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I tell people I know about the pre-82 penny thing and several of them have become mini-savers; people who save whatever copper pennies they get in change but stop short of buying boxes to sort. I know many members on here would rather be as private and discrete as possible. Is there a balance? What do ya'll think is the appropriate level of OPSEC for penny sorting?

I started telling people years ago when I first started pulling coppers from circulation. I got looks that were more troubling than when they found out I was a gold bug. So, screw 'em. I tell no one, not out of secrecy, just out of "hey-you-don't-want-to-listen-then-that's-fine" attitude. More for me.

Continue stacking, mi amigos.

I'll second what Agflake posted.
Usually I get a look like I'm from Mars blasting a death ray if I start discussing the price of Cu and various ways to invest in the metal.
If I'm asked or someone shows an interest, I'll tell them, but I won't bring it up as a topic for discussion unprompted.

One son encouraged me other two will wait to see what they get when I die,
I'm 77 so they might not have long wait

I was sharing, now just visit with Bank an other people

I tell anyone who asks and tell them as much as they seem to want to know. This is mostly relatives that my parents tell about penny sorting.

When I started to sort copper, I told just about everyone who would listen to me how great saving copper cents is. But now I hardly tell anyone about it. People think I look for old wheat cents only, and when I tell them I also save the cents made from 1959 - 1982 they tend to give me "yea OK" look and nod and smile politely. It seems the general public treats the cent as a piece of trash, and telling someone that that piece of copper "trash" is worth double its face value still isn't enough to get people excited.

For a while I thought it was the best idea and I should share. The general reaction is you're nuts, but an OK guy.

Now, if someone asks I tell them. One person in one bank I get cents from appears happy to see me and appears interested in what I have to say.

My family is sure I have gone off the deep end, but they figure it is less expensive than crash derby cars, like my brother does.

I started sorting after doing my homework and deciding this was a good thing to do...... I started in secret as this is the ONLY way I get things past the wife. Once I was in production, well she kinda did not have a choice but to let me continue. She thinks I am completely out of my mind with the penny deal. Of course she just thinks I am crazy anyway, so I went in search of others to validate my ideas which led me to this forum. Outside of this forum, pretty much anyone I tell either thinks I am completely mad or understands the theory but fails to see the practicality behind it. For those that understand, they either think it is too much work for too little gain, or that the government is never going to lift the ban.

I tell people because I know they are too lazy to try and it is funny to watch their facial expressions when I tell them. Then I tell them about all the Indian Head pennies and the two 1909 VBD pennies (one in AU-59 condition) I have pulled from boxes in the last year alone and how much I sold them for this year. They get jealous and make statements like "I wish I found a penny worth that!" It gives me satisfaction because I just told them how to find the pennies and they laughed at me.

My point is that you can tell all the people you want, and very few will understand you let alone become your competition. The human being is basically lazy and rarely plans and positions themselves for success. Those that do may not have the time to sort, and that provides you with an opportunity to sell to them. Any competition you experience by telling someone should be minimal at this point. There are lots of banks, and lots of tellers who like chocolate so sourcing a consistent supply of coin has never really been a concern for me and over the 3+ years I have been hoarding, my percentages have yet to drop. They stay consistently in the 25-30% range.

I sometimes have to inform the occasional cashier about the whole pre/post 82 thing, it's usually after I ask for only coppers back in my change or they catch me exchanging zincs for copper out of the penny tray.

I never stop talking about it

I used to make comments on other boards about copper whenever someone brought up that they were a newbie and wanted to buy gold cold turkey, but generally my advice would fall on deaf ears. I gave up discussing on finance sites and the like after a while. People will arrive at the realization some day that copper cents are a free lunch right now at face value of $0.01 each. The math is simple. If they allow a copper cent melt in the next decade and copper at least stays at this price level or goes higher, any pennies stashed now will have grown nominally at 7% annual compounded rate. Where can you get 7% annual rate with the downside risk being that at worst you only get your principle back? Oh, and the annual cost of having a physical copper cent account? Only the cost of having a space in your home to store them. No annual 1% fee or expenses, etc.

