If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash In On Thousands Of Dollars

Yahoo - ABC News ^ | 12-2-2011 | NEAL KARLINSKY and MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM

[blam]

If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash In On Thousands Of Dollars

By NEAL KARLINSKY and MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM
ABC News – Fri, Dec 2, 2011

If Laws Change, 'Penny Hoarders' Could Cash in on Thousands of Dollars (ABC News … Joe Henry is on a first name basis with bank tellers across his hometown of Medford, Ore., scouring 15 banks a week with one thing on his mind: pennies.

Henry is often seen toting around bags of pennies, some he buys, others he changes back in for cash, which seems a little strange at first. He's not a collector, he is what's known as a "penny hoarder" and he is not alone.

Inside a shed next to his house, Henry has orange tubs filled with 200,000 pennies, and he spends hours sorting through roll after roll of the coins. But it's not just any and all pennies, Henry is only interested in those that are dated from 1982 and earlier because those are the coins made with 95 percent copper. A copper penny is worth more than other pennies -- now mostly made of zinc -- currently priced at $0.024.

"The copper has such a different sound than zinc pennies do," Henry said. "Real money has that definite sound of money and if you listen to a modern zinc penny, they don't sound the same, they sound sort of tinny."

Henry even has a $500 home counting machine to separate out the copper ones.

Much like the resurging obsession with gold, the price of copper has skyrocketed in recent years and the rising price has led to some unusual sprees. Thieves have been exploiting the value hidden in obscure items, stripping copper wiring from phone and utility cables, from construction

(snip)

[Jeff Vader]

accurate statement, since it’s buying power is 1/10 of what it was in 1971

[Scotswife]

ok - so after we sort out our 1982 pennies from our stash and patiently wait for the collapse of civilization.

What exactly do we do with them?

[bgill]

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

“How do you buy twenty million nickels?”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/some-words-advice-kyle-bass

[blam]

It's amazing what people don't know. I've taken to going to yard sales every Friday these days just to 'stock up' on potential barter items.

I've bought 'old' auto jumper cables for $0.50 to $2.00 each. Some of the heavy-duty cables can be worth $10-20.00 each for the copper content.

Other items I'm collecting for barter, Coleman camper stoves, propane/gas lanterns, chain saws/and parts, 20 pound propane tanks(that I fill), throw away Coleman one pound propane cannisters (I refill those myself), etc.
If the electricity goes out or...people can't afford the bill...these items could be in demand and traded for items that I need.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If all people carried around little change purses for pennies, it would be more likely to see them get quickly back into circulation. Women mostly do. Men, who rarely carry handbags and who wouldn’t want the lump of a change purse in a business suit, keep the change loose in their pockets and dump them in a drawer or change cup at home. If the smallest denomination is something else, the same thing will happen to it as currently to the penny. The makers of vending machines might be the only ones really thrilled with such a plan, but the people who lease or buy them, less so.

[762X51]

How do you buy twenty million nickels

With a dump truck silly. Oh, and it'd actually be 60 million nickels. Roughly 330 tons, so you'd probably have to make multiple trips. By the end of the week the bank teller would be very strong.

[762X51]

How do you buy twenty million nickels

With a dump truck silly. Oh, and it'd actually be 60 million nickels. Roughly 330 tons, so you'd probably have to make multiple trips. By the end of the week the bank teller would be very strong.

[762X51]

How do you buy twenty million nickels

With a dump truck silly. Oh, and it'd actually be 60 million nickels. Roughly 330 tons, so you'd probably have to make multiple trips. By the end of the week the bank teller would be very strong.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Victor Davis Hanson wrote a few weeks back that thieves in California’s Central Valley and in his home town of Selma, CA are stealing the bronze memorial plaques from building cornerstones, historic markers, and war monuments. What a tragedy for the nation when we’ve come to this point.

[dennisw]

Thanks for the jumper cable tips! I’ll be looking for them. I’m into propane too. When I see someone throwing out a beat up gas grill I take out my knife and cut off the hose and fitting. I have about 10 of those. Now that you mention barter I will definitely snip off every one I see now. I have three 20lb propane tanks and two cook stoves that can be hooked up to the 20lb tank. One is a camping stove I bought for $10 at the flea market. The other is made in Colombia and is a regular 2 burner for the kitchen that you put on a table. That’s how they do it in the 3rd world. A woman is very happy to have a two burner propane cook stove. Now I wish I had bought the other camping stove I saw that day

Nearby town used to refill propane tanks for only $10. How do you re-fill yours? From an underground propane tank? I started my propane backups after a hurricane knocked out electric for 12 days. So no use of the electric stove for those days

Obviously the key words here are redundancy, back up systems, and many fall back plans A,B,C,D etc

[dennisw]

Thanks for the jumper cable tips! I’ll be looking for them. I’m into propane too. When I see someone throwing out a beat up gas grill I take out my knife and cut off the hose and fitting. I have about 10 of those. Now that you mention barter I will definitely snip off every one I see now. I have three 20lb propane tanks and two cook stoves that can be hooked up to the 20lb tank. One is a camping stove I bought for $10 at the flea market. The other is made in Colombia and is a regular 2 burner for the kitchen that you put on a table. That’s how they do it in the 3rd world. A woman is very happy to have a two burner propane cook stove. Now I wish I had bought the other camping stove I saw that day

Nearby town used to refill propane tanks for only $10. How do you re-fill yours? From an underground propane tank? I started my propane backups after a hurricane knocked out electric for 12 days. So no use of the electric stove for those days

Obviously the key words here are redundancy, back up systems, and many fall back plans A,B,C,D etc

[mountn man]

Depends what you mean by lucrative.

[Ditter]

I have heard of that happening here in Houston too. What do you bet the thieves are not using the money to buy food for their children or to pay the rent. They are getting welfare money for necessities this is drug money for themselves. If only baby momma would share ~sob~

[Ditter]

I have heard of that happening here in Houston too. What do you bet the thieves are not using the money to buy food for their children or to pay the rent. They are getting welfare money for necessities this is drug money for themselves. If only baby momma would share ~sob~

[Ditter]

Yeah, I saw that on the news too. I didn’t shed a single tear!

[Ditter]

Yeah ........ fried!

[Hot Tabasco]

What exactly do we do with them?

Make a lot of wishes at a local fountain?

[Ellendra]

Assuming the interest rate being charged on that debt doesn’t change to reflect the new inflation rate, yes. For fixed-rate loans, an increase in inflation helps debtors and hurts lenders. That’s one of the reasons banks like adjustable-rate loans.

[Ellendra]

Assuming the interest rate being charged on that debt doesn’t change to reflect the new inflation rate, yes. For fixed-rate loans, an increase in inflation helps debtors and hurts lenders. That’s one of the reasons banks like adjustable-rate loans.