Rivers Casino Free Coin Counting
I live in Pittsburgh and have only ever gambled at the Rivers year ago, when they did a canned food drive during which you got $3 in free slot play for every canned good that you contributed. Creamed corn at the time was under 30 cents, so I maxed it out daily as I drove home, while taking advantage of their self-service coffee and soda stations. I think I finished up about $125, nothing major.
Over the years, I've amassed quite a bit of loose change, about 80lbs of it, actually. (Yes, I know about the opportunity cost of compound interest, but I also gained utility from pretending that I was Scrooge McDuck.
So, I called them and asked if they counted change for free and they said "yes, with a players card." However, when I arrived, they were incredibly unprofessional about the proposition. They scrutinized my ID and players card, scolded me for not giving them action, then gave me a not-so-subtle guilt trip/morality lesson. Ultimately, they counted my change. $990 worth of it.
I gave them 1 penny of action on a penny slot as an ironic payment for the lecture that I received, then left.
Certainly, they could have denied my request, but fulfilling it does not give them the right to lecture me. Their entire business is built on manipulation. Yet, when I harmlessly exploit them for 5 minutes (they actually made it about 20), all hell breaks loose.
I look forward to analyzing their games and promotions more often. If that canned good drive ever returns, I'll be there with busloads of homeless people. Hopefully, some of you will be, too.
Trust me, if you don't either look or gamble like a high-roller, they will make it abundantly clear to you that they don't care if you're there or not. I'm surprised they don't actively do wallet checks and say, "Go to Meadows," to anyone with an amount of cash they deem unsatisfactory. Even the food service people suck. I refuse to accept any explanation other than they are deliberately trained to be awful at Customer Service UNLESS the person has a satisfactory ADT.
Or coinstar?
I always go to my bank: they do it for free, and with a smile.
Quote: deedubbs
So, I called them and asked if they counted change for free and they said "yes, with a players card." However, when I arrived, they were incredibly unprofessional about the proposition. They scrutinized my ID and players card, scolded me for not giving them action, then gave me a not-so-subtle guilt trip/morality lesson. Ultimately, they counted my change. $990 worth of it.
Not sure what you expect the attitude to be here. You are asking them to work for free. Local Giant Eagle (dominant grocery store for non locals) has the Coin Star machines, often no surcharge if you take a qualifying gift card IIRC. When you do not give play, you are not a customer. Lets not forget that with TITO there is no longer a hard-count room for the casinos to easily move this cash to the bank.
Sorry, I'm not defending River's customer service, but thus was not "customer" service.
My bank does it for free if you have 10k in your account or have a loan with them. Otherwise it's a 3% charge.Quote: MrVChange coins in a casino?
Or coinstar?
I always go to my bank: they do it for free, and with a smile.
Quote: HunterhillMy bank does it for free if you have 10k in your account or have a loan with them. Otherwise it's a 3% charge.
You need to get a new bank then.
Quote: HunterhillMy bank does it for free if you have 10k in your account or have a loan with them. Otherwise it's a 3% charge.
3% is very fair. As I tell people, the lease ended last week on the free machine, the guy that works for free is on vacation, and the power company shut off the free electricity. Why don't people get this?
Quote: Ayecarumbathe casino (not Rivers) only counted nickles and quarters.
Did they do it by weight or something?
(just mix the dimes in with the quarters.)
My bank does this for free. I think free is fair as well. Whatever charge both parties willingly agree to for a given product or service is fair.Quote: AZDuffman3% is very fair. As I tell people, the lease ended last week on the free machine, the guy that works for free is on vacation, and the power company shut off the free electricity. Why don't people get this?
I have a deal with Mrs. Joeman that we should take our coins to the bank and use the total as our BR for our next casino trip. Last time I had this volume of coins, they totaled just over $1K. Plus a few silver dimes the counter spit back, a couple of foreign coins, and one video game token! I was very surprised it was that much.
