Friday, December 02, 2011

Nightline: Penny Hoarders

Tonight the team at Nightline exposed the society of penny hoarders.

Here's the official link...Nightline Penny Hoarders.

My position is that people who hoard coins are slightly nuts. I mean take the money now and buy some silver, gold, or platinum. You now what buy dinner for your family that would be more rewarding.



Nightline first teased it as a scheme then said it is enterprising.

First up Joe Henry has 200,000 pennies or $2,000. He uses the analogy if he had Enron stock or some dot.com stock it would be worth nothing. (I would say what if he had Google or Microsoft stock.)

Next is Adam Youngs is a professional penny sorter who sells $100 of pennies for $176. He is so giggly it reminds of a kid who knows their doing something naughty and is getting away with it.

The Laws
It is against the law to transport $5.00 in pennies outside the country.
It is against the law to melt pennies or nickels.

The law against penny melting may be changed the next time the lawmakers meet.

At the end the buyers and hoarders are hoping They watch copper values go up, the theft of copper going up, and see the market for copper get larger. Unfortunately even if the law does change the market is bound to crash. Imagine billions and billions of pennies being turned to copper-smiths.


Update from an early story done on Joe Henry:
Joe Henry says the time it takes to get enough pennies to get a major windfall isn't worth it, but says he is continuing to collect for his son.
Joe Henry has a son diagnosed with autism and he used collecting to teach the boy to be more social.  

The ABC story focused on the business of penny hoarding  while the local station got the back-story. I think an Autism penny drive would do this family good.

7 dollars worth, for Comments/Questions click here.:

TL said...

This is a bit crazy

TL said...

1989 A Twenty Worth anything? I have it for collection and was wondering. I have a bunch of old bills.

Man said...

1989 A Twenty

If you mean from the U.S. it should be a 1988-A and no extra value unless it's a star note.

Dr. Math said...

I sort of do that but only have about $1.80 so it is not a hoard. I just take any that I find out of change and save them. I also would rather have gold or silver, but the pennies are less expensive and can be obtained from change or rolls more easily than silver or gold coins so I see the reasoning behind their hoarding. Also if the market crashes they would still be worth at least face value so they could still be traded in for cash.

Man said...

@Dr. Math, while I agree with the idea and like you I also put them aside as long as they have no verdigris damage.

The thing is most of these hoarders are also waiting for the Apocalypse or their reasoning is slightly illogical. That Joe Henry bought a $5,000 coin sorter and has $2,000 of cents in a shed. Now add in the time and effort and I think I would do it differently and still make a profit.

Anonymous said...

If anyone knows, please email me -- accessLBarton@aol.com -- with info on where to find a good buy on a home penny sorting machine.

Man said...

with info on where to find a good buy on a home penny sorting machine.

No sorry, if I wanted one I would make it from those YouTube videos.