I've Gained 100 lbs ...
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:33 pmIn copper cents! That's a big achievement for this small apples sorter. So if figured I'd make a few posts to share my experiences. Today is about how I got started ..
I’ve pretty much been a lifelong coin collector, so I knew about people searching rolls of coins for silver and rare coins. I always thought about doing it myself but it seemed like too much work for too little reward. Sometime early last year I read somewhere about sorting pennies for copper bullion. It just clicked for me … here was a way to have some fun searching rolls, but still get a return on my time if/when I didn’t find anything. I figured I’d give it a try. I don’t even remember exactly when I started … it was probably either March or April of last year.
I was hand-sorting $1 a day for about 4 or 5 months before I came across this forum. It didn't take long to open my eyes to what was possible. It was time to set some ground rules for myself, because I saw that I could easily let this little hobby suck up a lot of time and expense if I let it.
Rule 1: No sorting machine and mass production. My wife would definitely have a problem if I was investing significant time and money in this little venture! For now it’s just viewed as another one of my hair-brained schemes.
Rule 2: Gas ain’t cheap, and for my little hand-sorting venture I don't want it to be part of my cost structure. No special trips to acquire/dump pennies … have to be driving by a bank for something else to justify a stop in.
Rule 3: Sort only $1 a day … in January I upped that to $1.50 … (told you I was small apples) I set my operation up in the basement so that after my daily 10 minute treasure-hunt I can hit the gym equipment (sometimes that works, sometimes not).
Rule 4: If I ever have to pay a fee to dump/acquire pennies, I’m out of the sorting business.
Next post, acquiring / dumping pennies.
I’ve pretty much been a lifelong coin collector, so I knew about people searching rolls of coins for silver and rare coins. I always thought about doing it myself but it seemed like too much work for too little reward. Sometime early last year I read somewhere about sorting pennies for copper bullion. It just clicked for me … here was a way to have some fun searching rolls, but still get a return on my time if/when I didn’t find anything. I figured I’d give it a try. I don’t even remember exactly when I started … it was probably either March or April of last year.
I was hand-sorting $1 a day for about 4 or 5 months before I came across this forum. It didn't take long to open my eyes to what was possible. It was time to set some ground rules for myself, because I saw that I could easily let this little hobby suck up a lot of time and expense if I let it.
Rule 1: No sorting machine and mass production. My wife would definitely have a problem if I was investing significant time and money in this little venture! For now it’s just viewed as another one of my hair-brained schemes.
Rule 2: Gas ain’t cheap, and for my little hand-sorting venture I don't want it to be part of my cost structure. No special trips to acquire/dump pennies … have to be driving by a bank for something else to justify a stop in.
Rule 3: Sort only $1 a day … in January I upped that to $1.50 … (told you I was small apples) I set my operation up in the basement so that after my daily 10 minute treasure-hunt I can hit the gym equipment (sometimes that works, sometimes not).
Rule 4: If I ever have to pay a fee to dump/acquire pennies, I’m out of the sorting business.
Next post, acquiring / dumping pennies.
