Stockpiling Pre1982 pennies-the math

[Dug]

Here's the math about copper pennies. Pre-1982 pennies weigh 3.11 grams and there are 453.59237 grams per pound. Therefore 453.59237\3.11= ~146 pennies per pound. Each pre-1982 penny has 95% copper. Therefore, 146/.95= ~153.5 pennies to make 1 pound of copper. Today's copper price is about $3.49/pound. So, 3.49/153.5=.0227. Each penny is worth about 2.25 cents in copper. 153.5 pennies is worth nearly $3.50.

Every time you spend a pre-1982 penny for 1 cent value, you are losing 1.25 cents. Better start saving or stockpiling those pennies.

 

[James N.D.]

You can even look thru the penny dishes and pull the copper cents at any convenience store and replace them with the Zinc's! Thanks for the tip and I might just have to start hoarding away the real copper pennies just in case there is a market for them for a copper meltdown.

 

[Erik]

Thanks for the math. Your equations look sound, however I think you need to consider the cost of extracting the copper from the cents. The price you quote for copper is probably pure. But it seems there might still be an interesting arbitrage opportunity, esp. if the price of copper goes up again. Nice job on the figures!

 

[Dug]

You are correct, Erik, and I have no idea what it would cost to melt a penny, and get pure copper out of it. Think of it though; if you spent $1,000,000 to buy 100,000,000 pennies, theoretically you have 2.25 million dollars worth of copper. Let's say it costs you a half million to get pure copper, you're still left with $750,000 profit. If it costs you a million dollars to get pure copper, you still have 250,000 dollars profit. You also might want to consider that 100,000,000 pennies weighs 342.5 tons. Does that seem right?

 

[Erik]

Hi Doug,

I get the 342.81 tons for the 100M pennies, but I think you short changed us a little on the profit.

$2.25M - $0.50M (melt & purify) = $1.75M (profit)
$2.25M - $1.00M (melt & purify) = $1.25M (profit)

Let's do it!!!

 

[Dug]

However, you had to spend a million dollars to get the 100,000,000 pennies, right? So, subtract out your initial investment to get your true profit. Have I got that right?

 

[Erik]

n/t