# Saving Copper Pennies **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 16, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861 "2019-10-16T18:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861/21 "2019-10-28T19:34:58Z")
The primary mechanism for testing metal coins is their electrical characteristics. Run a very small voltage through it, measure the resistance, compare it to tables showing the resistance of known coins, with known metallurgical compositions, sort accordingly. This is how [home-sorting machines](http://www.pennysorter.com/) that hobbyists like the OP’s uncle can buy for ~$500 work. Even with the low end of our numbers, we net about $120 per 5 gallon bucket, so this machine pays for itself pretty quickly. It says it can process 18,000 pennies per hour. A quick search said that about 1/4 pennies in circulation are pre-'82, so figure you get 4,500/hr. It takes about 6 hours to make $120, or about 26 hours to pay for the machine, assuming you can get 26 hours worth of pennies to put into it. Most hobbies never turn a profit, so a hobby that pays for itself in a couple weekends and then begins generating net cash is a pretty good hobby. Questions of logistics and legality aside of course. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861/22 "2019-10-28T19:56:59Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > For pricing, you should just go to the website of your local scrap dealer. Mine is paying $1.90 a pound for #2 copper, $2.20 for brite copper. Even if we pretend you can get $2.20 per pound ($4.85 per kg) that’s only $300. Buy a savings bond. Also are the scrap people going to buy your pennies given that its illegal to melt them down. The secret service isn’t going to knock on your door if you melt a few buckets yourself, but a scrap dealer that has a policy of doing this could get in trouble. Again, he’s probably safe, but would it be worth the risk for the few extra bucks a year they would make from maintaining such a policy. ---
**Author:** ![l0k1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@l0k1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l0k1)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861/23 "2019-10-28T20:42:15Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Also are the scrap people going to buy your pennies given that its illegal to melt them down. The secret service isn’t going to knock on your door if you melt a few buckets yourself, but a scrap dealer that has a policy of doing this could get in trouble. Again, he’s probably safe, but would it be worth the risk for the few extra bucks a year they would make from maintaining such a policy. Yes and no. I was posting with the understanding that there will be some future date when you can scrap pennies. And, unfortunately, a lot of scrap dealers will happily accept stole property. There are cities, like Baltimore, where metal theft is common. The park in my neighborhood lost all its trashcans one year. Plaques are pried of statue based, and even maintenace covers are sometimes stolen. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861/24 "2019-10-28T22:23:40Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > Questions of logistics and legality aside of course. I am curious about the logistics. Separating out pennies seems like the easy part of this. I’m going to assume you can sell the copper pennies to someone speculating on the copper value in the future (or who is just illegally melting them down, but you don’t know that). But where do you get enough pennies to make this work at volume and how do you turn the zinc rejects back into actual money? I have to imagine any bank is going to either start charging you more than you make to handle all that nonsense or close your account. Maybe if you already have a major cash business that brings in a lot of change, you can run your pennies through before turning them in? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-copper-pennies/841861.md?page=1)