So do you think it's worth it being a penny hoarder?

[bsshog40]

I seen this story on yahoo this evening. It's a little interesting but would it really be worth it to anyone? Seems like a long time of saving and sorting to me.

 

..If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash in on Thousands of Dollars

By NEAL KARLINSKY and MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM | ABC News – Fri, Dec 2, 2011....

 

...If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash in on Thousands of Dollars (ABC News …

....Joe Henry is on a first name basis with bank tellers across his hometown of Medford, Ore., scouring 15 banks a week with one thing on his mind: pennies.

 

Henry is often seen toting around bags of pennies, some he buys, others he changes back in for cash, which seems a little strange at first. He's not a collector, he is what's known as a "penny hoarder" and he is not alone.

 

Inside a shed next to his house, Henry has orange tubs filled with 200,000 pennies, and he spends hours sorting through roll after roll of the coins. But it's not just any and all pennies, Henry is only interested in those that are dated from 1982 and earlier because those are the coins made with 95 percent copper. A copper penny is worth more than other pennies -- now mostly made of zinc -- currently priced at $0.024.

 

"The copper has such a different sound than zinc pennies do," Henry said. "Real money has that definite sound of money and if you listen to a modern zinc penny, they don't sound the same, they sound sort of tinny."

 

Henry even has a $500 home counting machine to separate out the copper ones.

 

Much like the resurging obsession with gold, the price of copper has skyrocketed in recent years and the rising price has led to some unusual sprees. Thieves have been exploiting the value hidden in obscure items, stripping copper wiring from phone and utility cables, from construction sites, even from a 122-year-old copper bell that was stolen from a San Francisco cathedral.

 

In San Diego, so much copper wiring has been stolen from eight different city parks, that soccer teams can't practice because the field lights stopped working.

 

But penny hoarders aren't thieves, just opportunists. There are a slew of listing for pennies in bulk on eBay, but what's amazing is they include listings for $10 in pennies being sold for $20 dollars. If you think only a sucker would pay two cents for a penny, you're missing out on a business opportunity that Adam Youngs, who runs a massive penny sorting operation in Portland, Ore., has perfected.

 

He explained how he can sell a $100 worth of pennies for $176, when shipping and packaging are included.

 

Youngs' operation, the Portland Mint, is locked inside a secure facility that deals with armored cars -- selling and shipping to clients in every state -- and works in pennies by the ton. He said he has clients with deep pockets who are storing huge sacks of pennies and he has inquires from hedge funds.

 

"Just in face value alone, about $270,000 dollars [in pennies] right now," Youngs said. "That is just the face value, that is not even the copper value. The copper value is about three times that much."

 

 

Inside the Portland Mint. Credit: ABC News

Clients use Youngs because he separates copper pennies from the chump change -- the newer pennies that are only worth $0.01.

 

But in the weird world of penny hoarding, getting to the copper is a very big problem. It's illegal to melt pennies an there is an obscure federal law that makes it illegal to transport more than $5 in pennies out of the country.

 

Penny hoarders know this of course, but they also know something else. In what could be the biggest legislation to hit the U.S. Mint in 50 years, officials are now looking at the composition of pennies and nickels and considering an overhaul. If the laws change and the mint decides to abolish the penny, people would be free to melt them down for the copper.

 

A penny saved, many times over, could be a whole lot earned.

 

 

[rons]

I have been separating my pennies for the last 8 years or so and currently have about $35 rolled. I am not going to banks and buying rolls but just checking my change on a daily basis and setting the pre 82 cents aside. With out government as goofy as it is there is no telling when melting will become legalized. I look at all my change anyway so I am not going out of my way to collect them. I have noticed that my average "take" is down to about 8 cents a week from 20 cents about 4 years ago. I guess that makes me a mini hoarder

[bochiman]

If you don't have a job, a wife, kids, things to do with your life, maybe it may end up being worth it....hope you have someplace to store it.

 

If you value your time and anything else in your life, I, personally, don't think it is worth it.

[Gunny]

How do you redeem 4000 lbs of pennies anyway?

[ldhair]

Just some rough math. It would take 4 or 5 semi trucks to haul $270,000 in cents. The pallets and crates would run about $3000 total. The trucker would charge about $12,000 total if both ends had a dock and forklift.

 

If sold for 2 cents each, that would be a profit of about $255,000 total.

Can't even guess the cost of sorting and storage.

 

 

[cpm9ball]

Two or three years ago when I started reading comments about people hoarding pre-83 Lincoln cents, I was curious to learn what the reclamation centers around the state of Florida were paying for them. I learned that they were quoting prices substantially different from the price listed in the Commodities Exchange.

 

The current price of copper is $3.60/lb, but that is for Grade A copper. Since the cent is an alloy, the reclamation centers were only offering about 25% of the price for Grade A copper. Does anyone know right off the top of their head how many it takes to equal a pound?

