Radical lack of copper

[DC_Penny_Guy]

I was out in Delaware for the week of the 4th, so I called ahead of time and ordered $200 in pennies from a local branch. Figured I'd see how the copper percentages are out in that part of the country. Well, it was the worst I've ever seen by a wide margin.

Each box was roughly 1% copper. No kidding, roughly 1 copper per 2 rolls. I did weirdly get two 1930's enders, but those were the massive exceptions to the rule.

Then, I get back to the DC area, and I pick up $100 from one of my regular banks... I get two boxes of uncirculated (that's par for the course), plus 2 boxes of circulated... And the circulated penny boxes were almost dry of copper, just like the Delaware boxes! Totally horrible, basically a waste of time.

Anyone got any idea what's going on here? I'm worried that the federal reserve has started filtering copper pennies out of circulation or something!

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

I stopped searching penny bank boxes in 2020. Was only finding 5% Cu on average, def not worth my time and effort. Billions more zincs minted every year are diluting the hell out of coppers, but I also believe many people are removing Cu pennies from circulation... not sure if the Fed/treasury is doing it, but it would not surprise me.

In 2021 my LCS guy sold me his Cu penny hoard (about 300lbs worth) at 50% over face value. Pulled a decent amount of wheaties from this hoard too.

[Silver4face]

Hello DC penny guy. You really did have bad luck, but don't give up yet. Try a different bank. Try every bank within 10-15 miles of your house. I am still averaging 15-20 percent copper. I am currently working on a batch of Loomis rolls, will post results later this month.

[DC_Penny_Guy]

So, due to some real-life issues I've been dealing with, I haven't been able to spend any time sorting pennies since my last post (July 10th). However, my banks have continued ordering boxes of pennies for me, and I've continued picking them up, keeping the circulated ones, depositing the uncirculated ones at other banks, etc.

I think I've got about 40 boxes saved up. Looking forward to my first ever $1,000 penny hunt! Hoping to find pre-40's wheaties WITH MINT MARKS. We've got most of the Philly pennies at this point.

One box I opened up, and I saw three wheat penny enders! So, definitely looks promising in terms of copper.

[fasteddy]

Geez my banks just kinda laugh when I ask for boxes...I get 3 rolls...I used to pickup 12 boxes at a time....we are still under the coin shortage here in Houston

[JerrySpringer]

Geez my banks just kinda laugh when I ask for boxes...I get 3 rolls...I used to pickup 12 boxes at a time....we are still under the coin shortage here in Houston

Local banks here in my Portland area of Maine are still rationing coins. At least TD Bank has been stingy the most so far. Another thing I don't like is that they often require you to swipe your debit card into their reader at the counter. They are creating a record of me buying coins if I am not mistaken.

[Silver4face]

Geez my banks just kinda laugh when I ask for boxes...I get 3 rolls...I used to pickup 12 boxes at a time....we are still under the coin shortage here in Houston

As mentioned previously, the coin shortage thing is simply a scam. There are TONS of coins out there including lots of 2022 coins. But as for copper, that's different because there is a lack of it (shortage!) because of sorters like me (and others).

[DC_Penny_Guy]

No shortage in the Mid-Atlantic. One bank called me yesterday, said someone came in after a relative had died. They found a few big containers of coins, rolled them up, and deposited them at the bank. By the time I got there, they only had the pennies left. But that was fine by me. Got $80 in customer-wrapped rolls. They're obviously not old pennies, there's plenty of 2021 and 2022 in there. But a decent percentage of copper and wheaties.

Anyways, my point is that the banks have no problems providing me with loads of coins around here. I guess our regional federal reserve branch doesn't have the problems that some others do.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

No shortage in the Mid-Atlantic. One bank called me yesterday, said someone came in after a relative had died. They found a few big containers of coins, rolled them up, and deposited them at the bank. By the time I got there, they only had the pennies left. But that was fine by me. Got $80 in customer-wrapped rolls. They're obviously not old pennies, there's plenty of 2021 and 2022 in there. But a decent percentage of copper and wheaties.