As to the OP, I agree that if they are offering a service, they should conduct themselves in a courteous, pleasant manner when you avail yourself of that service. It just seems like good business practice. Not to mention general decency.
Quote: JoemanMy bank does this for free. I think free is fair as well. Whatever charge both parties willingly agree to for a given product or service is fair.
Free is fair if you have an account, but the problem is our society abuses "free." Once people understood the service was free, but it is a courtesy and should not be abused. Today you have people who will have $50 in an account and show up daily with coins from all their friends, never putting $1 of what they bring into the bank. It costs the bank to do all this so they have reason to cut back. Of course if they want to do it free, fine. Just do not get agitated when they do not is my point.
Quote:I have a deal with Mrs. Joeman that we should take our coins to the bank and use the total as our BR for our next casino trip. Last time I had this volume of coins, they totaled just over $1K. Plus a few silver dimes the counter spit back, a couple of foreign coins, and one video game token! I was very surprised it was that much.
I had a college prof who had a husband put his coins in tennis ball cans in the 1970s. He died and she needed help from the bank carrying them inside they were so heavy. Said about $700 in them. Her quote was the best, "all the times we needed that much and it was sitting there! If he was not dead I would have killed him!"
Quote:As to the OP, I agree that if they are offering a service, they should conduct themselves in a courteous, pleasant manner when you avail yourself of that service. It just seems like good business practice. Not to mention general decency.
But the idea is they are conducting a service for the customer. Not giving play is not being a customer. In "Casino" Frank Rosenthal said the Stardust would comp shows to high rollers playing down the street. But the high roller would drop a few hundred bucks for them as payback, even though the Sands got him the comp. Simple common sense to thank your host. Same should go for bringing in your coins, give some play for the service.
Ain't that the truth!Quote: AZDuffmanthe problem is our society abuses "free."
I am typically at the bank twice a month, and I don't see the machine used very often. So, fortunately, there doesn't appear to be any abuse. Yet.
The machine has the bank's cartoon mascot -- some kind of shark (What kind of message they are trying to send by having a lending institution's mascot be a shark?!!) -- on it. So, many people think it is just for kids' piggy banks, but the teller I talked to said anyone with an account can use it.
I take your point, but if I had gotten the reception OP described, I may have given them the same action he did, even if my original intent was to play the full amount of the change until it was gone.Quote:But the idea is they are conducting a service for the customer. Not giving play is not being a customer. In "Casino" Frank Rosenthal said the Stardust would comp shows to high rollers playing down the street. But the high roller would drop a few hundred bucks for them as payback, even though the Sands got him the comp. Simple common sense to thank your host. Same should go for bringing in your coins, give some play for the service.
This is a classic welfare case where the supporters of the system (the gamblers) are taxed extra (wasting time in line) to support a free loader who provided nothing to the system. If your drink serve was drastically slowed down because of a group of penniless homeless people was monopolizing the cocktail waitress would you also support the homeless OP who complained about the CW service.
P.S. unless you are on mood relaxing drugs don't tell me that you don't get frustrated when the person in front of you at the ticket redemption machines decides to breakdown a $100 into 100 $1.
Quote: AZDuffmanYou are asking them to work for free.
He never asked them TO do so for free, he only asked IF they did it for free. When they said yes, the expectation was that they would do so professionally. Perhaps we shouldn't expect that much from a business. . .
#1 I went around 10:00pm on a Tuesday night when the Pirates were out of town. I tried to pick a time when the casino was likely to be less populated out of respect for other players.
#2 After our initial discussion before round two, no one had to wait, the count counter is in the back and a manager does it, they asked me to step aside and wait. Approximately 90% of the wait time was caused on their end, by not providing the service without debate and debating at the cage instead of on the side. That's a management issue, not my issue.
Also, I had to make 2 trips from my car. The first trip was relatively painless after some quick questions and I tipped $5 because the cashiers were nice. However, when I returned with the second bag the mood changed drastically.
