I read about coin roll hunting and was shocked that some people can make 10's of thousands to $100,000 off of it.

[www.cnbc.com]

Apparently, these individuals are taking home coin rolls from the bank and searching through them for rare ones.

Weird job #2: RST Marketing (my cousin works for this company)

You get a bunch of envelopes/mail and you hand sign them with the address on the envelope. Why? I was told that people statistically open letters more if they are hand written/signed on the envelope. So...if you're a charity and send a letter out, you get a higher probability of someone opening (vs. throwing in trash ASAP) if the envelope was handwritten in ink.

[www.rstmkt.com] cousin's company

For you stay-at-homers, here are some interesting jobs you can do possibly if interested.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/13/2019 08:44AM by shoptastic.

I wonder where in the heck they found shops willing to pay those kinds of prices for wheat pennies and the old copper pennies? Yes, you pay a premium when you buy them but you are offered face value or less when you try to sell them.

As a kid 60 years ago I used to 'turn' my allowance several times each week for penny rolls for my coin collection. In those days the banks were perfectly happy to take back rolled coins. I found a number of steel pennies over time and pretty much managed to complete my coin folders for pennies, nickels and dimes. When my kids were young they too searched coin rolls for their coin folders, but by then the bank wanted your account number written on the outside of the coin rollers to charge back any shortages in the rolls. These days banks have you go to a coin counting machine where if the machine is working properly you will get credit for the coins, though perhaps with a hefty 'haircut' fee to the machine owner. Rarely have I put 50 pennies in one of those machines and have it agree that it was 50 cents, Sometimes it is higher as there were leftover coins from the previous user, more often it is less and I can't get it to dislodge anything stuck in the machine to either count or return to me.

I was a teenager in the 60s and we used to get $50 of pennies and search through them over the weekend for our collection. Sometimes we did nickels or dimes or quarters. Rare coins can indeed be sold. You can look on eBay for prices, but condition really matters when it comes to prices. A few months ago, I thought it would be nice to give everyone attending my high school 50th reunion a 1970 half dollar. I had the bank order $1000 of halves for me. Well, 1970 was a year when halves were still partially silver. I found zero 1970 halves. I found two halves minted between 1965 and 1970 (the years when they were 40% silver). 2 out of 2,000 coins = 0.1% and none of them were from 1970. Luckily, there is a small but growing local bank that still has coin counting machines, and I deposited them in $200 batches. I kept the two 1967 halves. Each currently has a melt value of $2.61 so I spent about 6 hours (I am really fast) plus gas to find two "valuable" coins. As collectible coins, they are worth about $5 each on eBay. So, I made at most $1.66 per hour. Do rare coins exist out there, still in circulation? I am sure that they do. I estimate that my brother and I looked at several million pennies (do the arithmetic) and we never found a 1909 S-VDB penny. We did find five 1909 VDB pennies (Philadelphia mint not even Denver mint) and they are worth about $4 on eBay.

It is true that handwritten addresses on envelopes cause envelopes to be opened more often. That is a real opportunity, but ask how much they pay per envelope and whether you mail the envelopes or have to send them back to the charity (who pays the postage if you have to mail them back). Then find some addresses, and see how many you can do on plain paper (for an hour or until your hand cramps up). Estimate your hourly pay. I actually think this is a viable opportunity for some people who are homebound. Much better than searching through coins.

@shoptastic wrote:

I read about coin roll hunting and was shocked that some people can make 10's of thousands to $100,000 off of it.

[www.cnbc.com]

Apparently, these individuals are taking home coin rolls from the bank and searching through them for rare ones.

Weird job #2: RST Marketing (my cousin works for this company)

You get a bunch of envelopes/mail and you hand sign them with the address on the envelope. Why? I was told that people statistically open letters more if they are hand written/signed on the envelope. So...if you're a charity and send a letter out, you get a higher probability of someone opening (vs. throwing in trash ASAP) if the envelope was handwritten in ink.

[www.rstmkt.com] cousin's company

For you stay-at-homers, here are some interesting jobs you can do possibly if interested.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2019 06:45PM by myst4au.

Yup. Hand cramps indeed.

Cousin only does it part-time (she's a teacher too) for a few hours a day. Estimated about $6.50/hour, BUT could go faster...she chooses not to, b/c she watches TV doing it.

Not a good job really (probably min. wage), but pretty decent if you're a stay-at-homer or side-hustling. No need to worry about gas mileage, micro-managing boss, can relax, etc.

She doesn't mail them, as she lives right next to the headquarters. Literally walks in!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2019 11:09PM by shoptastic.

I wouldn't mind trying to coin hunting for a few months. I honestly sounds fun!

The coin and stamp markets are absolute crap right now. Values are but a small fraction of what they were years ago.