Anyways, my point is that the banks have no problems providing me with loads of coins around here. I guess our regional federal reserve branch doesn't have the problems that some others do.

Nice to have a special relationship with your bank like that, but in my experience Cu's are slowly disappearing. I believe the Cu's are being pulled/hoarded by more and more people. It's not just dilution due to the billions of new pennies being minted. The government/Treasury/Fed is most likely involved too. I don't live that far from you, I'm getting 5-10% coppers in my change... getting less and less of them over time.

[DC_Penny_Guy]

I really doubt there's enough people sorting pennies for copper to make much of a dent. I've yet to meet another person in real life who has even heard of the idea of this particular hobby.

It's been 40 years since the last copper pennies were minted, I think it's a combination of the normal factors (attrition, plus gradual dilution with zinc), plus the fact that there is almost certainly a record amount of coins currently held outside circulation inside people's homes. So many people have stopped using cash, stopped visiting physical bank branches, stopped carrying coins... And they haven't had enough reason to put their jug o' coins into rolls and deposit them.

[Silver4face]

I disagree because I have dented my own area and proud of it! More seriously: people on here have been posting results for roughly 11 years. If you read older threads/posts, you will see that percentages have dropped significantly because of sorters. Keep in mind that there are more sorters than what you see here on this site.

[DC_Penny_Guy]

Excluding wheat cents, there were over 158 BILLION copper pennies minted, 1959-1982. That's $1.58 billion in face value.

In order to make a serious dent in the supply, sorters would need to have pulled hundreds of millions of dollars in FACE VALUE out of circulation. Just 20% of the coppers minted equals $316 million. I really, really doubt that all the copper sorters combined have accounted for that much face value of copper taken out of circulation.

Of course, there's no way to actually know.

[Silver4face]

Excluding wheat cents, there were over 158 BILLION copper pennies minted, 1959-1982. That's $1.58 billion in face value.

In order to make a serious dent in the supply, sorters would need to have pulled hundreds of millions of dollars in FACE VALUE out of circulation. Just 20% of the coppers minted equals $316 million. I really, really doubt that all the copper sorters combined have accounted for that much face value of copper taken out of circulation.

Of course, there's no way to actually know.

.
First of all, thank you for posting the copper numbers (I never took the time to look/add them up). Maybe I exaggerated when I said dent or maybe the dent isn't as big as I thought. But the truth is that the numbers are DOWN. We have one member who no longer sorts them because his percentage is only 5 to 10 percent. He must have dented his local area because his copper results are only half of the national average. If the copper sorters have enough time, they WILL dent the population significantly. It's a fun, easy way to make spare cash. It's also a relatively safe investment. It's not like a stock that could severely crash. I know of one stock that went from 40+ dollars to under THREE dollars in less than two years.

[wagsthadog]

Hi there!

Im at about $5 in copper per box in the midwest. Still finding about 10 wheats per box. Ill be moving in April so I just plan to keep sorting at my new area as best I can until they abolish the penny, which Im confident will happen well before 2030. I guess it depends on how much of a hassle it is to get coins from banks (which is becoming more of a challenge by me) but I think Ill keep sorting pennies until it routinely gets to below $2 in coppers per box. Then Ill gloat over my copper hoard LOL.

Wags

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

Hi there!

Im at about $5 in copper per box in the midwest. Still finding about 10 wheats per box.
Wags

You're still getting 20% Cu per box?... wheats too? That is pretty damn good.

[Silver4face]

I'm getting 16-18 percent copper. I have a Loomis box to sort and will post results next week. It's a good idea to stash rolls away if you don't have time to sort. For example, stop at your local bank or credit union and buy 10-20 rolls a week. Eventually the govt will get rid of them, but if you stash NOW, you will have some available to sort down the road. I bought rolls a year ago that still have not been opened. I estimate them to be 20 percent copper.