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My daughter is turning 14 in August. She wants a laptop, among other things, for her birthday. I said, Help me help you. She agreed to sort an average of a box a day until her birthday. Works out to 75 boxes, by hand, of course. We'll see how long her motivation lasts.

Her older brother is starting UTSA this year. He needs a new saxophone (music major) a laptop and tuition. Help me help you....

Fantastic.

Get to work you

Aaahh, I have vivid memories of my father making me slave over a table sorting coins! How my back would hurt after a while. Scarred me from coins for years! But, I got over it.

He started me at 8. In 1962, he deposited $100.00 into a savings account for me and expected me to add to it on a regular basis. $100.00 was a good week's pay for the average Joe in 1962. I did add to it. Paid for five years of college with it.

It was good for me! Did I ever learn how to pinch a penny. In fact, I could pinch a nickel so hard, the buffalo would scream!

You have a real good idea there, Shinnosuke. Teach her the sound values of good money vs. bad, thrift, savings, and the joy of finding a high value coin. Just don't over do it. Keep it fun!

P.S.... How many boxes does the son have to sort??!

When I tried to recruit a friend's 12 year old grandson, the kid looked at me like I was out of my mind. Of course, not being the parental unit of the lad I had no real leverage over him

Hey, it's not slave labor unless you shackle the ankle to the chair leg.

Hope they don't turn you in for this.

shinnosuke wrote:My daughter is turning 14 in August. She wants a laptop, among other things, for her birthday. I said, Help me help you. She agreed to sort an average of a box a day until her birthday. Works out to 75 boxes, by hand, of course. We'll see how long her motivation lasts.

Her older brother is starting UTSA this year. He needs a new saxophone (music major) a laptop and tuition. Help me help you....

More power to you, dude. Good grief, when I was a kid I looked for opportunities like this. Now kids seem to expect things to be given to them, and the only way to stop this is to simply say no to freebies, and to require quid pro quo (and sometimes the "quo" is simply that you raised the, fed them, housed them, etc). You will still get some whining for awhile because they will see their friends in action, but over time they will get over it, and eventually they will thank you.

Geez, a whole box a day? That does sound like slave labor. I think child labor laws would recommend a half a box a day or less. You're hard core bro.

Sounds like another contest coming..."how many boxes she will sort before she decides her fingers are entirely to yucky"...I will guess one! But good luck to you anyway...And shinnosuke, when is the next SA luncheon? Maybe in August?

LOL. Brilliant.

shinnosuke - if you want to run the contest, I'll donate a 40% half to the award pot....

Thanks, everyone, for the comments. Here's the rest of the story:
My daughter started sorting about two weeks ago. However, some friends came to visit from Japan and she got distracted. They're gone now so two days ago we had the "let's focus on the task at hand" meeting. She had already sorted 2 boxes before I started the thread here.

My son has sorted half a dozen boxes . He is working at the Six Flags park here in San Antonio to save money for college... But he and I had the talk, too. He's committed now.

So no need for a contest, but I may need a cattle prod.

I have had my daughter sorting since she was six...(now 14 1/2) she has a very good collection. Last night we sorted for 3 and 1/2 hours... Girls are so good to their dads!!

you guys have the right idea, but opposite. You need to get old people with good eye site to do your bidding. I have my 65 year old mother and 82 year old grandmother sorting my pennies. It gives them something to do. They have sorted probably 8K face for me. They each can sort and roll 2 boxes in one evening.

biglouddrunk wrote:you guys have the right idea, but opposite. You need to get old people with good eye site to do your bidding. I have my 65 year old mother and 82 year old grandmother sorting my pennies. It gives them something to do. They have sorted probably 8K face for me. They each can sort and roll 2 boxes in one evening.

I'll trade ya. My two children and a first round draft choice for your mother and grandmother.

Old people? - Good eye site?? Am I missing something...?

Heck, I'll toss in my 18 year old son and my father inlaw.... lol

Good idea, man. I tried to get my just turned 7 year old to help me sort by hand, and he told me I was a dork. He does like to look at my silver bars though, he thinks they are cool.

One of my nephews "helps" me from time to time. It is more like him asking a bunch of questions and blocking my light for 5-10 minutes then asking for his "pay". I give home a roll of pennies for his collection.

Maybe he will be able to buy college books or something with his "pay".

Man, if I only had that kind of slave labor available.. with all my equipment.. imagine the tons I could process! You need to get some equipment, since you have the labor locked up.. then you could really build your hoard.

I would, but not many of us know how to get 1200 face per week, how to dump 950 face in zincs or how to sell 250 per week in copper.

Im 20 and can't find a job for the summer...

Ill sort for someone in FL for a cut of the copper

biglouddrunk wrote:I would, but not many of us know how to get 1200 face per week, how to dump 950 face in zincs or how to sell 250 per week in copper.

*Knows how to do all these things.. in multiples* but it can be a little time consuming doing it all yourself. Hardly leaves time for posting.

Oakair wrote:Im 20 and can't find a job for the summer...

Ill sort for someone in FL for a cut of the copper

Lol, I LOVE this idea, +1 for me. I'm 30 with a full time job but I could still manage 10-20 hrs a week sorting (for a cut) Hoard, PM us, hahaha JK (unless you wanna fly me out to Callie )
Will work for copper