Boomers Plus Community Group

Our group is primarily for those born from 1946 to 1964 and earlier. Come here to discuss the good and bad things about your age, retirement, benefit problems, and activities. And, maybe throw in a memory or two. If you're younger, you might learn where our generation is coming from. All are welcome.

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299 Posts
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Seniors
/ Boomers Plus Support Group

20 Cents

Group Founderfoxysdad
foxysdad
I needed a roll of quarters to do my laundry this weekend. Sunday is my laundry day, but I never trust the change machines at the laundromat to be working so I always make sure I have at least $10 in quarters with me. I normally get a roll at the bank when I make a deposit or cash a check, but I only do laundry every 2-3 weeks and my s.s. funds are direct deposited, so I had no need to go. My bank is near the edge of town next to the t.v. station where I worked and was very convenient at the time. I've stayed with them since they have a senior account that saves me money. So, I had to pay the rent this morning and my grocery store is on the way. I decided to drop by their service office to get a roll. Surprise, they charged me 20 cents! 20 cents for a $10 roll of quarters! I was a little upset, but realized, that with gas prices as high as they are, it would take for than 20 cents to go to the bank. It made me remember the days when I was a kid. My best friend got me into coin collecting. To collect coins, you need to see coins and just going through your change won't be a lot of help. So, we devised a plan. We were about midway between to chain grocery stores. These were the days when the office was a little island near the check out stands. We got $ 20 between us and headed to the first store. We got rolls of nickels and pennies and a roll of dimes,,came back to our house and looked through all the coins, taking what we needed for our collection books. Then, we'd reroll the coins and take them to the other store and get more coins. We'd bounce back and forth between the 2 stores for hours, finding coins we needed. We were never charged extra for the rolls. I guess service doesn't come with a smile,,,but with a charge.
deleted_user
deleted_user
20 cents pays for the person rolling the quarters by hand, along with the wrappers. It also pays for the fact that if that store orders money from the bank they probably are charged. The bank has a coin counter that will count and wrap the coins---you are paying for that. The grocery store and the bank and every other business is not around for free---they have bills to pay too so they need income to pay them.

I was in banking for many years and people complained about charges and wanted everything free. Well without the charges and fees I would have never got a paycheck either or benefits.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I guess that is why we see so many banks going out of business.
Group Founderfoxysdad
foxysdad
I almost agree, but banks make most of their money using the money deposited into people's and business' accounts. Those monies are used to make loans and investments to make money for the banks. There are charges for checking accounts and printing checks that help the banks make money also. Few businesses have to roll coins because large quantities are not used by customers pay with large amount of coins. Few banks will take loose change and require that the customer roll the coins themselves. The occasional request for a roll of coins is supplied by rolls already in their stock. I agree that nothing is free anymore which is a sad thing. At most larger grocery stores you can pay your utility bills, and purchase money orders for which there are charges because the store is acting as an agent for the utility and the money order company. There are machines that will count change and give you a receipt to cash in for paper money and there is a fee for that since its a private company that furnishes the machine. It was just irritating to me to pay the extra money to a store where I'm a regular customer.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I can understand how you felt---they were probably trying to keep people from making a habit of getting the coin from the store because then they have to always order more. Believe it or not working for the President in a bank, the banks make ALOT of money off of overdraft charges on checking accounts. Also, the loans they give out commercially and residential, along with consumer lending.

When they came up with "free checking" accounts years ago, they would entice low income people to get their welfare checks automatically deposited each month. Then when the deposit came in they would zap out that money to cover all the overdrafts (including debit cards) and the people would never, ever catch up it was a deep hole they would dig themselves into after awhile.

They are required by the FDIC to keep a certain percentage of funds liquid also. They invest and loan out the rest. But in order for them to make a profit their lending rates must exceed the rates paid to money on deposit. That is their margin of earning potential. As far as investing themselves that is the tricky part of banking. If they have alot tied up in investments themselves and have many people withdrawing money they are in big trouble too. It is all a balancing act but very interesting to leaun about.