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Hello everyone, I'm new here but not new to sorting out copper pennies. I've been seperating my pocket change since before the coppers were worth extra...

I currently have a small commercial space available and more time than money. I would really like to start sorting on a major-bulk basis. The issue of course is where to get and dump all those cents. Just how big of an operation do you need to be to have an armored truck deliver my pennies and take back the old ones? Does anybody know how much that sort of service costs? Anybody here do that? I guess to have the best luck you would need to have one company deliver and another pickup?

I've got space for many, many tons of pennies, and I'd like to try and build multiple sorting machines. My credit union has no problem giving me $50 boxes and they accept returns for free, but I can't imagine coming in there with literally tons of money.

You will have to make a contract for a minimum of once a week service with depending on where you are at a minimum of $200+ fee. Since you are dealing strictly with coin I am sure your rates will also be higher. You than probably will have a fuel surcharge on top of that! If you have them pick up coin they will bring it to get verified at a fed depot and deposited into the fed through your bank. You will most likely be charged a $1-$2 fee PER bag that you deposit. That should be most of the fees from the armored. Before you even do any of this you have to get a commericial/nusiness account through your bank that is set up to order lots of coin. There normally will be a monthly fee for just having the account and probably a minimum balance. Also since you are doing a higher volume of coin the armored probably will charge the bank fees and the bank most likely will pass those along to you.

This is just a trypical example of how the armored business works.
(No, this is not how I do it. No, I will not explain exactly how I do it)


You also say you are going to build machines? I suggest that be your first step if you are going to do something. It takes a lot of volume to justify having an armored deliver to you.

Could someone make arrangements to pick up at "retail" sources and deliver the zincs to the Brinks company? Load plastic buckets in the back of a pickup, maybe?

Having worked as a manager in several different retail outlets, I can tell you that we NEVER had extra pennies to get rid of. The bank deposit was always $20's and larger. We had to get change from the bank (all coins plus $1's and $5's)

Hmmm...thanks for the info. I guess I don't actually need "delivery" service, I can order as many as I want from the credit union and pick them up myself. The issue is of course dumping them. Are there other ways to get rid of them in bulk besides multiple small bank and coinstar drops? Could I somehow deliver them myself to where ever the brinks truck goes to save some fees?

I'm definately working on getting a sorting machine going before getting that many cents...

I crunched some numbers and if you're looking to sell now for a profit, the rule of thumb I use is (0.1 X Total amount sorted = profit after eBay fees, shipping, insurance, etc.) A Ryedale can sort $180-$190 per hour running full blast, so you're looking at $18-$19 per hour your Ryedale is on, and that's if you only run the pennies once. Most folks run 'em twice, both to insure a 99.9%+ Cu rate and to pull wheaties. If you're paying fees to armored truck services, that'll come right off the bottom line. Also there is the time involved in packaging, bank runs, and overall business mgmt.

Just my 1/50th of a dollar.