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Hi all (specially the 'super-pros' in regards to my question!

A plastic five gallon bucket filled to the brim with only copper pennies weighs ..... ?

(I have heard it weighs 200 lbs and contains $300 FV worth of copper pennies)

Is this 'correct' or 'close to correct'

Thanks for the help!!

weighs... more than I would want to lift with a flimsy wire handle

I have found that if you just let the pennies fall until it fills, you have around 150 lbs. in there. If you make an effort to shake them down and pack them in periodically as it fills, then yes you will have near 200 lbs. worth in there.

S100 copper is approximately 68 lbs in a flat rate box.

So...

$200 of copper should be 136 lbs.

Way to heavy to lift with that handle on the bucket not to mention what it will do to your back! Ouch!

Hey Sheba...using a five gallon bucket you can fill it to $250 FV and just be able to put the lid on it. Leave the lid off and pile the pennies on until they start to slid off the pile and that is $300 FV. $250 FV in Cu cents is 170 lbs. I used a Brandt 749 coin counter to determine these values.

I weighed a full pail once and it came in at 174lb (including the pail) - consistent with fasteddy's data.

I roughly figured it was just over $250 face considering the weight of the pail and uncertainty of the scale.

Madwest... keep telling yourself that the scale is uncertain...

When I want to weigh my bucket, I cover it, tip it over slightly, and slide the scale under it. Problem solved

I have a 5 gallon glass carboy filled to the very top. It weighs 199 lbs.

fasteddy wrote:Hey Sheba...using a five gallon bucket you can fill it to $250 FV and just be able to put the lid on it. Leave the lid off and pile the pennies on until they start to slid off the pile and that is $300 FV. $250 FV in Cu cents is 170 lbs. I used a Brandt 749 coin counter to determine these values.

$250Fv and 170lbs is what I've always thought. 12 buckets = one ton.

Before I moved my hoard into sealed heavy-duty plastic bags, I made it a goal to jam 200 pounds into one pail. Took a lot of jostling around but I eventually got it, ended up at 204 lbs.

has anyone had an old five gallon water container break, spilling pennies everywhere ?

Hey! Thanks to everyone for your extremely helpful replies. Appreciated very much! BTW, I have no intention of lifting on of those buckets by hand. Don't have that many filled anyway, since I am a 'handsorter'. But the information is very, very helpful.

I'm going to stick with 12 buckets = 1 ton of copper pennies. It'll be a long, long time 'fore I get that many

Thanks again, everyone who answered. This is such a great place to learn!

OtusLotus wrote:Madwest... keep telling yourself that the scale is uncertain...

When I weight cents, I always 2nd guess the scale: it must be reading lite .
Then, I step on it and realize : if anything, it's reading too heavy!

penny pretty wrote:weighs... more than I would want to lift with a flimsy wire handle

+1

...great question though, I love learning from everyone here!