Adventures At The Coin Shop When The Owner Is Away

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 1,549
tgauchsin Valued Member United States 344 Posts	Posted 10/05/2012 11:23 pm So today I dropped by my brick and mortar coin shop. With the way silver has been going I have been holding off buying and now I had an itch for more junk silver. I go into the shop and it is very busy. Mostly people selling their gold jewelry - he does this to supplement his coin business. Anyway, he is not there. There is an older gentlemen - late sixties and a kid about 15 or 16 helping out. The older gentleman I have seen in there from time to time. I suspect he is retired and does this part-time. I have never seen the teen before - he may be the old man's grandson. I overheard the old man talking about how the owner is on vacation and they were helping out. It's Friday and very busy. I am patient and head over to the bid board until it's my turn. Finally the teen asks me if he can pull something out for me. I asked for the junk bins of halfs, quarters and dimes. I picked out a half Barber, several Standing Liberty, Barber, and a Proof Washington quarter, scored a Seated Liberty dime (FR-2), along with several Barber and Mercury dimes. Roughly $2.50 face. I asked the teen what the price of junk silver was today and he replied 24x. Great! While I was there, I spotted the 2012 Proofs. Since this is my son's birth year, I asked for one of those as well. Last on my list were 400 cardboard flips. He starts adding things up and at one point says, "$152.42." I looked at him and asked, "For everything?" He replied, "No, just for the silver." I said, "You may want to double check that. Two times 25 is 50 and 3 times 25 is 75 so the silver should be somewhere between $50 and $75." He punched it into the calculator and came up with $59 and change. "Sounds about right to me." was my reply. He rings up the total and with tax and everything else it was just shy of $90. I never asked how much the proof set was but the total seemed to be in the ball park. Between the busyness of the shop and correcting the teen's math, I failed to look at the proof set closely. So I get home and showed my wife my new coin scores. She opens the proof box and says, "You know there is a hair inside one of these cases. It also looks like the nickel holder is broke. Do you think you can return it for another one?" Great! My fault for not checking. I pull out the receipt. I noticed the teen rang up everything but the proof set. I plan on going back, returning the proof set and asking to buy another set. However, anyone have any suggestions on how I should do so? I thought about talking with the owner discretely when he gets back from vacation. Or maybe I should talk to the older gentlemen - especially if he is having his grandson helping him.. Or should I go back and talk to the teen? If he is old enough to sell coins, he is old enough to deal with issues like this. Any other thoughts, suggestions, ideas? Report this Post to the Staff

basebal21 Bedrock of the Community 13014 Posts	Posted 10/05/2012 11:48 pm When you go back there I would try and talk to the teen if hes there. Knowing he messed up heck probably be more than likely to help, plus you plan on paying for it so it shouldnt be an issue. If you get blown off or it turns into a debacle then Id wait for the owner especially if he knows you. If the teen has half a brain though I wouldnt anticipate it being a problem. Report this Post to the Staff
BUncirculated Valued Member United States 70 Posts	Posted 10/06/2012 10:45 am I think you should discuss this with both the teen and the older fellow together. NFN, but you should have realized that $90 total couldn't be right either after the teen re-calculated the silver. Think about it, the silver actually came to $60(I rounded up), and then the proof set was considerably less than it should have been priced, given the fact that with tax the total was just shy of $90. The proof set from the Mint is $34.95 and with shipping of $4.95, it costs $39.90. Most dealers, and B&Ms, buy a bulk lot of proof sets each year and retail them for $40 each, adding the shipping cost for each set even though they only paid the $4.95 for the entire order, regardless of how many sets were in their order. They certainly know nobody will pay more than $40 for the sets when they're still available from the Mint, and in some cases even after that years sets are discontinued. If anything, you still owe a little more for that proof set. Edited by BUncirculated 10/06/2012 10:46 am Report this Post to the Staff
daniels Pillar of the Community United States 1620 Posts	Posted 10/06/2012 11:42 pm This is my 2011-S Sacagawea and from what I can see it looks like someone picked there nose and left there booger and nose hair on the coin. I noticed this a couple days after I got home from the coin shop I didn't take it back because I didn't get a receipt. I guess some folks don't really take pride in there work or maybe he was getting fired that day lol Report this Post to the Staff
