Unique experience on my road trip - can anyone explain this??

[ArkieBassMan]

So I'm in this little Podunk town here in Arkansas. Two bank town, so its not THAT small . I walk in and just like always ask for halves and large dollars. By her nametag, I see I'm speaking with the head teller. She has no large dollars, but politely asks me how many halves would I like. I respond as most of you would and say, "I'll take all of them." She says that she cannot sell all of them to me and again asks how many I would like. I inform her that I have an account with this bank if that is the problem. She says, "No, that isn't it. It costs the bank money to order these half dollars. If I sell them to you, I'll just have to order more costing us even more money. Two or three people a week come in here wanting to buy all our half dollars. How many would you like?" I'm not mad here, just very confused. I nicely say, "I'll take all that you can sell me." She pulls out 1 customer wrapped roll and 4 loose halves and says, "That'll be $12 please." I fork over the money, grab my halves and start to leave...but my curiosity just won't let me go. I stop and say, "Ma'am, please forgive me here. I'm not trying to be rude or cause any problems whatsoever, but I just don't understand. You have hundreds of dollars in halves in the vault, right?" She responds, "Yes." I continue, "But they're not for sale...to anyone?" "That's right", she says. "It costs us money to order those." I reply, "So why did you order the halves in the first place?" She looks dumbfounded and just shrugs.

Am I missing something?

 

[ivan salis]

cuz she coin rolls why else --she only gives out her skunks -- a few at a time LOL

 

[favored papa]

that would be my guess also go back sometime and she will give you more skunk rolls.

 

[JD-GA]

Clear cut case of the "cause i havent checked um" yet's.

 

[dasherhunting]

Not neccasarily if you walk into my bank right now even if you are a customer and ask for halves they will tell you they dont have any even though i have a 1000. order in the vault right now since wed. im picking up 500. in morn then rest on mon morn. They dont charge or ask me to order when ever I get the last box they just order another 1000. for me. I should buy them donuts soon they treat me like gold

 

[coinmojo]

I wonder how much that 1 customer roll cost them and the loose ones?

 

[fistfulladirt]

I have a couple branches outside of town that will only give up a few rolls, because, "we have other customers asking for halves". I know they aren't BS'ing me. ffd

 

[50centman]

You just ran into a woman who is basically an unhappy human being. The boxes cost about $3.00 to the bank. I have run into a few tellers like her. She is a walking bank killer. Fortunately, most tellers are nice people and more than willing to help you out. She loved selling you that one roll just to get your goat. Very sad.

 

[TxTim]

No mystery - no offense, just typical Arkansas.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Not neccasarily if you walk into my bank right now even if you are a customer and ask for halves they will tell you they dont have any even though i have a 1000. order in the vault right now since wed. im picking up 500. in morn then rest on mon morn. They dont charge or ask me to order when ever I get the last box they just order another 1000. for me. I should buy them donuts soon they treat me like gold

Now this I could understand. I used to order boxes myself and the bank would hold them for me until I picked them up - even if I was a few days late retrieving them (which didn't happen often) and other people had come around looking for halves. Had she said that they were someone's order, saving them for someone, or just said they had none would make sense to me. But why would she let me know that they had "a lot" (her words) in the vault, but they were not for sale to anyone? I'm not mad about this or even a little upset, but its certainly got my curiosity running rampant.

You just ran into a woman who is basically an unhappy human being. The boxes cost about $3.00 to the bank. I have run into a few tellers like her. She is a walking bank killer. Fortunately, most tellers are nice people and more than willing to help you out. She loved selling you that one roll just to get your goat. Very sad.

Are you positive about the $3.00 charge? I have a friend thats a branch manager of a bank that used to order 2 boxes for me weekly. She told me that it didn't cost the bank 1 extra cent to get them. She said the bank pays the coin courier (Loomis in this case) a monthly fee to deliver and pick up coin. The fee is the same whether Loomis picks up/delivers no boxes/bags or 50.

 

[d2arcing]

oh talk more about the fee as i always wanted to know the true answer!

what kind of roll was it? a tight fed wrap? possibly they order and just give out some, to keep all customers happy to get a slice of the pie?

 

[ArkieBassMan]

oh talk more about the fee as i always wanted to know the true answer!

what kind of roll was it? a tight fed wrap? possibly they order and just give out some, to keep all customers happy to get a slice of the pie?

No, it was a handroll that some customer had brought in.

 

[GMan00001]

You should have said you wanted $250 worth. When they ask for a number, giving them one sometimes will get you more than just "whatever you will sell me". If nothing else, she will give a counter-offer of what she is willing to sell you.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

You should have said you wanted $250 worth. When they ask for a number, giving them one sometimes will get you more than just "whatever you will sell me". If nothing else, she will give a counter-offer of what she is willing to sell you.

I actually did that after she laid the $12 worth on the counter. I told her that I was hoping for more than that if possible. I don't remember my exact words but it was something similar to, "I'd take a hundred or two." She just smiled, repeated the "it costs the bank to order those" line, and said no.

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

dang...that sucks, and its a little confusing why she did that...was the roll a skunk

 

[ArkieBassMan]

dang...that sucks, and its a little confusing why she did that...was the roll a skunk

Yes it was.

 

[GMan00001]

You should have said you wanted $250 worth. When they ask for a number, giving them one sometimes will get you more than just "whatever you will sell me". If nothing else, she will give a counter-offer of what she is willing to sell you.

I actually did that after she laid the $12 worth on the counter. I told her that I was hoping for more than that if possible. I don't remember my exact words but it was something similar to, "I'd take a hundred or two." She just smiled, repeated the "it costs the bank to order those" line, and said no.

Did you also offer her an even exchange (your rejects for their rolls)...that wouldn't have cost the bank anything. It's not usually my first choice, but can be a good last ditch effort.

Another choice would be "What if I willing to pay the bank's costs to buy the next batch? How much extra would that be?" And then based on the answer you can decide if its worth it. If the real reason is the fee, she should be willing to sell as you just eliminated that obstacle... Granted she may say a price far too high to pay, but she also may not know and that may be enough info for you to ask her superior if you have time to kill and don't mind if you push buttons that are better left unpushed because you won't likely ever be back there again.

 

[mistergee]

HMMMM... i know this goes against one of our rules, but in this case it may be the only answer. what if you told her you collect coins and if she sells you all she has then you would come back and sell all the coins you didn't want back to her? a possible win win situation?