Realcent.org

I haven't posted in a long time, but visit the site regularly. I was inspired by the Realcenters on national TV, building up their hoards, so I picked up 2 Brinks Boxes of pennies today from BOA. Man, have times changed from the days of 20-25 copper %. The first roll was all zinc. This has never happened to me before. M y heart sunk. After the sixth roll without one copper pull, I realized that the game has changed and for the worst. Could be wrong, but I think all the publicity and knowledge spread by this forum has finally taken its toll on the copper penny. Its days are numbered and I think the ride downhill will go faster than most of us ever imagined. I have read what others are writing, so I know that I'm not the only one to experience such dismal percentages. I was actually looking forward to a weekend with my kids, them yelling out excitedly "Wheatie" when a penny from 1958 and earlier shined through the pile. Maybe even a rare wild Indian, which happened to us from time to time. Now I'm lucky if we find one penny from 1980. How depressing!

Hug to you. I feel your pain!

Where are you located? You should read this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9826

Hug from newton.

maybe this might help...got a box from the bank today, opened it and all the rolls looked like a copper zebra, all nice and shiny with some dark ones here and there. After running it all through the ryedale, almost all those dark ones where wheaties... The most wheaties I ever got! Ever box is Christmas, you just never know !!!! Don't give up !....

I'll hug u if u'll hug me!!
Every box is like a box of chocolates....

Bob

Weigh the box before you start. If it's light just return it unopened.

Went through three boxes - all brand new zincs. weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Getting skunked is what to expect more from sorting halves, not PENNIES!

njoElectric

Every year I go through a period of zincs. The norm is in late January or early February when the new ones come out. The good is you can dump them on eBay fast, the bad is after a month or so you get stuck with boxes and boxes of zinc or zebras that nobody wants. I still have boxes of 2011s I will have to unroll to dump. None of the banks around me will accept a box back for fear of getting ripped off so loose is the only way they take them to be sent off and counted. And you never know when a zinc box will pop up on your buy runs. Zincs in July? Oh come on!

Thanks for all the love, guys....and the advice. As a follow up, the two zinc-infested boxes were from a BOA (Brinks) in southern NJ. Thanks for the link Highroller. The person who started that one was from the Boston area, so the copper-depletion is spreading. And for Cupronickel, you are absolutely right about the weight of the box. I joined a gym a few months ago and figured the weight-training had just made the heavy penny box feel lighter than normal. Wishful thinking. It was much lighter than normal and muscle bulk (imagined or otherwise) had nothing to do with it. On a more positive note, I had also picked up a $ 100 box of nickels (Brinks). I found 3 War nicks, a 1951 D and S, a 1938S, and an semi-elusive 1958. These finds eased my pain, but not as much as your heartfelt responses. This is a real quality forum. Best of luck to you all.

omega -
I bought about $600 in pennies yesterday, and I hit 12 banks of the same company(BB&T) and eight of the boxes were pure zinc. complete bummer

I am still steady at 30% north of Boston. 8 boxes a week. Got $50 loose from a credit union today and it was 29%

NHSorter -
Keep stacking bro!! I wish my results were good like that - I'm averaging 20-25%!

After boasting in another thread about normal copper percentage in a couple Brinks boxes, today I got skunked on another two Brinks boxes. They each weighed 14 lb, 1.6 oz. (South of Boston.)

Killing it in NH. 25%+. Hope it lasts..........

Here is a hug from Québec.

I was depressed too when I got from +50% to 43% in just a year. We will see if it holds.

Cheers,

Still going strong in SW Missouri. We have 3 armoured car carriers here and im on a first name basis with the guy from Brinks. Im gonna call him tommorrow and ask him if they are sorting copper here yet. He may have a little more info about all of this and i will let all of you know. May be time to go on a buying spree and buy like theres no tomorrow.

Keep sorting while you can.
Mongo

Copper_Baron wrote:Killing it in NH. 25%+. Hope it lasts..........

What part of NH are you in? We should check for overlap to try to avoid each others dumps. I am in Rockingham county.

NHsorter wrote:

Copper_Baron wrote:Killing it in NH. 25%+. Hope it lasts..........

What part of NH are you in? We should check for overlap to try to avoid each others dumps. I am in Rockingham county.

Around Manchester, but use a bunch of banks (mostly TD Bank) between Manchester and Jaffery in my travels. Been at it for about 4 months, 2-3 boxes a week.