Gobirds66 wrote:
My point is that you can tell all the people you want, and very few will understand you let alone become your competition. The human being is basically lazy and rarely plans and positions themselves for success. Those that do may not have the time to sort, and that provides you with an opportunity to sell to them. Any competition you experience by telling someone should be minimal at this point.

I like what was said here and can point to parallels in the stock market. I've heard really good traders say they have had others sit with them, take notes and study everything they do. But when they are on their own they can't replicate what they just witnessed. Part of the reason is that your emotions are totally different when it is your own money on the line. Some people would cash out when others tell them they just made a "stupid" investment or refer to it as gambling. And by being intellectually lazy, they wouldn't be able to justify (even to themselves) why it is better to hold onto the investment they made. Then, of course, there are people who get out because of the 3 D's (death, divorce and desperation (i.e., pending bankruptcy)). That is the wildcard.

Not any more.

The only time I share now is when I am asking for all the loose pennies a cashier has in their till. Or CWR's. I explain I am looking for 1907s VDB. That satisfies their curiosity.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Not any more.

The only time I share now is when I am asking for all the loose pennies a cashier has in their till. Or CWR's. I explain I am looking for 1907s VDB. That satisfies their curiosity.

Good luck ever finding one of those!

Same as a lot of others, I told a few people, and they were like, "hummm, that's interesting" but forgot about it a few minutes later. I don't bother sharing after that. More for us.

The other day I came clean with the wife about how much I'd sorted and stored away. She was shocked to say the least, but supportive and urged me to keep going .

JadeDragon wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Not any more.

The only time I share now is when I am asking for all the loose pennies a cashier has in their till. Or CWR's. I explain I am looking for 1907s VDB. That satisfies their curiosity.

Good luck ever finding one of those!

Yeah I know, but it gets them momentarily enthused so they give up some coins.

EDIT: OH MY GOD! I HAVE MISPLACED MY MEMORY PILLS AGAIN! I know it's a 1909s VDB. Why in the world would I have typed in 1907???!! ¡Ay, Caramba!

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:

JadeDragon wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:Not any more.

The only time I share now is when I am asking for all the loose pennies a cashier has in their till. Or CWR's. I explain I am looking for 1907s VDB. That satisfies their curiosity.

Good luck ever finding one of those!

Yeah I know, but it gets them momentarily enthused so they give up some coins.

EDIT: OH MY GOD! I HAVE MISPLACED MY MEMORY PILLS AGAIN! I know it's a 1909s VDB. Why in the world would I have typed in 1907???!! ¡Ay, Caramba!

Funny thing is you could tell 99% of the public that you are looking for a 1907 S VDB and they would never even understand what you mean, let alone know it does not exist. We should try that as an experiment....give the wrong year to the general public and see how many of them bite on it.....LOL!

people tend to look at me like i am one of those old hoarders that saves every news paper for 30 years or has a mountain of junk,

"Loose lips sink ships!" It's every man for himself (or herself!)!

I told my wife and now she keeps all her pennies for me...last week she said she found a really old one...1983...oh, well.

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Shazbot57 wrote:"Loose lips sink ships!" It's every man for himself (or herself!)!

I am very careful about who I tell. In the end it is mounds of money laying around the house, yard, barn, etc.

mlpfan wrote:people tend to look at me like i am one of those old hoarders that saves every news paper for 30 years or has a mountain of junk,

My wife has threatened an "intervention" for hoarding a time or too. I tell her that is her retirement.

Interesting thread...note how many rarely heard from members chimed in. Awesome! (you guys know it's ok to post more than 5 times a year, right?)

Ahh...maybe they're just too busy sorting while the rest of us are blabbing and not getting anything done.

To the original issue: I used to talk coins all the time but it mostly fell on deaf ears. Now, hardly ever.

Good observation. Definitely a bimodal distribution in this thread. Either multi thousands of posts, or less than 500. Not much in between.

I tried to tell a few people. They just don't seem to get it or think its a waste of time. I have showed a few people some of my other finds like my hoard of wheat's and they say they would like to have that many of them. They never follow through though. I showed my Dad that you could find silver in halves and dimes and he acted like he may give it a try. He never did though and he is retired and needs a hobby or something to keep him occupied.