 

Chris

[mtnstyne]

Two or three years ago when I started reading comments about people hoarding pre-83 Lincoln cents, I was curious to learn what the reclamation centers around the state of Florida were paying for them. I learned that they were quoting prices substantially different from the price listed in the Commodities Exchange.

 

The current price of copper is $3.60/lb, but that is for Grade A copper. Since the cent is an alloy, the reclamation centers were only offering about 25% of the price for Grade A copper. Does anyone know right off the top of their head how many it takes to equal a pound?

 

Chris

 

I thought it was still illegal to melt pennies and thus the hoarders waiting for the law to change.

 

It takes around 145 pennies pre-1982 in a pound.

 

Post 1982 it takes 181.

[jesbroken]

That's crazy Bobby and I remember ats a poster named Compromonedas, I think, had a hoard worth well over $25k of pre 1982 pennies and a large percentage of them being wheats. Here are a couple of pics I saved of his hoard. Their was another pic of the garage and you can just make out the front end of a red ferrari-go figure.

Jim

 

 

 

[bsshog40]

I think it's more of an obession with people myself. Kind of like storing up a years worth of food in a bunker waiting for another haulocaust. Chris is right also about scraping these for melt. If it becomes legal and someone actually starts a business to melt these pennies only, regular scrap prices would be significantly lower than the actual copper price due to having to separate the copper from the alloy.

[ncdaveo5]

At today's prices you would get between 2 and 3 cents worth of copper out of one penny, If my math is rite.

[cpm9ball]

Two or three years ago when I started reading comments about people hoarding pre-83 Lincoln cents, I was curious to learn what the reclamation centers around the state of Florida were paying for them. I learned that they were quoting prices substantially different from the price listed in the Commodities Exchange.

 

The current price of copper is $3.60/lb, but that is for Grade A copper. Since the cent is an alloy, the reclamation centers were only offering about 25% of the price for Grade A copper. Does anyone know right off the top of their head how many it takes to equal a pound?

 

Chris

 

I thought it was still illegal to melt pennies and thus the hoarders waiting for the law to change.

 

It takes around 145 pennies pre-1982 in a pound.

 

Post 1982 it takes 181.

 

Yes, it is still illegal, but that doesn't negate the fact that the cent is still an alloy, and as such, would not be worth the quoted price for Grade A copper.

 

So, if Grade A copper is worth $3.60/lb and there are 182 pre-83 cents to the pound, but the reclamation center is only paying 25% of the Grade A price for copper alloy, then you would receive 90c for every $1.82 worth of cents. Great deal? Right!

 

Grade A copper would have to sell for $7.28/lb just to break even. That's why I think it is ridiculous to hoard the pre-83 Lincolns.

 

Chris

[jtryka]

I'll admit I am a hoarder of pre-1982 pennies, I have maybe 12,500 of them now, just saved from change and someday I think they will trade like junk silver does now, you might get 2-3x face for them. As for the scrap dealers paying 25% of grade A price for pennies, they are screwing you over big time, that's like a coin dealer paying only 25% of silver price for junk silver since it only has 90% silver content, it's the same concept!

[cpm9ball]

I'll admit I am a hoarder of pre-1982 pennies, I have maybe 12,500 of them now, just saved from change and someday I think they will trade like junk silver does now, you might get 2-3x face for them. As for the scrap dealers paying 25% of grade A price for pennies, they are screwing you over big time, that's like a coin dealer paying only 25% of silver price for junk silver since it only has 90% silver content, it's the same concept!

 

That may be true about the reclamation centers cheating everyone, but what are you going to do? I tried melting them down myelf to extract the copper, but now I can't flush the toilet.

 

Chris

[jtryka]

I'll admit I am a hoarder of pre-1982 pennies, I have maybe 12,500 of them now, just saved from change and someday I think they will trade like junk silver does now, you might get 2-3x face for them. As for the scrap dealers paying 25% of grade A price for pennies, they are screwing you over big time, that's like a coin dealer paying only 25% of silver price for junk silver since it only has 90% silver content, it's the same concept!

 

That may be true about the reclamation centers cheating everyone, but what are you going to do? I tried melting them down myelf to extract the copper, but now I can't flush the toilet.

 

Chris

 

[mailman1959]

If he's never allowed to melt them just imagine all the people he can his 2-cents worth to

[johnny9434]

i hope he gets it

[Kboy24]

Just never understood the penny thing, Ya know? Morgans BABY!!!

[cpm9ball]

Just never understood the penny thing, Ya know? Morgans BABY!!!

 

Heck yeah! I wish I could amass a few 50-gal barrels of Morgans. I wouldn't even care if they were all ungradable.

 

Chris

[reybo]

I checked eBay and buyers there haven't got the word. Penny rolls aren't selling. This article may have been written to fire up undeserved interest.