My bank does not count coins for free. One of their competitors in Pittsburgh does, but I don't have an account and the service is only available in their suburban locations, so Rivers is much closer to me.
Quote: AZDuffmanBut the idea is they are conducting a service for the customer. Not giving play is not being a customer.
The majority of Las Vegas casinos will give you $5 just for showing a picture ID. Even if all you do is take the money and never give them any more action they will still treat you with respect, courtesy, and professionalism. To get anything more than that requires playing their games. Why can't this casino follow the same practice?
I also have friends that like to eat there, so I am a non-gaming customer occasionally.
Not very. But I would place most of the blame on the casino. They make their own policies as to which transactions their cashiers process. They should be prepared to accommodate all of their patrons in a timely fashion.Quote: zoobrewI have a question for all the supporters of the OP. How happy would you be waiting 20 minutes to cash in your chips while the casino is serving the person doing his banking business at the casino?
I disagree. This is a free-market situation, not an entitlement program. The casino is free to make whatever policies regarding cashier transactions they deem fit. They chose to provide this service free of charge. They should have taken steps to deal with those who avail themselves of this service effectively.Quote:This is a classic welfare case where the supporters of the system (the gamblers) are taxed extra (wasting time in line) to support a free loader who provided nothing to the system.
Which they have evidently done -- by lecturing/berating their low rollers. Perhaps this is effective for their purposes. It is not how I would choose to conduct business, and if I were in OP's position I may have chosen to not give them any of my business thereafter.
If the casino's stated policy was, "Groups of penniless homeless people are welcome to monopolize cocktail waitresses' time as they wish, if they have a Player's Card," then yes, I would support such an OP. However, I would probably not do business in an establishment that had such policies.Quote:If your drink serve was drastically slowed down because of a group of penniless homeless people was monopolizing the cocktail waitress would you also support the homeless OP who complained about the CW service.
Maybe Mirage is testing a way to fight this problem.
Mirage Las Vegas Tests Comped Drink Voucher System and Everything is Ruined
http://vitalvegas.com/mirage-las-vegas-tests-comped-drink-voucher-system-everything-is-ruined/
Quote: zoobrewThis is a classic welfare case where the supporters of the system (the gamblers) are taxed extra (wasting time in line) to support a free loader who provided nothing to the system.
Even if a casino chooses to turn themselves into a welfare office, it is still wrong for them to act like fools
Quote: zoobrewunless you are on mood relaxing drugs don't tell me that you don't get frustrated when the person in front of you at the ticket redemption machines decides to breakdown a $100 into 100 $1.
What drugs are you on that prevent you from going to another machine?
Quote: MrVChange coins in a casino?
Or coinstar?
I always go to my bank: they do it for free, and with a smile.
In the past, I have changed coins in Strip casinos for free - even when there was a Coinstar machine next to the cage. (If the best game in the casino is "Bill Breaker", then one of the worst is "Coinstar," although if it's true that you get 100% as an Amazon.com gift certificate, then that's not so bad.)
On the other hand, pretty much every bank in my area has said for decades that I can't convert coins unless they're in rolls. (The casinos, on the other hand, make me take the coins out of the rolls first.)
Quote: TomGHe never asked them TO do so for free, he only asked IF they did it for free. When they said yes, the expectation was that they would do so professionally. Perhaps we shouldn't expect that much from a business. . .
*sigh* When they say they will do it free they are expecting a small amount and that you will be a patron. IMHO it is kind of understood that the service is for patrons only. OP states they had so many coins they had to make 2 trips.
Quote: TomGThe majority of Las Vegas casinos will give you $5 just for showing a picture ID. Even if all you do is take the money and never give them any more action they will still treat you with respect, courtesy, and professionalism. To get anything more than that requires playing their games. Why can't this casino follow the same practice?
