Recyclersteve wrote:I wanted to start the ball rolling on a debate (pros and cons) about whether sorting pennies is really worthwhile. I can see where someone of modest means who can't afford silver might be attracted to pennies. I can also see where someone who has a substantial net worth might want copper to help diversify their investments (just like Kyle Bass bought a million dollars of nickels several years back).
The flip side is that while a ton of pennies sounds like a lot, it is about $3,000 face and can be bought from Portland Mint for slightly less than $5,000 plus shipping. So a ton of coins would take a lot of space, yet even if the $5,000 in coins doubled or tripled in value over a few years, it wouldn't change my lifestyle or help me get that much closer to retirement. Put another way, I would likely have to wait perhaps 5-10 years to make perhaps a $10,000 profit on my copper pennies. Some stock traders make that much in a single trade in a day.
I guess we can also include whether or not it is worthwhile doing by hand versus with a Ryedale or some other type of sorter. Although the Ryedale may definitely pay for itself for heavy users, there is a fairly big time commitment involved (procuring all the pennies, cracking open the rolls, maintaining the machine, returning the coins to a dump bank) before the machine can truly pay for itself.
I can see the pros and cons of this endeavor. If I didn't enjoy the coin hobby, it would be much less enjoyable. What does everyone else think? What else am I missing in my evaluation?
Recyclersteve wrote:I can see the pros and cons of this endeavor. If I didn't enjoy the coin hobby, it would be much less enjoyable. What does everyone else think? What else am I missing in my evaluation?
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