the hard teller questions and how you should answer them

[Dr_Silver]

As a halves collector it is hard to deal with all the skunk boxes and spreading all the money around to the six banks I have accounts in. However, I find that I have to gear myself up as I enter a bank because of all the questions the tellers ask me. Curious to hear how you answer these questions. I wrote my responses below in case they can help someone else. I have an advise question at the end of this post.

1. Where did you get all these halves?
I am certainly not going to tell them that I order them from my bank or that I am searching for silver. I am cashing them in
for grandpa.

2. Sir, we can't take these right now our safe is full.


3. Did these come from another bank because we can't accept them.
I told that teller that all money has come from a bank at one time or another but that I am cashing these in for Grandpa.

 

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[barneyb71]

I would ask;
1. Where did you get all that cash / coins from?
2. I can take some cash out of the safe in exchange for these halves?
3. No, they came from the Mint Department!

 

[FormerTeller]

Your "Grandpa" line will only work for so long if you're bringing in halves week after week. What you need is a dedicated dump bank. See if you can find one bank that will let you dump halves, opening a new account if that's what it takes. Be honest with them and let them know you'll be bringing in coins for deposit on a regular basis, and figure out their comfort level with respect to volume. Build relationships with the tellers and managers, and eventually you'll work it out where everyone's happy.

What I DON'T recommend is overwhelming them. Start slow at first and work your way up in volume. If you're bringing in $500 or $1,000 or more every week and they're not prepared for it, of course you're going to get resistance, and eventually get cut off.

With respect to your specific questions, I'd answer along the following lines:

1. Tell them you collect halves. Never say silver, but tell them you buy rolls "when you can find them" and that you look for old dates, proofs, errors, and coins Not Intended For Circulation. I find that the error line works best - true in my case - particularly if you can go into detail about specific error coins, such as the 1974-D doubled die. The more you sound like a coin nerd and less like a CRH'er, the more tolerant they'll be.

2. Say something like "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a burden. How many can you take? I get a lot of these but I'll do my best not to inconvenience you." Always be polite and accommodating.

3. When they say they can't accept them, I suspect what they mean is they can't accept that many of them. Again, be honest with them (relatively - there's a difference between the truth and "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"), let them know you pick them up where you can find them, sometimes a few coins at a time or rolls when available, and that you generally save them up until you have enough to bring in, but that it sounds like you're bringing in too many at once. Again, if you work at it, you can likely find out how many you can bring in at once without causing them heartache. With 6 accounts, and presumably more than one branch per account, you should be able to spread your dumps so as to not inconvenience any particular bank.

This hobby is pretty much a trial and error process, and is definitely not for the thin-skinned; it took me the better part of a year to figure out the best set up for me, but now I can go through 6 boxes per week with no problem, and could likely do 10 or more if I had the bankroll for it.

Just remember, honey catches a lot more flies than vinegar, and a box of cookies every now and then pays off in the end.

 

[gordon and tanner]

1. Tell me how much is in your personal checking account and I will tell you where the half dollars are from. (Also good for nosy customers)
2. Never have been asked that question.
3. Never have been asked that question.

Keep on Searching
Dad and Tanner

 

[Scott W]

My favorite question: "Have you been collecting those long?"
"Oh, about 2 hours or so."

 

[silveraddict]

I'm 60 years old so telling them that myself, kids and grandkids are coin Collectors (which is true) helps alot. I have told them that my youngest son who is 11 and has come into the banks with me at times looks for error coins (which he does). I have brought in some of my better grease strike halves to show them.
Another bank I have a good relationship with 2 of the tellers. Both of them look for silver and they know not to look through the boxes I bring in. They were taking 1 box every other week.
Knowing that they are coin collectors I told them about the 1st ever silver Krugerrand that was coming out this year. They both were interested in getting one. On the day they were releases I went in and gave them the number of GovMint and they ordered one.
I now can bring in 2 boxes every other week.
Get to know the tellers at your pick up and dump banks.
I have tellers even at dump banks saving CWR for me.
It takes time but is worth it


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[Mzjavert]

I've only searched a few boxes of halves. A box at that time was equal to my mortgage. So I paid my mortgage with those boxes.