Different market. I do wish I was in Vegas back in the day, I am told even today. People make a "route" of this stuff. But here there is only 3 local competitors, all an hour or more away.
Quote: zoobrewHow happy would you be waiting 20 minutes to cash in your chips while the casino is serving the person doing his banking business at the casino?
Tying up one cashier window for 20 minutes is no big deal. Even in the tiny places I go out in the sticks (where people actually do bring in buckets of change to be counted on a regular basis), there is a second and usually third cashier window open.
Even the TINIEST place I've been to (a tribal slot box advertising "almost 100 machines") has TWO cage windows, and they're usually both open (unless someone is on break).
Basically, if someone was tying up a window (which often happens for reasons other than coins - new people cashing checks, or getting confused by the credit card cash advance system, or having to do a CTR and whining about giving over ID), I only expect to stand in line an extra minute or two.
Quote: AZDuffman*sigh* When they say they will do it free they are expecting a small amount and that you will be a patron. IMHO it is kind of understood that the service is for patrons only. OP states they had so many coins they had to make 2 trips.
It's not my job to infer what they are "expecting." I'm sure there are many, many people in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area with several hundred dollars worth of change. I called in advance to confirm their policy and no caveats were provided. I even told them that I'd be back with more, giving them a chance to refuse additional counting.
I certainly respect their right of refusal, but I don't respect their decision to provide a service unprofessionally. If it were my business, I'd have only two choices, deem that $xxx.xx in coins over y period of time, given z play is abusive and deny to count it, or perform the service with professional decorum.
Again, the primary counter was the manager, not a cashier and she counted it the back. Hence, the delay caused for other customers was caused by her choice to discuss the matter with me at a window manned by a cashier who stared into space while we talked. That's just poor operations management and out of my control.
Nonetheless, I do appreciate the spirited discussion and can sympathize with most points of view. I just wish that I had made a poll!
Quote: deedubbsIt's not my job to infer what they are "expecting." I'm sure there are many, many people in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area with several hundred dollars worth of change. I called in advance to confirm their policy and no caveats were provided. I even told them that I'd be back with more, giving them a chance to refuse additional counting.
Nonetheless, I do appreciate the spirited discussion and can sympathize with most points of view. I just wish that I had made a poll!
Glad you appreciate the other POVs. Hope you did not take mine as a personal attack, not meant to be. Just saying that I've been on the "business" side so many times in my life, and at some point I wanted to tell many a person that they were not my "customer" and I could not give them any more of my time.
Maybe I see you at VoV-East IV!
Quote: AZDuffman*sigh* When they say they will do it free they are expecting a small amount and that you will be a patron. IMHO it is kind of understood that the service is for patrons only.
I have been in over 100 casinos that offer check cashing, often even giving you money and alcohol to do so. It's completely understood by everyone that only a fraction of the people who use the service will spend money there. None of them would ever consider acting like these people did if someone didn't give them any action after taking their drinks and coupons. Casinos can very easily have a policy limited people to $50 per day until they reach a certain level of play. For whatever reason this casino chose not to do that.
Further, they offer these banking services so people can then use the money at the casino. It is understood by any business that anyone would walk out without giving them anything after being treated like that.
Quote: TomG
Further, they offer these banking services so people can then use the money at the casino.
This is what I am trying to say.
Quote: AZDuffmanThis is what I am trying to say.Quote: TomGFurther, they offer these banking services so people can then use the money at the casino.
But if they turn someone off so completely with such poor customer service they will lose all hope of ever seeing any of that money from them. Every other casino seems to understand that. . .
Quote: TomGBut if they turn someone off so completely with such poor customer service they will lose all hope of ever seeing any of that money from them. Every other casino seems to understand that. . .
It is only "customer service" if you are a customer.
Quote: AZDuffmanIt is only "customer service" if you are a customer.
