Pocket Change

I agree with your opinion, Centurion!
It's at the point when the majority of cashiers don't know what silver is, and/or don't realize that coins used to be made with silver metal.

Back when I started working as a cashier in the 1970's, I (along with all the other cashiers) knew to separate any 'special' coins from the rest, and buy them (sometimes you had to split them with the boss) at the end of your shift. Unfortunately I spent most of my time in the stockroom and not the cashier lane so I didn't get too many 'rewards', but I did get some!

Now when I use 'funny-money' ( Kennedy halves and SBA or Sac' dollars) at a checkout, most cashiers don't have a clue what they are. They often think their fake money or foreign money. Some will give them back to get 'real' money; as they don't want to get yelled at by their boss for taking bad coins as payment.

It's amazing what has changed in the past 50 years. I wonder if stores 50 years from now will know what ANY coin is, as by then we are probably just using our computer phones or thumb-scanners to buy things with.

i found a 1964 quarter last year out of a coke machine. soon as it hit the bottom of the machine I knew it was silver. my wife and I found a War Nickel 2 months ago which is what sparked my interest in silver searching and have been since then. have over 50 pieces of silver now. :)

@atticguy, I tried the same thing up here in Canada, using old or odd money at a register -- we haven't released 50 cent pieces into circulation since 2002, and I used one on a lark to pay for coffee at a Tim Hortons drive through last year, and the young lady at the window wasn't even sure to take it or not... I didn't see it get passed on, but I'd have liked to see the look on the manager's face as well!

Nice find!