This story may make you cry

[ringding]

I went to a supermarket today to redeem some halves at the coinstar machine. There was a line for it. There were two girls at the machine and they had a huge jar. Behind them was a husband, wife and kid. Then me. As the young women were loading coins into the machine I noticed that one of them had a diamond in an engagement ring that was literally the size of a dime. I am not exagerrating. The girls were done and were gonna cash out and I alerted them that they had a bunch of coins in the reject tray. They pulled them out and were putting them back in the machine. I noticed one was a half and looked different and asked them if I could look at it. It was a 1943 Walking Liberty half dollar. I told them it was silver and was worth over $4 and they should not put it back in the machine. They got their ticket and were walking away and I asked if they were willing to sell it. They asked how much I would give them. I ended up giving them $4. When they left, the guy in front of me said that their jar was full of old coins. He said he saw a buffalo nickel, a liberty head dime and others. I was like oooooooooooh and felt kinda sad. Kinda like what a waste.

 

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[DrDetector]

And That is how old coins make their way back into circulation and eventually to people like us.

 

[Pennyworth]

Oh wow, that does hurt knowing that all those old coins went into a Coinstar. To bad you hadn't arrive 10 minutes earlier, I bet you could have struck up a deal with the girls and bought the whole jar. Obviously they didn't care about what they had to begin with. I'm glad that you were able to buy a Walker.

 

[coinlover]

you said you were going to redeem some halves from the coinstar machine? can you buy coins from the coinstar machines like that?

 

[ringding]

I brought some halves and was going to get an ecertificate from coinstar for them.

 

[Joliet Jake]

And That is how old coins make their way back into circulation and eventually to people like us.

I doubt silver coins that go to coinstar type companies EVER make it back into circulation. Probably go directly to the smelters and the companies bottom line. Those companies do not have the Federal Reserve oversight that armored car companies have.

 

[Maryland Searcher]

Since they charge a fee most of the time, I dont think they are concerned about the silver content or collectability of same. The only thing they worry about is the percentage they make off of changing the coinage and getting it to the bank.

Since everything is pretty well automated at the machine (the counting, rolling, packaging etc...) they dont even have the people who get to look at the content of the machines and the employees are probably restricted to wearing smocks without pockets or prohibited from exchanging coins while they are doing their duties.

Money management is very restricted to access most of the itme unless it is a small company. Even then it would be a feat to get permission to go through the coins or spot one and ask if you could purchase it.

 

[waseeker]

Makes me wonder where they came from!! A friend's stepson "found" his cache of silver dollars and needing money took them and spent them on stuff. Needless to say when Tony discovered the loss he was not happy.