Realcent.org

I got behind on my penny sorting so I am trying to catch up on it.

I am turning them in bank bags in $50 increments.

Question is since I am going to flood Wells Fargo with these bags (have turned back in a couple hundred this week so far), am I better off waiting a little while to pick up bank wrapped rolls from Wells Fargo and Chase? Or are there so many pennies out there that I shouldn't worry about decreasing my copper % with all the zincs I am turning back in?

Seems like all the big banks in my area use the same company for bank wrapped rolls.

I know if I was doing this with halves that I may end up with my sorts but wasn't sure on pennies

Stop thowing those zincs back.. you are diluting the copper supply for everyone!

Actually, there should not be any problem with getting your zincs back. Many folks worry about getting their own coins back. They think it is like doing something in a pool.. and you have to wait for the water to clear. The odds are pretty long that you would get your own pennies back. Think of pennies a raging river flowing past as opposed to half dollars being a placid lake. When you dump your pennies they are immediately carried downstream where they are rolled up by the coin processors and presented to another unsuspecting Realcent member.

"Think of pennies a raging river flowing past as opposed to half dollars being a placid lake. When you dump your pennies they are immediately carried downstream..."

How long have you been waiting to drop that little gem of wisdom on us?

And what if zincs are like salmon? Don't they return to the same river to spawn?

I've been using the same branch to dump and pick up for the past month. I kinda wanted to see if I noticed a drop in my Cu %. This week I just got my first 40%+ Cu box and several others at 30%+. Normally I've been pulling 28%-30%. I'd guess that the penny supply is so vast that one's effects on it will be minimal unless you're doing $10,000+ FV a week.

Sort. Dump. Repeat as needed.

Morsecode wrote:"Think of pennies a raging river flowing past as opposed to half dollars being a placid lake. When you dump your pennies they are immediately carried downstream..."

How long have you been waiting to drop that little gem of wisdom on us?

And what if zincs are like salmon? Don't they return to the same river to spawn?

I think I first penned that little nugget a few years ago.. back in those days I had one bank that would order me 24 boxes every week.. and they were also my dump bank.. the percentages were never diluted.. I got the same copper percentage as I was getting from my other source banks. Of course back then I used to calculate and track the copper percentage.. now I "just sort more" since you get much more copper if you focus your efforts on sorting rather than tracking and reporting all the sorting you do.

Spawning happens.. don't drink the water.

By doing most of my zinc returns in boxes of machine wrapped rolls I decrease the chances of those Salmon returning. There are no fish ladders on this river. The zincs are distributed by the banks to the merchants for commerce. They are disbursed to the customers.. the customers store them in a sock drawer or Alhambra bottle.. until years later they throw them back in the river by hand rolling them or feeding the big green Coinstar monster. Catch and release.. that's the way I fish.. I just use a big net.

Whoa, did I hear 2 experienced sorters just say they use the same BRANCH for pickup and dump? How do you pull that off? Isn't there a rule in this sport about "don't crap where you eat" or somesuch?

I actually went to a Wells Fargo Bank and asked to speak to the manager. I told him what I was doing. I told him I was taking the copper out of the boxes.

I was totally upfront with him.

I brought in $700 in pennies for them to sort. They couldnt wait to do it for me.

They told me to bring them in any time.

The guy who set the account up thought what I was doing was fascinating. He thanked me for coming in.

They just told me to call before I come and I might drop them off and come back the next day for the results.

They thought what I was doing was awesome.

Now maybe it won't be so awesome after I do this a few times, but they counted the $700 in pennies in about 15 minutes.

I did an experiment once where I marked about $3 of pennies. I dumped my marked zincs at on pennies at one credit union on a Friday afternoon and picked up at another credit union 10 miles away on Thursday. They both use Brinks, and they are different credit unions. I was shocked to find 7 of my marked pennies in my Thursday pickup. I never saw any more after that. 7 days from my dump to pickup and I had some already back. After that happened I decided to stagger my pickups and dumps. I now do larger, less frequent pickups, and my dumps spread out.

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote: Spawning happens.. don't drink the water.

We need some W C Fields re-runs. I've thrown that out a couple of times, and the kids just stare.

Mossy wrote:

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote: Spawning happens.. don't drink the water.

We need some W C Fields re-runs. I've thrown that out a couple of times, and the kids just stare.

"Quiet boy.. ya bother me"

I used to live in Lompoc, California.. quiet little town.

You have to remember this adventure was years ago.. back when copper was high.. before the drop.. and while many of us were still learning. It is generally not advisable to pickup and dump at the same bank.. but it can be done with the right arrangement.