A better way of investing in copper

EVEN IF US CENTS WERE LEGAL TO MELT

If you wanted to move a significant volume of them you would have to sell to a scrap yard. When a scrap sells their scrap copper in the 40,000 Lb truck loads they aren't even paid spot so don't expect a scrap yard to pay you spot. Problem is copper cents are not easily recognizable the scrap yard is not going to take yuor word for it. For all they know you could be delivering a load of zinc cents and trying to pass them off as copper. So your load will have to be sorted and verified. That takes time and money and special equipment. So you can expect an even greater discount. When the scrap dealer delivers a truckload of copper cents to the mill - the mill is going to approach the load with the same attitude and will sort and verify so the scrap dealer will be paid at a discount which will be passed to the original seller. Also cents are not pure they are 97.5 % copper so there is another discount. I say when it is all said and done - selling a significant volume expect to receive around 40% of spot or about 1 cent per cent.

 

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It will be even less than 40%. A couple years ago, I called every reclamation center in the state of Florida, and the average was 25% of the price of Grade A copper.

Listen up people! Our US cent is NOT Grade A copper!

I've repeated this same thing numerous times on these forums, but no one seems to be getting the message. So, let them go ahead and hoard the pre-82 Lincolns, but when the US lifts the ban on melting them, don't come crying when you discover that your stash is worth less than its face value.

Chris

 

all the above

 

:yes:

 

hahahahah that ad is a joke

 

Best advise on here this month.

 

Does any one know if it is legal to melt US coins in Canada? Can you bring 5 pounds of copper pennies a scrap yard in Canada and get paid?

 

Most of the scrappers I called said no. But a couple said they would buy them. However, they offered $100 for $200 face value of copper coins.

 

I don't think you're allowed to take that amount (5 LBS) out of the country.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the max is 100 coins. There was an article about it on coinflation's news doo da.

 

Wait! Don't buy them. Find them in change.

 

Just an aside here folks......

Lately, we've been doing a lot of plumbing work, as we're re-doing two bathrooms. Copper fittings and pipe at the Home Despot are out of this world price wise.

 

I used to work at home depot in the lumber and building materials department...and there was many times I was told to throw away rolls of copper used in roofing...I asked if I could just take it myself and they said that would be stealing and I'd be fired...so of course..I threw it in the trash compactor...just seems silly how much money that place throws away...oh also I would have to cut up perfectly good lumber everyday and throw that away too as part of the daily lumber cull....I had to do $30-40 a day at least to keep up with the automated reports and if i didn't do it EACH day...I would have been written up for that...I figured they liked profit...but to some it's better to throw it away...

 

I still save pre-1982 cents in a coin tube...for one day :devil:

 

Put 'em in a jug. They're still out there, and larger than life......

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1500-Copper...982?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337240e266

Here is an example of copper pennies selling for right under 2x face. Now, as an ebay seller, you are probably breaking even on shipping. In this case, the seller made a profit of $4.77 if he broke even on shipping. Now how much time and effort goes into sorting 1500 pennies? Even with a ryedale machine it's gotta take some time. Is all that time and effort worth $5? Probably not. You could say copper pennies will appreciate over time, but then you have to factor in inflation. Plus as someone else mentioned they take up a lot of space and weigh alot. So although I do have a few rolls of coppers, I'm sure there are other more lucrative investments out there

 

Yeah as far as a bartering tool I think the .999 one oz rounds with their larger size and purity would be more attractive to a seller than piles of cents to check. And maybe even weigh. Theres just not much copper in a single cent. I think theyre too small and they could be an inconvenience needing hundreds of them for small transactions.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

it is illegal to melt pennies.
collect them if you like they are worth a cent

 

^ They don't have to be melted to have value above face. Every copper penny I find is 2 cents worth of silver to me.

 

I totally agree with cvicisso. I think copper pennies are a wise investment for someone wanting copper. I made the mistake of buying overpriced copper bars from the metal mint when they were still in business and am just now seeing a return on my original investment...much later. Had I taken the funds and put them into copper cents I would have made more money.

Many people are buying copper cents at .02/ea. Ebay and craigslist are riddled with people selling them, and they actually sell. I also just watched an interview with a 20 something kid who opened up small business sorting copper cents. He sells them in extremely high quantities and stores millions of dollars worth in his factory for private investors. They are so easily recognizable, there is no reason to melt pennies down. If anything, melting them down without any marking/stamps/etc. would detract from their value.