Then I guess it should be called bad sales, because when they do that they lose business to someone else
Quote: TomGThen I guess it should be called bad sales, because when they do that they lose business to someone else
Right!
Service at Rivers is very mixed. I used to prefer it to Meadows, not so much now. Poker room is nicer looking, that is their biggest lead.
Quote: AZDuffmanThis is what I am trying to say.Quote: TomGFurther, they offer these banking services so people can then use the money at the casino.
It's like if a casino offers free parking then starts treating people poorly because they take advantage of being able to park before they ever gamble
Quote: IbeatyouracesOn a related note, I got an e-mail from Ellis Island stating that everyday in September they will convert change for free or give it to you in free play at 120% of face value.
And, were I in Vegas, I'd be hitting the banks for all the quarter rolls they have.
Quote: zoobrewI have a question for all the supporters of the OP. How happy would you be waiting 20 minutes to cash in your chips while the casino is serving the person doing his banking business at the casino?
I happen to agree with this point, and what I would do is call Rivers and ask why they are working as counters of coins. My problem would not be the guy using the service, my problem would be that the service exists at all in a casino.
It's also not unusual for them. I don't recall if you've been there, but if I have ever made one correct subjective opinionated statement in my entire life, it is that their customer service generally sucks.
Quote:This is a classic welfare case where the supporters of the system (the gamblers) are taxed extra (wasting time in line) to support a free loader who provided nothing to the system. If your drink serve was drastically slowed down because of a group of penniless homeless people was monopolizing the cocktail waitress would you also support the homeless OP who complained about the CW service.
Is this a political discussion, now? You're free to work whatever angle you want, I'm just not biting. That casino also has self-serve drinks and the ability to 86 whoever they like for any reason. Thus, while I would not report a group of homeless people for committing the terrible act of wanting a beverage, I would have no problem with the casino kicking them out, either.
Quote:P.S. unless you are on mood relaxing drugs don't tell me that you don't get frustrated when the person in front of you at the ticket redemption machines decides to breakdown a $100 into 100 $1.
There are a great many things that people have a right to do that I would prefer they not do. I probably do things within my rights that others would prefer I not do. So, frustrated, at times...but that doesn't mean I don't think a person should be disallowed doing that.
Quote: AZDuffman*sigh* When they say they will do it free they are expecting a small amount and that you will be a patron. IMHO it is kind of understood that the service is for patrons only. OP states they had so many coins they had to make 2 trips.
Make it a PC tier benefit. Solved. Currently, however, it apparently has nothing to do with tier.
Don't forget to check the rolls for any pre-1964 silver quarters before handing them over to Ellis Island!Quote: Mission146And, were I in Vegas, I'd be hitting the banks for all the quarter rolls they have.
Quote: Mission146And, were I in Vegas, I'd be hitting the banks for all the quarter rolls they have.
Rolls of quarters are $10. Rolls of small dollars are $25.
From a volume, weight*, and time** perspective, you do better with dollars.
*$25 in quarters is 567 grams, over a pound. In small dollars, it's about 203 grams, less than half a pound.
**Assuming that each individual coin takes the same amount of time to count, or that each roll takes the same amount of time to count.
Quote: AZDuffmanGlad you appreciate the other POVs. Hope you did not take mine as a personal attack, not meant to be. Just saying that I've been on the "business" side so many times in my life, and at some point I wanted to tell many a person that they were not my "customer" and I could not give them any more of my time.
Maybe I see you at VoV-East IV!
I definitely didn't take your comment (or anyone else's) personally. I'm often inclined to look for conflicting view points rather than confirming ones, so I love the discussion.
Yes! I've got to make it to WoV-East IV!!!... I just hope that it's not at the Rivers!
Quote: Mission146And, were I in Vegas, I'd be hitting the banks for all the quarter rolls they have.
Come one, Mission! You know better than this... Sacagawea rolls. ;)
Edit: Whoops! I didn't see that Dieter beat me to it.
