Conundrum - boxes shorting me, but still finding silver

[FormerTeller]

So the past several weeks, I've been getting half boxes that have rolls that are clearly short; I'm talking 4 or 5 coins short. There are maybe 2 rolls this way per box, and a few rolls that are 1 or 2 short. However, I usually find silver in the boxes, and often a larger than average amount.

Last week one of my boxes was not only short, but was rewrapped to boot! I about lost it, and took it back to the bank as I had received rewraps from them previously. I told them I wasn't thrilled about getting rewrapped boxes from Brinks, but that I accepted it in the past as part of the risk. However, I refused to accept rewrapped rolls that were obviously short as well. They agreed, and to my surprise took the box and returned me my $500. I offered to make up the difference, but they said they'd just return it as is to Brinks. I'm not ordering from them for awhile to let things cool down, and I've got plenty of other supply banks, most of which also use Brinks.

Anyway, today I picked up 2 boxes, and sure enough, both boxes had short rolls. Hard to tell from the pictures, but each box had at least one roll that was short at least $2.



Total short from both boxes was $8.50 - almost a full roll! However, though one box was a skunk, the other produced 15 silvers, including 2x 1964's!



Anybody else have this occur? I absolutely hate knowing that I'm getting shorted, but the silver usually more than makes up for it.

It's still out there, though not always where you'd expect.

HH!

 

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[Death&Taxes]

Nothing is certain but death and taxes takes a lot of the fun out of it, I'm sure

 

[Diver_Down]

Reading your plight is similar to mine but with regards to Loomis. I loathe Loomis due to the short rolls. I consider it a built in fee. Not so bad when the silver is found, but getting shorted on skunks - sucks. My area used to be serviced by both Brinks and Loomis. Then around 2010, Loomis won the contracts (lowest bidder) for all the banks. I only see Brinks picking up/delivering to retail establishments. They are never seen handling the banks. I know as I've stalked them on some days. I wish I could get my hands on Brinks again as I was killing it with silver.

 

[Twitch]

Cost of doing business. Boxes are short sometimes, machines count short sometimes... Think of how inefficient this hobby is for every party involved. If that costs a couple of bucks to the hunter then so be it. Still fortunate to have the hobby.
Congrats on the 15 silver box.

 

[FingerChili]

Coin machines are very robust and shouldn't ever be shorting you. Think of the ramifications of a company skimming a few bucks off each box they ship.

HOWEVER!

Who knows why they're shorting you. It might be because of the presence of silver somewhere along the line messes up the count, so don't go making a fuss and give them a reason to take silver out of circulation.

Another option, make a measuring device like an abalone gauge to check rolls before you leave the teller window. Might be able to "hey just toss a couple in from your drawer and I'll repack them at home" so that you're getting your money's worth, and maybe there's a silver in the drawer.

 

[Diver_Down]

Coin machines are very robust and shouldn't ever be shorting you. Think of the ramifications of a company skimming a few bucks off each box they ship.

HOWEVER!

Who knows why they're shorting you. It might be because of the presence of silver somewhere along the line messes up the count, so don't go making a fuss and give them a reason to take silver out of circulation.

Another option, make a measuring device like an abalone gauge to check rolls before you leave the teller window. Might be able to "hey just toss a couple in from your drawer and I'll repack them at home" so that you're getting your money's worth, and maybe there's a silver in the drawer.

The quickest way to end the hunter's privileges of ordering boxes is to inspect each roll with calipers while the rest of the customers wait. How do you account for worn coins? I have found Barbers and Walkers that were much thinner from their years of circulation over the standard clad Kennedy. Also, how do you account for the varying tolerance of clad Kennedy half dollars? I can pick out '95 halves by their rim over the rims from the 70's. How do you account for flattened crimps on the rolls versus the rounder crimps? There are so many variables that would skew comparing rolls with a caliper.

The fact is it isn't deliberate. For the most part, they are accurate. Some are short and some are over - Just roll with it.

 

[FingerChili]

Yeah good points, I'm still in the mindset to not make waves. I figured people would know better and go in on a slow day without me having to tell them not to hold up the line and get I wanted attention. I even debated using the word "teller" or "bank" so you go have a seat and do a "quick sort" so you're not holding up the line.

Still, this is more of a thought exercise than anything.

How do people account for coin size differences right now other than opening the roll? Can you tell by weight in the hand or eyeballing the length? OP said "clearly" so I'm guessing he didn't unwrap them.

To account for the wrap I'd use hinged or sliding calipers with enough of a protrusion on the tip to make it past the roll depth. If there were enough worn coins in a roll to make it look short, I'd weigh the roll too.

Maybe these fuzzy measuring techniques are what lead to short rolls, and other hunters returning rolls with good coins in them.

 

[FormerTeller]

Still, this is more of a thought exercise than anything.

Can you tell by weight in the hand or eyeballing the length? OP said "clearly" so I'm guessing he didn't unwrap them.

Agree with this being merely a thought exercise; I don't plan to make a stink about it. With respect to how I could tell they were short, it was quite obvious. Very hard to show short rolls with overhead picture, but I tried. The middle right roll in the first picture was a full 5 coins short - you could easily tell looking at it as it was a good half inch shorter than all the other rolls. Same with the left corner roll in the second pictures, which was 4 coins short. If a half dollar roll is 20% or 25% short, it is very obvious looking at it, even if it's not so obvious from a photograph. Aggravating, but gotta work through them. If anything, I need to increase my volume so as to capture a better sample size.

 

[FormerTeller]

The quickest way to end the hunter's privileges of ordering boxes is to inspect each roll with calipers while the rest of the customers wait. How do you account for worn coins? I have found Barbers and Walkers that were much thinner from their years of circulation over the standard clad Kennedy. Also, how do you account for the varying tolerance of clad Kennedy half dollars? I can pick out '95 halves by their rim over the rims from the 70's. How do you account for flattened crimps on the rolls versus the rounder crimps? There are so many variables that would skew comparing rolls with a caliper.

The fact is it isn't deliberate. For the most part, they are accurate. Some are short and some are over - Just roll with it.

Agree on all points. Absolutely it's not deliberate, otherwise there wouldn't be silver in them! However, I am 100% certain the shorted rerolls was deliberate - some jerk CRH'er who either got shorted himself, or didn't replace the silver he found with clad. Very poor reflection on our hobby IMO.

 

[Diver_Down]

As FT said regarding spotting short rolls, it is very easy to spot the rolls with a considerable shortage. But I would also add that with enough years of doing this, we can spot even slight differences. My shortages are typically 1-2 coins. In some boxes, the shortage is offset with other rolls that have too many coins. Eyeballing the rolls, an experienced hunter can identify rolls that don't conform to the norm.

 

[Dannycoco]

I got this roll in a box a few weeks ago. I think it was short about $4

 

[FingerChili]

Yeah Teller, I could see the main one that was short, but the others I couldn't tell in the pic.

Wow, danny. That was supposed to be the kid's college fund!

 

[Tommybuckets]

My skunky boxes are never short, they just never have any silver lol. I could trade plights for a bit n see how it feels.