| Author |
 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,525 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
A couple months ago I decided to start downsizing my collection, starting with a few BU rolls of Prez $. I opened them all to look for missing edge lettering, and then rolled them back up and took them to the bank. I ran out of wrappers by the time I had only one left, so I threw those in my pocket loose.
When I dropped then on the counter, the teller flatly said "We don't take those." My blood began to boil as I mentally prepared my soap box speech about legal tender, when I realized that she was talking about the loose coins. Apparently, as a matter of policy, they did not accept loose coins. Period. Fortunately, since I had exactly 25 of them, she was able to fetch an extra wrapper and I rolled them with no issues.
I get that for the smaller denominations, but it doesn't make any sense to me for dollar coins. After all, I could plop a stack of dollar bills and twiddle my thumbs as she counted them all into stacks on her counter--Why not the same with the dollar coins?
I am thinking that this is just one facet of the mindset that has caused the past 3 $1 coin programs to end in outright failure. If banks refuse to differentiate between $24 and 24 cents when it comes to deposit rules, I can see where the general public would be inclined to think the same.
Has anyone else encountered something like this?
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6478 Posts |
Really weird. They usually have trays for the loose ones.
|
|
Moderator
 United States
187914 Posts |
The legal tender argument is not valid here. It only applies to settling debt, and even then it can still be refused (while being refused does not clear the debt, they lose the ability to claim that no attempt was made to settle it). End result is that any bank has a right to refuse any deposit. I will not go into what is right or wrong, or argue the finer points of customer service here. What I will say is that pulling your money from the bank is the best way to show your disapproval of their policies.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
632 Posts |
I can see where the no loose coins policy might come from. I imagine it's a time consuming process at the end of a banks day to balance the books and make sure everything comes out right on the other end. If you only deal with rolled coin I bet it's a lot easier to account for than a bunch of loose coinage.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1132 Posts |
Hogwash. A dollar is a dollar is a dollar.
When you reach a unit of coinage that is equivalent to a unit of currency it (to me) ceases to be "loose change".
|
|
Moderator
United States
187914 Posts |
Handling coins is different than handling notes. How that difference affects policy may be debatable, but one either has to abide by the bank's decision or find another bank.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1414 Posts |
As long as you go inside, my bank will take anything and it helps that they have their own coinstar type of machine in the lobby.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
6130 Posts |
I'm not debating whether the bank has a policy on the subject, nor whether they have a right to set policy. I have seen firsthand how long a peanut butter jar full of coins can hold up a line, so I get it. The flipside is, I have also seen how long it takes to count $250 in $1 bills (lots of vending and concession customers at my old job). I have seen cashiers and tellers refuse coins, but I have never seen them refuse even an exorbitant number of dollar bills.
As jbuck said, there is a difference between counting notes and coins. Dollar coins are *slightly* more time consuming to count. But the fact that the highest current circulating denomination is subject to policies intended for jars of cents just highlights why we have failed to adopt the $1 coin.
On any other day, I probably would have walked away without causing a fuss. But to jbuck's point, "taking my money elsewhere" on that particular day would have meant walking out with what I came in with. I had always viewed those coins as my padding for when I needed emergency funds, and knowing that a piece of paper almost made the difference between surviving to payday or getting overdraft fees... well, that's a scary thought.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
Most banks have currency counters that can count a huge stack of cash in seconds. They are very small and inexpensive, so much so that some banks have them at each teller station.
Coin counters however are large, expensive and noisy. Smaller branches may not have them.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1414 Posts |
Yes, my bank also has currency counters...but I get your point Flinn235.
|
|
Moderator
United States
187914 Posts |
Quote:
But the fact that the highest current circulating denomination is subject to policies intended for jars of cents just highlights why we have failed to adopt the $1 coin. A good point and well said.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1414 Posts |
There just isn't a need for a coin and a bill of the same denomination. Period.
|
|
Moderator
United States
187914 Posts |
This is true. Which is why we needed to get rid of the one dollar note yesterday!  |
| |
Replies: 12 / Views: 1,525 |
|
Posted 06/18/2015 6:06 pm
