Do you recycle copper pennies? - Page 2

Hmmm! That's interesting Mech, as I was catching up on the thread, all I could guess was that things have changed since the early 80s, but you're posting a judgement from the same time

I see those press machines plenty so it must be ok , Next time i will read the disclaimer

It may have just been an over zealous NOPD (seems they were pretty good at arresting people for no really valid reason ; )

FOr the past couple of months I have been separating my copper pennies from the zinc ones since I heard about penny hoarding. I dont use cash/coins much, so it is a very small pile. As a person in the metal detecting hobby I dig up pennies while looking for better stuff & will clean and cash them in. I have even found a few souvenir squashed pennies people are talking about in this thread (one that has the lords prayer on it, one that has a b-52 bomber on it from some aircraft museum in nebraska I think, and one that have No. 7 Jack daniels whiskey on it). Even found one of those kennedy stamped pennies a coulple years ago.



I had one when i was a kid and wondered if I would ever find one with my metal detector. There are a lot of "stamped" penny varieties out there. Ones with freemason symbols, US state outlines, abe Lincoln smoking a pipe or cigar, and a liberty bell symbol.

I wonder if it is legal to recycle damaged copper pennies? I have found a bunch of flattened one in a park that was next to railroad tracks.

Funny thing about the copper-plated zinc pennies..... when they have been in the ground a long time.... they get eaten into by the soil. Here are some I have found & tumble-cleaned in a rock tumbler.

More than you will ever want to know about hording coppers realcent.org

I have a bucket of pennies with water damage. They leave powder, dirt, crud, etc. on my hands. I thought of scrapping them, but now I suppose I'll take them to a bank where a teller must handle them.

PennyCollector.com - The official website for elongated pennies, penny books and penny machines

I keep my copper pennies. I don't have that many but I always put the pre'82 ones in a coffee can. I figure they are slowly disappearing from circulation much like the wheat pennies. I don't know what I will do with them but they will sit in the coffe cans in the garage.

I also metal detect when I have time and it isn't too hot or soil too dry to dig. Zinc lincolns always seem to be corroded. I clean them up and if they are still intact, I just roll them with any other common post '82 pennies I have.

I would like to point out that Currency and Coinage are two different things and not interchangeable terms. if you'd like to get technical, all paper currency in the US is illegal because it is printed by a private corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank. Only congress has the power to order currency or coinage under the Constitution. The Coinage is all made by the US mint. So it cannot be illegal to destroy currency, because it is all printed by a private corporation, contrary to the directives of the Constitution. Coinage is another story.

Originally Posted by rickcarufel

So it cannot be illegal to destroy currency, because it is all printed by a private corporation.

I don't think too many people are going to be destroying currency...and Welcome to SMF.

Originally Posted by Copper Head

As long as Wall Mart and others sell there stuff for $89.99 like its not $90 we need pennies . To eliminate pennies we would need a price structurer on goods to allow it and take the % of tax into account.

I believe the last new Canadian pennies were minted this past summer. You can still use them if you have them. In the future, if you don't have them and are paying by cash, you'll simply round up or down to the nearest nickel. Credit and debit transactions will still be to the cent.

Originally Posted by Copper Head

the day I start losing .04 per sale day after day - no way , like stores wont figure a way to price so the rounding happens at our expense.

The rule will be to round to the NEAREST nickel. For example, 1 or 2 cents round down, 3 or 4 cents round up. This is fair to both buyer and seller.

Originally Posted by Otto

The rule will be to round to the NEAREST nickel. For example, 1 or 2 cents round down, 3 or 4 cents round up. This is fair to both buyer and seller.

100,000 customers @ .01 = $1000 business in the know will figure a way to have a round up at our expense. A Wall Mart by me has enough business per week that a mathematically engineered round up would be $ 10,000 per month $120,000 per year
all from the lowly penny what about Lowes home depot ECT. Those bean counters will find a way to take the penny .

Originally Posted by Copper Head

100,000 customers @ .01 = $1000 business in the know will figure a way to have a round up at our expense. A Wall Mart by me has enough business per week that a mathematically engineered round up would be $ 10,000 per month $120,000 per year
all from the lowly penny what about Lowes home depot ECT. Those bean counters will find a way to take the penny .

LOL, I think you're getting paranoid there. My guess is the final digit in the sales total is pretty much a random event, that is, it's equally likely that it would be 0 through 9. I don't see how a store could rig the final digit in the total when they have no control over the number of individual items you're buying. Where the stores do screw you though, is where you're not looking. My personal expertise is with flooring. The big box stores often have big discounts on flooring, where it's fairly easy for consumers to comparison shop. At the same time they make outrageous margins on accessories like moldings, glue and fasteners.