It has come to my attention - with the value of precious metals today - that our coins may be worth far less (in buying power) than the materials used to produce them.
Upon further research, one US cent weighs 2.5 grams ( .01 lbs to a red-blooded American). It would take approximately 100 pennies to make a pound. The make-up of today's penny is 75 percent copper, 25 percent nickel.
The metal recycling "scrap yard" will pay - as of June 9, 2006 - $1.74 per pound for #1 copper tube(clean - no solder, corrosion...), and $1.63 per pound for #2 copper tube(with solder, corrosion, etc.). The solder us plumbers use is, typically, 90 percent nickle(or, silver).
If our pennies are only 75 percent copper, the material would fit the #2 category. At $1.63 per pound, our pennies are worth 1.6 cents apiece at the scrap yard, and only worth one cent at any store. Are we fools to not invest in copper coins? The scrap yard, I'm sure, is not allowed to receive currency to be melted down into pure form again (federal laws), but, if we were to melt it ourselves, a 63 percent profit could be made in short order.
Well, I'm off to start a big fire (fortunately, firewood is easy, free, grabbing). I have jars of pennies saved up over years, and am going to count them up to estimate earnings. Remember - what goes up must come down, and, a penny saved is still just a penny.
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4 opinionated prattle:
hey I got firewood and lots of pennies to donate...
Since my discovery while in LA that you can make money by selling copper, it has intrigue me. Yesterday, ont he news I guess there is a problem inthe lower 48, thieves are going into homes being constructed, stealing all the electrical wiring and any other copper they can find to sell at salvage. They interviewed one electrician that had re-wired one house two times and starting on his third. Based on the formula that you provided, I did a little comparative shopping. You can buy (new) copper pipes at Home Depot, load them into your truck and go to the salvage yard and sell them and make a profit of 38% just as a pass through or $38.00. Why are we working for a living?
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