Banks

I like Well's Fargo. They are my main bank and I never have problems getting boxes from them. They are really nice too. And I usually get pretty decent finds. And banks vary by which part of the country you are in, so you may get many answers.

Capitol One bank gives me boxes but always gives me the "we have to order these, don't expect to get one every day" speeches. On a side note, I have never been to a bank (well, in the recent couple years) that orders half dollars or that accepts customer rolls.

i tried to do that tim. I picked up a few boxes in a real rich neighborhood in san diego. worst boxes I have ever had. so I went a little more south to a poor area and had minorities. the boxes were not as great as I hoped. but I only got 2 boxes, so i'll have to keep getting boxes there to see what the actual results are.

I also have to agree with the "minorities" theory. We have almost no coin dealers in this area; the only true coin shop here is in a very affluent, white area.

I've had the most luck with banks that have mostly Latino customers and tellers. I've been to some African-American sections of town, too, but they have very few banks.

At one bank, a teller (who was Latina) told me she didn't have any silver, then gave me a 1968 half!

I actually had one teller tell me, and I quote, "the Haitians really like the Eisenhower dollars and ask for those and $2 bills".

I think any area that is economically depressed is more likely to have good coins turned into the bank, with people desperate to stave off foreclosure or pay for gas or whatever. Particularly areas with an older population have good potential (you always hear stories about desperate widows turning in their husband's coin collection).

The banks I deal with (Phila suburbs) all get their boxes of coins from Brinks, so I don't know that we can determine if brinks got the coins from a low income area or not. I am not an expert but I suspect Brinks has a coin center in Phila. They buy bags of coins (probably from TD and Coinstar) then roll them and resell them to banks. With that... How would I be able to get coins from a low income area.

TD bank doesn't even accept rolls of coins for deposit, they make you dump it in their machines. I asked one time if I could buy one of their bags out of the machine and they said no, they all go to brinks.

TD does sell me boxes without an argument. Bank of America sometimes hassles me and I even have a business account there.

And there is sort of a reason for that situation of good coins in bad areas. Many criminals that rob homes, coin stores, etc end up dumping their coins in a bank or counting machine in a store. Usually in the same area they live. If that bank does their own counting and rolling, then it is really possible to get some really great coins. If they send out those coins to a main office or headquarters, then it makes little difference where the bank is located.

I am about to start roll searching, probably cents, what bank do you think would be friendliest to buying rolls of cents and how do you normally approach the teller?