Big Boys Hobbies

Running a ryedale sorter as a side business?

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zeemang

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I was considering having someone run a ryedale penny sorter operation for me. I was thinking of having them do 5000 dollars in pennies per week, seems like it would take about 27 hours to do that volume from what i can tell....Plus the run around time to buy and dump.....
Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't that theoretically yield around $1250 face value in copper per week? Could maybe sell off for $1875 per week based on what i'm seeing on ebay, for a profit of $625 per week, minus about 10% for ebay of course...
What problems can you see with this idea? What am i not thinking of? Is this way too much volume to expect someone to do for a reasonable wage?
 
Doesn't sound like it'd be worth it. Where would your source be? I don't even think banks would have that many pennies. Where would you store the pennies? How about operating costs of the machine? Wrapping? So many things to consider. Shipping costs...Idk if it would be worth it.
 
bonesquat said:
Doesn't sound like it'd be worth it. Where would your source be? I don't even think banks would have that many pennies. Where would you store the pennies? How about operating costs of the machine? Wrapping? So many things to consider. Shipping costs...Idk if it would be worth it.
Click to expand...

a lot of the people on eBay don't even roll their bulk copper pennies. I have about $20 sitting in a box that I roll every time I get enough for another roll. I probably won't do that anymore just make them up in baggies of a set amount in each baggie.
 
You forget about the wheats, indian heads, copper canadians, clad (dimes), and foreign coins. I have a Ryedale and it's more of a hobby that pays for itself than a side business. Say 10 boxes a week. That's $250 face value. I find, on average, 15 wheats a box. So, I'm pulling 150 wheats a week. I also average 10 canadian coppers a week. Here's another 100 canadian coppers to it's pile. Canadian coppers are going for 2+ cents each. Everything else is minor and a possible profit maker.

So, you see there are other ways to maximize a little more profit. And last, I actually try to find error coins in both the zinc pile and the copper pile. Some of those errors bring in the big bucks. But this takes time and effort.
 
I personally wouldn't be doing the sorting, just basically acting as the investor: buying the machine and putting up the capital...Someone i know in the US would be taking care of the day to day...
 
zeemang said:
I personally wouldn't be doing the sorting, just basically acting as the investor: buying the machine and putting up the capital...Someone i know in the US would be taking care of the day to day...
Click to expand...

I think its an enterprising idea but I have issues with liquidity. Since pennies cannot be melted and the margins on eBay seem low I'm not sure where the profits are for you.

Shipping is a nightmare too I imagine.
 
just hope that when ya purchase your 5000 bucks worth of pennies they're all not zincolns :lol:...but atleast you'd get your 5000 back at the dump bank
 
dogpound said:
just hope that when ya purchase your 5000 bucks worth of pennies they're all not zincolns :lol:...but atleast you'd get your 5000 back at the dump bank
Click to expand...

Well that is the whole idea here. You pour pennies into the Ryedale it sorts them between Zinc and 90% copper pennies.

The OP's idea is to fund/invest someone to go to the bank, buy lots of pennies run them through the Ryedale, then sell the bulk 90% copper pennies somewhere like eBay.

Its a question of margins and liquidity. Right now the largest concern is that the gov. will not let us melt down pennies for their copper weight value. However that is a risk that could lead to a positive gain. Meaning if you start stock piling now and the gov. lifts the ban you can smelt the bullion down to bars and that would be easier to move/ship.

Of course, the price needs to rise too :D
 
The wheats that are 1941 and older usually fall in the copper pile. Anything older falls in the zinc pile. The mixed alloy composition of the older wheats get them sorted out into the zinc (reject) pile. It's a great tool to have in the winter months around here.

Anyone have any questions...you can always send me a PM.
 
No, i can't reliably get boxes of US coins in Mexico....
This would be a US operation, i would not be running it, just funding it....
 
zeemang said:
No, i can't reliably get boxes of US coins in Mexico....
This would be a US operation, i would not be running it, just funding it....
Click to expand...

I'd love to talk you into this but this takes a bit of time at the level you are talking about. The Ryedale can do a box as fast as you can load it up. But the packaging the product up properly to ensure it gets to where it's going in one piece is a time consuming taks. Taking all of the zinc rejects back to the bank will take time. $70 to $85 in zinc pennies out of every $100 will go back to the bank depending on the area of the country you're in.

And the machine doesn't like bent, corroded, gummy, or anything else that will jam the machine. Time, time, and more time.

A few things to think of.
 
mws_1984 said:
So the point is to sort the copper pennies from the zincolns and then sell the copper pennies?
Click to expand...

Yep...but as a bonus you'll find wheats....most will be common ones...but you'll find a semi-key here and there and maybe a key date. There are indian heads still floating around in circulation. I've even heard of fying eagles being found in a box from the bank. Cananadian coppers were minted up to 1996 and since the older canadians had more copper in them, the market lets you get a little more for them than the US coppers.

When I run a batch here's what I'm doing with them.

Say, $25 box (2500 pennies). I have two buckets under the machine. All of the coppers will go into one and ANYTHING else will go into bucket #2. When I finish the box, I'll re-run the copper bucket through the machine again for quality control. A couple of zincs might have slipped through to the wrong bucket. With my current averages I should have between 600-750 coppers in that copper bucket. I'll scan through them real fast to pick out any wheats or canadians that stick out. Then the coppers get bagged up for future scans. Now, for the rejects, I'll do another quick scan of the bucket poured out on a table. More to look through (1750 to 1900 pennies). All of the older wheats, Pre-1941, will be in this pile. Also, I'm on the lookout for indian heads and foreign coins. I have found foreign silver doing this. These then get bagged up for future scans.

So, I'll have a pile of copper to search for error and varieties.
A pile of wheats. (as low as 7 and as high as 65)
A pile of canadian coppers. (10 to 25)
And a big pile of zincs to look for errors and varieties.

Sounds like alot of work....but this is a hobby to me. And it only makes sense that I must be finding enough error/varieties to take that time to look at darn near, not all, 2500 cents from each box!

It is more fun in the ChicagoLand winters!
 
Here's a result from a box I just went through. I'm guessing I got the average 28% copper. That's 700 copper pennies. So, my other results are below.

700+/- copper cents
5 canadian copper cents
11 wheats with 1 semi-key 1932!:D a nice 1930D also
1 indian head 1903 nice coin without "LIBERTY" though
1 foreign coin 1999 2-cent euro.

I looked for any of the major error/variety cents and zeroed.:mad: But I've added more to my copper, canadian copper, wheat, indian head, and foreign coin piles! I'll have $17+ to take to the dump bank and then grab another box or two while I'm out. This was a very good box. The semi-keys are few and far between and the indian heads are just as rare. But the more you search the better chances you have of finding a good score besides the basic search for copper.
 
If you use a ZINC penny as the referance coin in the Rydale, I use a 1983, ALL the copper goes to the copper side. From Flying Eagle on up. In the ZINC side you will only find ZINC.. no Canada, no Indian, no old Wheat will be in the ZINC. Dimes and foreign will come out in the copper too. I'm finding on average about 27% copper and about 1% wheat in the copper. About 9 or 10% of the copper are 1982.
 
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