tgauchsin Valued Member United States 344 Posts	Posted 10/08/2012 7:26 pm And now the rest of the story - The Reader's Digest style: Went back to the coin shop today. The old man was there with the owner. The teen was not around. I talked to the old man and told him that I purchased several items including a 2012 proof set last Friday. I got home, didn't like the quality of the proof set. I checked the receipt and realized I was never charged for it. I showed him the receipt and pointed out each item. I told him I wish to return the item and pay for another proof set. He asked me who helped me, and I told him the young man. He said, "Looks like Matt messed up." He took out another proof set, I examined it, he rang me up, said "Thank you." Bada bing, bada bam. No harm no foul. Everyone is happy. The charge with tax: $40.78. From looking at BUncirculated's post, it looks like they have quite a low margin on the proofs. This would have been quite a hit for them. It is something I should have caught on Friday. But in all fairness, even though I was patient when I entered the shop, I had already been in the shop for an hour and starting to think about rush hour traffic building for the drive home. The coin shop is 50 miles from my home, but on the way to work. Towards the end I was rushed and didn't even look at the proofs before I got home. This incident is one to file in the back of my mind. Take your time, examine each coin, and if someone new is helping you, make sure they get it right too. Report this Post to the Staff
enworb Pillar of the Community Australia 4411 Posts	Posted 10/08/2012 8:36 pm Its a good reason to build a relationship with a regular dealer; if anything goes wrong you know they will make it right. Good to hear Report this Post to the Staff
BUncirculated Valued Member United States 70 Posts	Posted 10/08/2012 8:58 pm Quote: The charge with tax: $40.78. From looking at BUncirculated's post, it looks like they have quite a low margin on the proofs. This would have been quite a hit for them. They do while they are still available from the Mint directly. The clad Proof sets retail for $34.95 from the Mint. They charge $4.95 for shipping via USPS, bring the total cost to you to $39.90. Most dealers and B&Ms will order 10-12, or more, of these sets from the Mint. The shipping is not $4.95 for each set, only for each order. So you'll pay $349.50 for 10 sets, but only $4.95 to ship those 10 sets. But the dealers and B&Ms will sell those sets for $39.95, or an even $40 each, so they're making about $5 each set. Not a lot of profit I know, but they would be crazy to mark up these sets for more than $40 while they can still be had directly from the Mint for less than $40. Quote: I told him I wish to return the item and pay for another proof set. He asked me who helped me, and I told him the young man. He said, "Looks like Matt messed up." He took out another proof set, I examined it, he rang me up, said "Thank you." Bada bing, bada bam. No harm no foul. Everyone is happy. Don't be surprised if this comes back around to you in the future in the line of a discount for being honest with him. Edited by BUncirculated 10/08/2012 8:59 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Night Hawk Valued Member United States 300 Posts	Posted 10/09/2012 12:48 am to you for doing the right thing and returning it, as BUncirculated said this can only work out in your favor in the future. Report this Post to the Staff
ninamason Pillar of the Community United States 1227 Posts	Posted 10/09/2012 04:09 am Agreeing with everyone, and as someone who often has to do rapidfire math on a calculator at work, going to add this: Next time you see Matt, if he's the one checking you out, if he says something like "just a second" or "let me add this up," just very calmly say "sure, no rush." Even if it takes him the exact same amount of time as it would have if you hadn't said it, hearing this from a customer makes me so much calmer and less likely to make a mistake, and will likely do the same for him. You don't have to be heavy-handed about letting him know that you know it was an honest mistake, but that light, often unthought-of "no rush" courtesy is a nice touch. Report this Post to the Staff
silvercoinrn Pillar of the Community United States 863 Posts	Posted 10/09/2012 10:31 am Personally I would bring this up to him. I would mention it so that he knew he was doing it.He made 2 large mistakes when selling you the coins, and if he keeps it up he mak end up putting the company out of business. I dont think it is bad to alert someone of a mistake if it is done in a kind way and this would protect him from further mistakes. Report this Post to the Staff
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