Guy dumping laundry coin-loks says he finds silver all the time

[kennedyfan]

At my bank to pick up my occasional box of halves - I'm small-time - a guy at the next window half-jokingly offered to sell me his coin-lok bags of quarters. He was dumping his apartment complex's laundry quarters; he claims there are always silver quarters in there.

I tried to give him my card so we could figure something out, but when pressed, he declined, mostly since he wouldn't have an efficient way to count the coins. I wish I had managed to get his contact number to try and figure out something to work out.

I know I've read a bit about laundry mats and laundry machines here in the past, but I can't really figure out what might be some interesting strategies for intercepting quarters before they get dumped. Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions?

 

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[Piledriver]

Alas, some silver is available, and some is not.
This guy can't keep his job if he sells the bag to you, or lets you start sorting the bags.

If there is silver in the apt. complex, advertise that you buy silver on the bulletin boards of the Apt complex.
Or try to get a job emptying the laundry coin machines.

Keep on Rollin' !

 

[PhattyB]

Assuming he's the owner/operator. You could buy a crank handle coin counter, and offer to come to him, count and buy. Would save him a trip to the bank, and you can keep the silver. Maybe slide a small fee of say.. $5 to cover transportation. I wouldn't expect to get much of a fee though, only what he thinks his time and hassle to go to the bank is worth.

I have such a counter, but i haven't contacted anybody about doing them such a service. You can hear the silver clink when it hits the roll, no need to edge check or look, pure unmistakeable sound.

 

[Minrelica]

A lot of the coins at the laundromats never see the banks because they go right back into the change machine over and over and over again. The only chance of silver there would be from someone bringing in their own change. I wonder what the percentage is

 

[Generic_Lad]

I can personally tell you that there isn't much silver in washers/dryers. I used to collect them and take them to the bank for my dad, throughout the ~2-3 years I did it regularly I only found 3 silver quarters and this was in about 15 washers/dryers total. I did end up finding a clad proof and some foreign coins (Korea 100 won, Canadian Quarters, and I think an old large size Irish 5p)

I got more interesting coins in my change than I ever found through going through washers/dryers.

 

[NYScrap]

A friend of mine owned a laundry mat for about 20 years and used to find silver all the time. This was back in the 70's and 80's... when the machines accepted dimes and nickles. She and her husband would take out all the silver, and actually sat on it until their first daughter got married. Damn near paid for the wedding with it.