From what I see on OP's link is that the "Handwritten" addresses are actually done by a machine. So that raises questions. Does a prospective signer have to buy their machine? Rent it? Go to their office to use it? The website, regarding work opportunities, is quite vague.

@sestrahelena wrote:

The coin and stamp markets are absolute crap right now. Values are but a small fraction of what they were years ago.

From what I see on OP's link is that the "Handwritten" addresses are actually done by a machine. So that raises questions. Does a prospective signer have to buy their machine? Rent it? Go to their office to use it? The website, regarding work opportunities, is quite vague.

There might be a machine pen version, but my cousin definitely does it by hand.

I think they say they have hundreds of handwriting staff on the site.

Oh, snap! I am abiding by Flylady's rule to "dress to shoes".No jammies jobs for me.

It doesn't seem they have any jobs open right now

Snap. I would have done it, too! (The hand-addressing envelope gig.)

@ceasesmith wrote:

It doesn't seem they have any jobs open right now

Snap. I would have done it, too! (The hand-addressing envelope gig.)

They have a contact button you can inquire about jobs on, cs, if you haven't emailed/messaged them.

[www.rstmkt.com] (general contact)
[www.rstmkt.com] (specific to "hand-addressing" jobs)

I'll ask my cousin if she has any leads on openings. She just got work there recently (within past few months).

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2019 08:46PM by shoptastic.

Love FLYlady. But my house clothes look a lot like pajamas. If my hair and teeth are brushed and I am wearing my bra and my Birkies- I am "dressed"

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Oh, snap! I am abiding by Flylady's rule to "dress to shoes".No jammies jobs for me.

One gig I am considering is Transcription. But I know it would be tedious and not pay much. They pay so much per audio minute but I know I have to listen, pause, type, re-listen. Not really suggesting, as I haven't tried it but here is one site.
[gotranscript.com]

My aunt cared for dogs in her home. She got quite a few customers who didn't want to put their pets in kennels. Something like Rover.com

@ceasesmith wrote:

It doesn't seem they have any jobs open right now

Snap. I would have done it, too! (The hand-addressing envelope gig.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2019 03:43PM by prince.

I did court transcriptions for years. It was long ago, but I still type. I'll check that out.

I don't get along with dogs.

I checked that out. Don't have the computer skills for it. They require "bolding" and "italicizing" and I don't know how to do those. Heck, I don't even know how to underline!

bold
strikeout
underline
italics
There are other companies and I have no idea which might be good ones.

I don't know that I would like it anyway.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2019 03:52PM by prince.

I did transcription from home before turning to mystery shopping full time. The pay was really lousy.

What is the exact title RST gives for that position of hand writing envelopes? I want to send in my application/resume to their HR dept's email address to apply for this position but I would like to know what the title of this position is first.

the coin rolling part is real. i remember during the recession a ton of laundry mats in the area were really mad because a group was going around changing dollar bills and not using the quarters in the machine... they were not looking for rare coins particularly but quarters from 1964 or earlier because they contain 1/7 of an ounce of silver which is $2-$5. i doubt this would work in larger cities but little po dunk town banks might do it and its not a risk because you can just deposit at the bank when you get home

if anyone is interested in getting into transcription there are a number of high value tasks on mturk that will give you practice and some amazon creds



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2019 01:51PM by cooldude581.

Yes, but I still don't know HOW you did those!!!

@prince wrote:

bold
strikeout
underline
italics
There are other companies and I have no idea which might be good ones.

I don't know that I would like it anyway.

Some sights have a quick selection for them.
Here I used

[b ] words I want bold [/b ]
[s ] words I want strike through [/s ]
[u ] words to underline [/u ]

I have put spaces after the letters in brackets so the command will show up.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2019 05:27PM by prince.

I did medical transcription for 5 years. It was OK since I was also working as a medical assistant. I graduated University with a degree in teaching and foreign languages but discovered that I did not like teaching, mostly because of administrative work and hating being stuck in a school for 8 hours a day. So I got a job as a medical assistant (mom was a nurse in the same office) and liked it. Also became a crack typist. Fast forward 15 years and discovered my real talents were typing and translations. Did that for a while but not much money in that. So mom aged and broke her hip and I had to be full time caregiver. Fortunately, did not have a husband or kids to manage so it wasn't that bad. Got a job online doing psychic readings. Yeah. I will wait for everyone to stop collapsing with laughter. I happen to have a talent for it. And got a transcription job from home. I recently went back to transcribing and found it boring and tedious and a pain in the neck, literally. All those people speaking with a mouth full of bubble gum. And accents from all over the world. Yes, I understand French, Spanish and German accents but put them into a focus group with everyone babbling together and it's a real headache so if you want something to relax with while staying at home in bad weather or taking care of mom or dad, I would not recommend transcribing as something that will calm your nerves in between bedpans and burning dinner.

