Realcent.org

Hi Guys, first post here. So my question is, do any of you guys sort & sell as a replacement for traditional employment?

When I read this my immediate thought was 'no way, not possible'. But then I decided to figure out what it would take to make this a reality ...

Assumptions:
Your circumstances allow you to live on $24,000 / year ($2,000 per month) ... this automatically means you don't live in my part of the country!
You can sell at 1.5 x face (slightly higher than current market rates, but a nice round number)

If my math is right, making a profit of $.005 per penny, you'd need 400,000 copper pennies per month ($4,000) to make $2,000. That'd require a crazy-huge amount of sorting, but even worse is finding buyers for $4,000 in copper pennies per month!

highroll4321 (adam young) does, I know for a fact. hes admin here. hoardcopperbytheton(aka hcbtt) sells a hell of a lot, but I don't think its his main form of income.

stlouiscoin wrote:highroll4321 (adam young) does, I know for a fact. hes admin here. hoardcopperbytheton(aka hcbtt) sells a hell of a lot, but I don't think its his main form of income.

highroller4321 and I am a mod not an admin

Yes, I do it for an everyday "job" Check out www.portlandmint.com

Hcbtt sorts but usually doesnt sell much anymore. He has a non coin related full time job.

stlouiscoin wrote:highroll4321 (adam young) does, I know for a fact.

Oh, don't get ninsha's hopes up just to have them smashed. Just because Adam Young does something doesn't mean a normal human can.

there are several members who sort as part of their job

I did last spring and summer. It was my only income last summer, replacing for a few months my substitute teacher wages. (Subs only get paid when they work.) Springtime was more a process of finding out what worked and what didn't. I'd ramped up for kickbutt sales this summer just in time to have injured both my shoulders so that I can hardly pick up a cup of coffee, much less a box of pennies.

So, yeah, it's possible, just like any other small biz. Take reasonable steps, keep fixed costs to an absolute minimum, avoid debt, and don't risk more than you can lose.

I'd much rather "hoard and hang on" than sell. But since I just pretty much sort as many rolls as I can get my hands on, I end up having to sell mini-CTUs from time to time when I need cash flow. I love sorting with my Ryedale! That and shipping mini-CTUs is the easy part. Getting rolls of unsorted pennies is the most time consuming and least fun part of the process. And I happen to live in a city with LOTS of banks near my residence.

I drive my wife's Prius to do pickups and dumps, but I still have to pay attention to how much gas I use. It can add up fast, so I try to do other errands at the same time that I would need to be doing anyway.

If I could find a way to spend less time and gas getting unsorted rolls with less work, I would probably take this thing to the next level (which wouldn't be anything like The Portland Mint's scale). If anyone knows an easier way to get unsorted rolls besides going bank to bank every few days, please share!!!

daviscfad wrote:there are several members who sort as part of their job

Most of them are sorting out the copper as a byproduct of the main job they are doing.

What jobs would those be?

Derek.Sheriff wrote:What jobs would those be?

One example, and they are not a member.

I know someone that collects all the change from the Ronald McDonald boxes and other charity boxes located in fast food establishments. That becomes a lot of pennies

I'm pretty sure Adam Young(s) is the only one capable of doing this as a full time job. I don't think the market would support 2 portland mints.

scyther wrote:I'm pretty sure Adam Young(s) is the only one capable of doing this as a full time job. I don't think the market would support 2 portland mints.

I think you are probably right, but that's assuming demand remains fairly constant. I can envision a number of scenarios in the next 5 years that could cause demand to increase or even spike. On the other hand, if demand and price drops too much more, I may decide to sort less and buy more. Personally I'd prefer to hold a lot more of my dollars than I do now in the form of copper pennies as opposed to electronic digits in a bank account.

For a 'slow learner', though I know this has been explained probably many times ... could someone please give a simple explanation of the difference between "mini CTU" and just plain "CTU". I understand that "CTU" is $100.00 in copper pennies, but don't understand the reasoning or background behind this amount, unless it has to do with shipping fees?

thanks!

Sheba wrote:For a 'slow learner', though I know this has been explained probably many times ... could someone please give a simple explanation of the difference between "mini CTU" and just plain "CTU". I understand that "CTU" is $100.00 in copper pennies, but don't understand the reasoning or background behind this amount, unless it has to do with shipping fees?

thanks!

CTU generally means $100 face, approximately 68 pounds, because it's a nice round number that happens to be the most you can practically ship in a Medium Flat Rate Box (the total weight limit, including packaging, is 70 pounds). A mini-CTU is the same idea, but with a Small Flat Rate Box; $18 face, approximately 12 pounds.

guy on the old website did it. Lumny was his name

I wouldn't want to try to live on the income you could make and all the hassels that go with the sourcing sorting dumping.... but, what do I know?

Seems like no one did this, soooo.... WELCOME Ninsha to the forum...

As anyone could attest to... it all comes down to getting the supply, and finding the demand to make this profitable.

If one was to try and do this hand-sorting, you would probably need sooo much time and glasses!!!

If you wanted to expand with equipment (Ryedale is the preferred choice), it will require a capital infusion of between $100-$500 depending on the machine.

Whatever you do decide to do, have fun with it and enjoy the history of each penny going thru your fingers (or machine)!

natsb88 wrote:CTU generally means $100 face, approximately 68 pounds, because it's a nice round number that happens to be the most you can practically ship in a Medium Flat Rate Box (the total weight limit, including packaging, is 70 pounds). A mini-CTU is the same idea, but with a Small Flat Rate Box; $18 face, approximately 12 pounds.

Thanks very much. That is very helpful!

Here's quite the story of someone doing it for good income (before the melt ban)
http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread. ... essing-LLC

Oh, the missed opportunities.

Madwest wrote:Here's quite the story of someone doing it for good income (before the melt ban)
http://www.goldismoney2.com/showthread. ... essing-LLC

Oh, the missed opportunities.

Wow, that was a good read! Thanks for the link.

Crazy story about Pincher, it's amazing to see how fast things can turn sour. I'll sit tight and keep my lone ryedale humming over here

Anyone who is doing it on scale is as a byproduct of coin processing in general.

We sort, but just as a side profit center. www.coincanada.ca

fasTT wrote:Anyone who is doing it on scale is as a byproduct of coin processing in general.

Yeah, especially with the melt/export ban in place, there isn't a strong enough demand to do it just for the pennies. And seeing as how the Mint can sit on that melt ban as long as it wants...

I'd be surprised if there was enough demand to handle more than one or two more Portland Mints. I'm honestly surprised there's the demand for premium-priced pennies to begin with...

I was also at first but not now. I just saw a post on craigs that a guy in town was paying 5 cents for wheats!... This stuff just keeps going up and up... I'll keep swapping binary for cents all day long.