at retail for things like gasoline.

Just tonight, I dumped $27.50 in halves for gas, plus the gal that left the counter to go the ATM...she bought another $20 worth today. She was pretty excited to get more halves!

So, in just one evening, I dumped $47.50 in halves without having to use a stupid coin counter, angering yet another teller with a bag change out.

It also puts $47.50 of copper plated skunks into circulation, or a sock drawer. Those are coins that I won't have to be searching again anytime soon.

 

[Bigheed]

I can't help but think of all of the cash back, points or mile rewards you're missing out on by not putting purchases on a rewards cc.

+1

I hardly ever pay with cash anymore....unless its for boxes of coins LOL !!!

 

[clovis97]

I can't help but think of all of the cash back, points or mile rewards you're missing out on by not putting purchases on a rewards cc.

Good point.

That works for many people, but my wife and I went to an almost all cash basis whenever possible.

We are big fans of Dave Ramsey, and I'll never have another credit card as long as I live, barring some sort of catastrophe or the like. We still have debit cards, but we rarely use those.

My folks use the rewards plans, and pay off the balance every month. My dad got $385 cash back when he bought a mower a few years ago. It works well for them, but in our life, paying cash for everything works out better. I feel that paying in cash adds simplicity to our lives, and gives us more time to really enjoy life.

Call me crazy, but it works well for us, and I can't ever see a day returning to using a debit card all the time like I used to.

 

[clovis97]

I stopped in one of my favorite stores the other day.

My bill came to $6.15, and can you believe, I paid in dimes?

I hate dumping dimes into the coin counter due to shortages and miscounts, so I tried to dump what I could in dimes.

The cashier promptly said "What? No halves!!!"

I just smiled. I've been spending so many halves that the cashiers have come to expect it!

 

[clovis97]

There is a local place that is renowned for its hand made candy canes.

I like buying from mom and pop stores, and I love their candy canes. What a better gift to give the tellers who work hard every week supplying me with half dollars?

I ordered the hand made candy canes as a part of the gift that I am giving my tellers, and when the order was ready, I picked them up and, in Clovis' fashion, I paid in halves.

I thought the cashier's eyes were going to fall out of his head, as he ogled them with his two elementary aged kids.

Since he was so enthusiastic, I walked to the car, got my container of halves, and stepped back into the store. "Want any more halves? This is the last that I've got right now."

The cashier's cell phone rang at the same time. "Dad, a customer just paid in halves, and he has another $25 worth that he will sell me." he said.

"Okay. All of them? Are you sure you want all of them?" he said into the phone, and you could understand that they had a bad cell phone connection.

"What? Check what? Uhh, Dad, what did you say? Huh? Check them for sugar? No, dad, we are okay on sugar...."

"Oh, okay, check them for silver? I see what you want. Before I buy them?"

At that point, you can tell that the dad on the other end of the phone is getting mad. Even though the young cashier was still on the phone, he whipped out $25 in cash, and abruptly handed it to me, as if to say "Thanks. The transaction is over. Please leave the store so I can check these before my dad comes over and kicks me in the butt."

Personally, I've gone through thousands of dollars in halves, but I have never checked a single one of them for their sugar content!!!!

I wish my fellow CRH's could have heard this while it happened...I laughed all the way home!!!!!

 

[clovis97]

I am still encouraging everyone to spend their half dollar dumps when buying at a retail store.

I generally buy gasoline at two different gas stations in town. I am told that there is a guy that stops in those two gas stations, nearly every day, and buys all the halves that I have spent...that is, if, some dude everyone calls "Santa Claus" (because of his white beard), doesn't beat him to it.

So, in my town, there are two guys, Billy and Santa Claus, that CRH loose halves at the gas stations in town. Too bad they'll buy a bunch of halves, but never get a single silver one from me!

I suspect that most of the halves are destined to someone's sock drawer, or change collection, and will be out of circulation for a long time. As well, nearly all the clerks and cashiers seem to love getting half dollars. I think that halves are so rarely circulated that they are considered 'rare'.

Keep spending those halves at retail...it really does take some of the heat off of dumping!

 

[jarlbartar]

I usually try to keep the purchases under $10 so as not to clutter up their change drawer, but here are my half spendings from yesterday

$30 in gas at 3 different stations ($10 each 60 halves)
$15 in gift cards to give my teller friends (30 halves)
$6 for lightbulbs at the hardware store (12 halves)
$12 for a few groceries (24 halves)

My grocery store and the Wal Mart here in town have automated checkout lanes that accept halves and I dump halves in them all of the time, depending of how busy the store is, I will pay with pennies, nickles & dimes.

I took my wife out for lunch a couple of weeks ago and paid for our $13 subs with halves. The guy working the cash register got really excited and said to me "Those are worth money you know!"
I say "Yep, 50 cents."
He says "The have a higher silver content in them, especially the ones with JFK's head on 'em!" I didnt have the heart to tell him, but I'm sure he bought them out of the register immediatley after we left