Are You Hoarding Copper Pennies? Poll

I don't know if "hoarding" is the right word. Yes, I separate and save pre-1982 copper cents I get in change. So far a have a small "tupperware" container of copper cents. I don't go to the bank to get boxes of pennies to sort.

I don't see any reason to save nickels. Right now the zinc in a nickel is worth about $0.05. I don't see a reason to keep a coin where the PM value is the same as the face value. I can see the value to keeping a penny with a PM value that is 250% the face value.

i am hoarding zinc

I was confusing current pennies with nickels. That doesn't change my basic argument. I suppose it is much easier to get nickels than to sort bags of pennies to find the copper cents.

The other thing that most people don't seem to factor in is the realistic price you will get for a nickel as scrap metal. If you take the spot price of pure nickel and spot price of pure copper, the metal in a nickel is worth $0.05. However, a nickel isn't pure, it is an alloy. You will only get spot prices if you melt the nickel and refine it into pure base metals. As a coin, it is scrap mixed metals.

I work in a brass, bronze, and aluminum foundry. We pour tons of metal a day and produce quite a bit of scrap. When we sell the scrap back to the metal recycler we get a fraction of the price we pay for the ingot that comes into the building on pallets.

define hoarding

No doubt. I think that most wives think that their coin collecting husbands are a little batty. The good news is that collecting coins is better than a lot of other things that we could be doing with our time.



In my experience, this word is used in a pejorative context against those who have prepared for disaster by those who have not. Typical "hoarders" are those who have "more than their fair share" of anything truly useful, such as food or fuel.

I have been pulling copper pennies out of loose change since 1990. I have just started to pick up a box of pennies once every month or so to build my collection.

Purchasing power is an easy way to look at it.

Gold and silver have kept their purchasing power across history. Let's say that copper does as well.

It takes ~150 copper pennies to make a pound, and a pound of copper is today closed at $3.43 / lb. Which interestingly enough is almost exactly the national average price for a Big Mac. Google "Big Mac Index" for more.

Let's say the price of copper (in dollars) doubles, or goes up ten-fold. Presumably the price (in dollars) of everything will go up by the same ratio.

So, is it worth it to you to keep six rolls of pennies around so you and a friend can eat one bare-minimum meal each?

Yes I just keep them but separate them out. Nickels too! Both will be debased so worth keeping