This page is intended for all of you that think you might want to do some sorting and are interested in what type of equipment there is out there to help you accomplish it. We do not have any affiliation with these products and are just giving you information about them and not promoting them.
FAQ: all the following questions have been asked in one form or another on the contact us page.....please read them before buying any equipment.
Why am I doing this and how much time and money am i willing to spend?
Time is usually the big problem, nobody has the time, that is why most people buy the coins presorted. Money is the next big problem, how much are you willing to put into equipment before sorting any Pennies?
What am I going to do with the 75% of the coins that are not copper?
If you buy $100 worth of pennies (10,000) only 2500 (depending on your geographic location and the luck of the draw) will be copper. This means that the other 7500 coins need to be spent or sent back to the bank. The bank is not partial to people bringing back large quantities of pennies in regular intervals. This is one of the most challenging areas in the hobby.
Where do I get the pennies to sort?
You can buy them from friends and relatives, you can get them from the bank, collected in spare change, etc. It does become somewhat of a challenge if you start wanting $100 worth of pennies regularly, the banks also frown on this and tend to give you a hard time about why you want all those pennies.
What other equipment will I need?
Depending on how many pennies you are going to sort and what you are going to do with them once you have sorted them some other equipment that might be useful is:
Coin Counter: high speed counter to count off zincs for return to the bank, to count a certain denomination for sale or just to store, its nice to know that there is a certain amount in each bag or box.
Coin Roller: Some banks require your zincs to be rolled to be returned to them. Also some people like to roll there coins once sorted.
SCALE: Useful to weigh new boxes or bags of pennies to make sure they have not already been sorted. Also used for packaging certain weights in containers for resale or storage.
BAGS: canvas bags are nice for many purposes in the trade, Plastic Coin Lok bak bags are needed if the zincs are to be returned to the bank by the bag. Also some people store there coins in these, and some sell in them.
Dolly: a foldable cart to bring pennies in and out of the bank when purchasing and when returning zincs.
What is the break-even point on a ryedale?
In my opinion, the break even point is around $1,000 of sorted copper pennies. Assuming you could buy $1000 worth of copper pennies for $1700, Your goal would need to be a minimum of $1,000 face in pennies to make the machine worthwhile. This is assuming that your labor is entirely free, and that you are picking up and dropping off pennies as you are driving by the bank. If you have to drive to and from the bank then you need to add gas money into the equation as well. Keep in mind that to get $1,000 face of copper pennies you must sort through 400,000 pennies, and if you double sort for accuracy thats 800,000 pennies.
this is figuring that the machine is $500, and then $200 for incidentals such as dri-slide, cleaner, penny rollers, a few tools, bags, boxes, containers, hopper extensions, electricity, etc, etc.
Also keep in mind you need a place to do this....Your wife , husband, girl or boy friend is not going to appreciate bags of pennies and machinery in the living room for more than a day or two.
All in All, a ryedale is not for someone who wants a couple hundred dollars worth of pennies. If you intend on investing more than $1700 than you should consider the ryedale, it is a great little machine. If you want a few hundred dollars worth just buy them.
What do you think about the penny miser?
I have never personally never used the penny miser but it appears to be a way to inexpensively ramp up your handsorting efforts. I have talked with several people who have tried using one and from what I gather they take a little tweaking to get the balance to work right.
All in All I think that the machine would be good for someone who wants to do a box or two of pennies here and there or someone who cant see good enough to read the dates.
