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 Replies: 63 / Views: 7,280 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
858 Posts |
This is a very interesting topic - I'm sure most of us here would love to be in that managers position. I understand how some may feel that the actions of this manager are deceptive, but I also do not feel this person is doing anything wrong. I almost feel the manager should quietly retrieve the silver from the machine after hours without approaching the customer. While it is considerate and nice to offer 2x face, if I was a customer with a alot silver and uneducated about coins, I would immediately question why someone would offer me twice the coins worth. I would go home and check the internet to see what the coins are actually worth, and feel insulted at this low offer. But, I would also come to my senses and realize that I should be more knowledgeable about the values. When I was a teller a few years back, I arrived at the conclusion that most people (who aren't knowledgeable about coins) simply do not care about the value unless they have a stash of silver. If the average person has a few silver pieces in their rolls, they do not want to be bothered to make a trip to the coin shop for a few extra dollars. However, if they are dropping off alot of silver, then they would be more inclined to make a separate trip to a dealer. I feel people should be aware of what the coins are worth before they return them. Anyone can see there is a clear difference in appearance and sound of silver vs. non-silver. In my opinion, many simply don't care or are not interested in the value of a few silver coins. All in all, both parties make out - the customer gets 2x face for the coins they were willing to trade in at face value and the manager gets some silver.
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Valued Member
United States
272 Posts |
The only problem I could see with stopping someone and pointing out the value of their coins would be if they then decided to take those coins to a dealer and sell them. From the bank standpoint that's in effect taking away a potential deposit. Now that person may go sell them and deposit even more into the bank, but you really have no way of knowing at the time. As a bank manager I'm not sure if he could get in any trouble for that or not.
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Valued Member
United States
111 Posts |
Sounds like "Joe" has the dream job. I'm sure most folks would take him up on the 2x offer...they are obviously getting rid of these gems because they need the $$$.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2600 Posts |
I see no difference in this and building a relationship with the tellers, as many of us have, and having them watch for silver and unusual bills as they come through and hold them for us. Some of them, have learned and keep them for themselves. Fringe benefits, got to love em.
Jim
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1082 Posts |
If you search a bank roll and find silver, do you take it back to the bank and offer to pay the difference? No, it's very much a matter of "finders keepers".
However, if this guy sees silver, he offers to pay double for it. Why not just let it come in at face? To offer to pay double for it, he is committing a kind of deception, because he's telling them it's worth more than face, but only double -- he doesn't cop to the rest of the difference.
Yes, people should know what they have; a lot don't -- but that's their own fault for not informing themselves. In their ignorance, they are happy enough to be able to spend it at face. Sure, they're happier getting double for it, no question, but what if they later find out that they could have gotten 12 or 14 times face for it? How would they feel then? I'm guessing they would feel cheated, all because the bank manager didn't tell them the whole truth. If they let it go and only got face for it, they would only blame themselves if they found out differently later.
In this situation, it would be best to say nothing, and just let everyone continue on their merry way.
Now, the next question: is he being truthful with his bosses? It all depends on their knowledge -- if they know silver coin is a possibility and they find someone is diverting what is rightfully the bank's property for their own personal gain, they might well be upset. Given the price of silver, they might even bring a case of theft by conversion into play.
I don't think the bank manager should be boasting about his "finds" -- there are too many people with a potential stake in the situation who might rightfully be upset with him.
Sometimes it's better to let sleeping dogs lie.
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Valued Member
United States
53 Posts |
I would have an issue with it if he was a coin dealership and people were coming into the "correct" place to try to sell their known valuable coins and he was only offering them basement prices like that. The people he is dealing with do not care about a coins "market" vale only its face. Him offering them OVER face for them is actually a stand up thing from him to do. He could easily just wait until they leave and get the coins ar face.
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Valued Member
United States
245 Posts |
I'm sure there are a lot of people turning in coins for cash during these hard times but I'd be really surprised if the volume of silver coins he gets is anywhere near what has been stated. But that's a different subject but I do think that people working in a bank have every right to pull a coin from circulation and replace it with one of equal value. The only reason people bring their bucket, bottle,or tub of change to the bank in the first place is to turn it in and because if they have an account with the bank there is no charge. If they go to the grocery store and dump their change in the machine they wouldn't get anything for any silver coins and they would have to pay a fee to convert their change to paper money.