This may be off-topic, but since we're talking side-hustles...

Have people done blood bank donations or recycling?

I've heard you can get paid $40 to donate blood. But, I've always wondered about the safety of it. Any concerns of catching something at all?

Do you mean donate plasma? I know you can donate blood and get promotions like movie tickets or maybe a $10 gift card but I think plasma is the one that gives you money.

Regarding safety, I mean, you should be safe with reputable companies that use clean needles. With the news of reused needles in Pakistan and an HIV outbreak, I can understand your concern, but every time I've seen blood drawn in the US, it's with clean needles.

@shoptastic wrote:

This may be off-topic, but since we're talking side-hustles...

Have people done blood bank donations or recycling?

I've heard you can get paid $40 to donate blood. But, I've always wondered about the safety of it. Any concerns of catching something at all?

@chiffon cupcakes wrote:

Do you mean donate plasma? I know you can donate blood and get promotions like movie tickets or maybe a $10 gift card but I think plasma is the one that gives you money.

Regarding safety, I mean, you should be safe with reputable companies that use clean needles. With the news of reused needles in Pakistan and an HIV outbreak, I can understand your concern, but every time I've seen blood drawn in the US, it's with clean needles.

Non-med literate person here!

Yeah, I think you're right that it's plasma. Not fully sure of the difference, but will look it up later.

I think the one that pays well is the one I'm interested in, but even $10 for regular blood doesn't sound too bad if it's routed in a way where I'd be going by that location anyways. I don't know much about blood/plasma donations, so just was curious in general about safety. I figured it would be safe here in the U.S., but then you never know. Just wasn't sure if there was any shadiness to these places you know?

@shoptastic wrote:

I've heard you can get paid $40 to donate blood. But, I've always wondered about the safety of it. Any concerns of catching something at all?

In Dallas you got paid $40 per plasma "donation" for anyone 175 pounds and over and $30 per donation for anyone weighing less. There is a minimum weight of around 100-110 I believe. You can sell your plasma no more than twice in any 7 day period with at least a day in between.

They take your plasma and then return your red blood cells to you along with a sterile saline solution. There were two companies in Dallas, CSL and I can't remember the other. They often ran bonuses such as on your 7th, 8th and 9th donation of a given month you would get an extra $10, $20 and $30.

They use sterile technique which prevents you from catching anything. They also take your vital signs and have cut offs if your BP or pulse are too high or low. Your are also asked screening questions which you could easily lie on. However, your plasma is tested before it is used.

CSL is an international firm based out of Indiana and Belgium.

@shoptastic wrote:

Have people done blood bank donations or recycling?

Around here there are people with trucks that drive around the night before trash pickup. They strip any metal off the bulk trash that is put out. Someone told me on a good night they can make about $500

very helpful, wrosie!

Thanks!!

I couldn't imagine donating twice a day, but that's actually good to know too. It's interesting. I'm going to look into more locally when I have the time.

Good to know about needle safety too. Always very paranoid about that stuff!!!!

I'll probably ask if they ever re-use needles (vs. sterilizing them with alcohol or something like that...or any other process). I personally would only do it if I knew it was a fresh needle.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2019 11:20PM by shoptastic.

Donating plasma takes between 90 minutes and 2 hours each time. Blood donation takes about an hour for the entire process, with the blood draw limited to 10 minutes. The amount of money you get for plasma donation depends on the volume you provide, which is a function of your weight. You can expect between $20 and $50 (depending upon your weight = volume they can take).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2019 11:47PM by myst4au.

@myst4au wrote:

Donating plasma takes between 90 minutes and 2 hours each tie. Blood donation takes about an hour for the entire process, with the blood draw limited to 10 minutes. The mount of money you get for plasma donation depends on teh volume yu provide, which is a function of you weight.

Oh, WOW!

That does make a difference then. Yeah, I'll have to look into the value of it for me, then. I do wonder if you can go as a family? That could maybe reduce "time costs" if you can simultaneously have multiple family members donate and make a more worthwhile trip.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2019 11:40PM by shoptastic.

I believe you have to be over 18. Also, the majority of the people who sell their plasma appear to be either homeless, in shelters or on public assistance. One employee told me that at the beginning of the month they have hardly any business. Everyone has gotten their government check. Towards the end of the month, they are very busy since everyone has already spent their government money.

Disclaimer: I sell my plasma and I'm not on government assistance and have a college degree. They have WIFI and I can check my e-mail and stuff one handed on my tablet during the donation process.

The needle they use is much larger than the needle used to take a blood sample for normal lab tests. It only hurts as it punctures the skin. After that it isn't uncomfortable, but you know it's there.