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If the pre-82 pennies are worth more in their copper value than 1/100 of a US dollar, why doesn't the government just invest in some mega coin sorters (I am sure they already have them) and pull all copper? Same for private companies like Brinks who pick up and re-roll coins from the banks? Seems like it would be in their best interest, no? Why would they leave this little treat for all of us?

The Canadian Government does for silver and .999 the use Coinstar and Brinks and then it is melted in the US see--http://www.realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6381&hilit=+canada

It is not done in the US because they can not be melted or exported to be melted so the cost is to high to store them tell they can melt them.

Sound like the smart thing to do. But the Canadian government doesn't do it for the penny, even if there is lot more copper penny % here in Canada.
They remove mainly nickel (that worth half there face value in metal for the dime and quarter), there is not much silver left and they don't remove the penny who is over it's face value in metal. There must be a good reason why they don't.

I don't think the Canadian government has invested in coin sorter, from what i know they just contract it to some people for probably a large sum of money. Cash the check and give the permission for other to sort and melt 'legally'. As far as i know they don't export them to be melted, they buy the right to melt them here.

Something that doesn't make sense for us, we cannot melt/export coin that worth less in metal than in face value. Maybe they expect the nickel to go way high
(like it does in a war) or they don't expect copper to go high, or it's too costly even if it's over face value to sort them and paid again to make new one in zinc or steel. Or they are just convinced the penny won't exist soon. We can speculate a lot on this.

didou wrote: As far as i know they don't export them to be melted, they buy the right to melt them here.

From http://www.brinksinc.com/journalArchive/Brinks_Journal_Issue11.pdf

In 2008, discussions and negotiations commenced to provide
Alloy Recovery Program services (ARP) in Toronto. The ARP
separates steel plated coins from alloy coins in quarters, dimes
and nickels, at which point the Mint demonetizes and sends them
to U.S. smelting operations to extract the specific alloys that will
be for sale on the world market.

Right, just wave a magic wand and demonetize em. HMMMMMPFFF

WizardTN wrote:Right, just wave a magic wand and demonetize em. HMMMMMPFFF

The S&P used there magic wand on Friday!

I suppose I will have to hire a Druid to drive the demon money out of these copper discs?

didou wrote:Sound like the smart thing to do. But the Canadian government doesn't do it for the penny, even if there is lot more copper penny % here in Canada.
They remove mainly nickel (that worth half there face value in metal for the dime and quarter), there is not much silver left and they don't remove the penny who is over it's face value in metal. There must be a good reason why they don't.

I don't think the Canadian government has invested in coin sorter, from what i know they just contract it to some people for probably a large sum of money. Cash the check and give the permission for other to sort and melt 'legally'. As far as i know they don't export them to be melted, they buy the right to melt them here.
Something that doesn't make sense for us, we cannot melt/export coin that worth less in metal than in face value. Maybe they expect the nickel to go way high
(like it does in a war) or they don't expect copper to go high, or it's too costly even if it's over face value to sort them and paid again to make new one in zinc or steel. Or they are just convinced the penny won't exist soon. We can speculate a lot on this.

Actually the Royal Canadain Mint has around $2-2.5 MILLION invested in coin equipment that can sort out the nickel, cupro nickel, and silver.

Once the coin is sorted they have a "waffle" machine that make the coin into a "waffle" so it can no longer be used. The RCM than transports all of the waffled coin into the USA (Iowa to be exact) to be melted.

I beleive the ARP program is not doing copper pennies because Canada will soon be eliminating the penny.

CuJoe wrote:If the pre-82 pennies are worth more in their copper value than 1/100 of a US dollar, why doesn't the government just invest in some mega coin sorters (I am sure they already have them) and pull all copper? Same for private companies like Brinks who pick up and re-roll coins from the banks? Seems like it would be in their best interest, no? Why would they leave this little treat for all of us?

because for every copper cent they remove from circulation they would have to make a zinc cent to replace it.
Each new zinc also costs more than 1 cent to make.

China probably won't lend them the money to buy the coin sorting machines!

Who knows, maybe we'd all be getting 40+ percent if the government wasn't pulling CU pennies from circulation? Just because they haven't announced such a policy, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Meanwhile, be thankful for the window of opportunity you have, until the government becomes so desperate that they need the copper. It won't be long.

Common Cents wrote:China probably won't lend them the money to buy the coin sorting machines!

Who knows, maybe we'd all be getting 40+ percent if the government wasn't pulling CU pennies from circulation? Just because they haven't announced such a policy, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Meanwhile, be thankful for the window of opportunity you have, until the government becomes so desperate that they need the copper. It won't be long.

+1

Common Cents wrote:China probably won't lend them the money to buy the coin sorting machines!

Who knows, maybe we'd all be getting 40+ percent if the government wasn't pulling CU pennies from circulation? Just because they haven't announced such a policy, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Meanwhile, be thankful for the window of opportunity you have, until the government becomes so desperate that they need the copper. It won't be long.

also agree