Edited by fyimo
01/15/2010 11:57 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
8904 Posts |
Every job has its benefits. This guy is just a lucky, smart guy in the right place taking advantage of one of his job's benefits. I find no deception here or impropriety. Just a bit of jealousy...  |
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Valued Member
United States
58 Posts |
I see nothing wrong with this. I have to admit even if most of you wont that if I had that job, I would just wait for them to finish and then open the bag and buy them at face. He is doing one better then me by offering them 2X face.
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Moderator
  United States
15469 Posts |
Update here ...... First of all .... I believe we all have enjoyed the polite discussion about Joe ...... and the consensus is that Joe is acting in an ethical manner with his silver treasure hunts. Many of us wish we had his job.  Anyways ...... I paid Joe another visit today on my way home from work ..... had some nickels to dump and wanted to hear a little more about his story ....... here is what I learned .... Joe told me of a hand-full of occasions where folks had A LOT of silver .... and after he approached them with his 2-for-1 offer they decided perhaps they could get a better deal elsewhere ....... he even tells me about opening the machine to retrieve and return the coins already digested in these (rare) cases. Joe says this has happened maybe 5 times .... and he has 'processed' the silver dumps from hundreds of customers without complaint on his offer. I asked Joe about his company policy relative to taking the time away from work to do this .... no worries he says .... his Bank allows him the grace as Manager to use his time as he sees fit ..... an he gets his work done without impact from his treasure hunts. I asked Joe what he has found in the last year .... and his eyes get big as he tells about Morgan's, Walking halves, etc. Claims to be at over $1600 face value in silver in the previous 12 months. I do admit that Joe was a little surprised to learn that I had written about my experience with him ..... and I shared the CCF web address should he choose to weigh in for himself. I hope he does check in and joins us ..... would be great for occasional updates from the Bank! All-in-all ..... with the weight of evidence and your opinions .... it appears to me that Joe has the dream job for a coin collector ... and is executing his responsibilities in an honest and ethical manner. BTW .... I did ask Joe to save some Morgan's for me ... he rolled his eyes as he laughed ..... so wish me luck on that! Any other views to share on Joe? David Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
952 Posts |
Joe is a very lucky man for 2reasons......$1600 in face can easily sell now for $16000, and that's if there are no keys or semi keys in the mix. Secondly, his bank allows it. I also know of a guy who works for an armored carrier in Western PA (he told me the name but I forget it-not brinks or loomis) who tells me that he sees all kinds of stuff in the counting room, and they pull out all of the foreign they find. He's seen many 100+ yr old coins get destryoed - yes, destroyed. He sees a lot of good american stuff too but they are not allowed to touch any of it, so he just drools.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1547 Posts |
Quote:
If I exploit the general public's lack of knowledge to add to my own collection and profit, than I have just piled on to the poor reputation that this hobby has for ethics...
There is a clear difference in a face to face meeting between a bank employee who offers a customer one tenth of what his change is worth versus finding something in change when you have no way of knowing who it was who spent the silver in the first place... FWIW, were I the bank president, and I heard of a branch manager (or, for that matter, any agent of the bank) making it a pattern and practice of offering the public 2X or whatever for their silver, he'd (they'd) be out of a job, I wouldn't even have to think about it twice. OTOH, were they simply exchanging the incoming silver for cash after it went through our system, while I wouldn't be too excited about that unrelated activity, either, I could tolerate it, so long as the books balanced at the end of the shifts. |
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Valued Member
United States
146 Posts |
I think he has the best job in the world. He is not costing the bank any money and is actually helping out the person cashing in the silver. As long as he gets his work done I think it is fine. If he didn't get it someone else along the line would, or from what I read above get destroyed. I also think if he opens the machine to get the silver out that it would be only fair to at least check the interior reject bin if a customer asked. My bank acts like they store top secret documents in there.
Has he ever mentioned getting any gold? That would be the ultimate.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
677 Posts |
How about his co-workers? Shouldn't they get a piece of the pie? (assuming they want a piece) Especially the tellers...aren't they the ones who would usually be helping the customers? That is until he hears the "sound of silver" and comes running out of his office.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1547 Posts |
IMHO, it boils down to, it's a public relations thingy, gang. Look at how divisive the opinions are, just among us, just in this thread. And, I'll submit, we've yet to have even scratched the surface on this issue. What do y'all think, the public thinks differently, they're of one mind on this? They think the same exact way we do, odds are. This is dynamite, from a public relations standpoint, that's all there is to it. Again, IMHO...
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Replies: 63 / Views: 7,280 |
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Posted 11/28/2009 9:05 pm
