so when do you think pre 1982 cents will be able to be melted?

so when do you think pre 1982 cents will be able to be melted?

the copper content of them is about 2.5 cents each right now just wondering if they are going to be worth saving since right now you don't exactly get anything for them since you can't melt them down unlike silver coinage...I would like to start hoarding them but also see that as the one reason to not bother...I would rather have my money work for me not me hoard something that is always static...

 

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With inflation near 0% and banks paying no interest, I think hording pre-82 pennies is a great idea what's there to lose?

 

I penny sort. I have a 5 gallon bucket of pre-1982 set aside. Sure, you can't melt them, but if they are ever worth, say 5x face, then people will buy/sell them just like pre-1964 silver coinage is now. To me, its a fun game. I'm a player in copper! Diversify, diversify, diversify.....

What if copper cents, like silver is now, someday sell for 18x face? It could easily happen.

I hoard nickels, too. I have 20 bricks. I buy them and throw them in my safe.

 

The problem with copper is that it will never rise in value too high. For instance: Once copper reaches a certain price, manufacturers will stop using copper for making wires for housing and everything else becuase it costs them too much. Copper will be replaced with alluminum or some other conductive material. This would continue to bring the price back down as companies stop using it. Silver is harder to find a replacement for. For example: Silver is used alot in the medical industry. They use silver to line the insides of tubes and even mirrors because of the metal's antibacterial properties.

 

SilverCeder: Good points. That's why I have 1000oz of silver and only a 5 gallon pail of cents!

 

When you scrap metal you don't get the full spot price and with the cost of gas and time spent, its just not productive to invest in copper pennys unless you think the copper value will hit 5 cents per penny and for copper to go up that much it would take a booming economy or WWIII to support the industry that would use copper at those prices and if you think the economy is coming back then you are better off investing in stocks and if you think WWIII is going to start then you should buy canned food, guns and ammo...

 

I think that I heard the same argument about silver coins. I'm saving everything copper these days.

 

When the penny is made out of plastic

 

Never dump them all.
I'll hoard them in vain of being able to melt them.

 

And how about when inflation gets so high that the plastic pennies are minted on becomes more valuable than face can I melt the plastic??

 

Copper price making a penny worth 10 cents? Copper was three dollars for 145 pennies this year early. Now those 145 equal three dollars and much more. Find a graph program. Bags of copper pennies will be the new purse of silver coins. Whoopee, inflation is great for hoarders.

 

dunkin donuts is opted not to use the cent. a good model to eliminate the cent.

 

The last resort the mint will use to keep minting pennies will be to make them out of air.

 

Not likely.
In the place I work, we have a lot of plastic scrap.
We have to PAY to have someone take it.
We used to have a japanese firm that purchased it, but it soon became apparent that they could produce their product with new raw materials, for just a slight increase in cost.