Do you differentiate between copper and zinc cents?

Weiss

For the last several years I've Gresham'd my copper cents. Nothing special there, I think many if not most of us do that.

But I think that's underscored the intrinsic value of pre-82 cents (currently "worth" about 2.5 cents) while at the same time illustrating the worthlessness of the cent in general and zinc cents specifically. Zinc cents just aren't worth my time. I feel cheated when I get them in change. I actually find myself feeling a little happy when I get real (copper) cents in change.

Case in point: yesterday I was getting into my car and I saw three cents lying on the ground. I've already taken to picking up only cents that really, really look like copper (I'd say 80% of the time I guess right based on color and strike). This time I couldn't tell right off the bat, so I picked them all up. All three were zinc.

So here's the dilemma: I didn't want to keep them. I couldn't bring myself to throw them in the trash. But dropping them back on the ground would be in essence littering.

Ultimately I littered.

What would you have done?

LanceNewmanOCC

.
not to get this off-topic but just wanted to say

on a planet so focused on the gaining of money isn't it a travesty how much is thrown away?
.

Weiss

<< <i>.
not to get this off-topic but just wanted to say

on a planet so focused on the gaining of money isn't it a travesty how much is thrown away?
. >>



Good point and a valid one.

LindeDad

<< <i>What would you have done? >>



Never even bother looking or thinking of picking them up to start with.

TwoSides2aCoin

Sooner or later we will get leaders who understand the American way. If it's worth melting, let's grease the wheels of commerce. If not, we end up in a black market with a generation who lost good old common sense.

You littered. You should put them in parking meters and write it off on your taxes next year. Charitable contribution, plus the zinc ones will rust on the ground. The copper lasts for thousands of years. Why not use it for industrial purposes ? What the heck do our boys and girls in suits and ties do all day ? I work and am able to reason out the simplest things in my mind. Hello ? Hello ?

Is there a bounty on copper , yet ? Nope, there is a law that forces people to hoard it. Dumb dumb dummie down.

jmski52

I was traveling earlier this week and as I got out of the car at a McDonald's, I saw a cent in a puddle of scummy-looking water. It's the first cent in recent history that I decided not to pick up at all. I did pick up a zinc one recently even tho it was kinda scratched. We all have our limits.

guitarwes

Regarless if they are copper or Zincolns, I pick 'em up if they are on dry ground, leave them if they are wet.

On what to do with them? I recently needed 2 thick washers with a small hole for a project. Took 10 of them, buddy drilled them, stacked 5 together, and stuck the screw thru them. Cheaper than buying washers at Home Depot and saved a heck of alot of gas.

tahoe98

I couldn't bring myself to throw them in the trash. But dropping them back on the ground would be in essence littering .Ultimately I littered. What would you have done?

...i would have paid the littering fine in zincolns.

Kove

When I find copper cents, they go into my own jar. Someday they'll be worth much more than 2.5 cents.

When I find zinc cents, I either point them out to my kids, who are eager to pick them up, or take them home for their piggy banks. It's surprising how fast those pennies add up to dollars for them, and I like the lesson that big progress takes a lot of small steps.

ambro51

I glance at pennies and if I see unusually nice red coppers I put them in a can.

Coupdescrounge

It's part of my fabric to seek out these types of finds. Then sift the copper into a special place. I could give you a whole list of frequent haunts, but then I would have competition. OK, just one... any drive through fast food place is good for loose change on the ground after close, you can count on that.

silverpop

unless the penny is a wheat penny then i spend them, doesn't matter to me if they are copper or zinc they still spend the same

Snowman24

i pick them all up if its feasible = could be a good variety just lying there but the odds are against it
but Hey - you never know

i wish i could find a 1992 close am ..... one was found about 50 miles from my hometown

some other better newer varieties are the 99 & 92 D close am, 88 RDV-006, 2006 DDO, 94 DDR, 95 DDO

DorkGirl

I donate them to a "take a penny, leave a penny" cup.

Rampage

I pick them up and either spend or donate them. There are so many unfortunate people out there that I think it is nice to pick them up and donate them. Actually, just yesterday I went to lunch at the food court at the mall. Outside the door of the mall was a Salvation Army guy ringing his bell with the red bucket. I put the change from my pocket in there.

morgansforever

<<on a planet so focused on the gaining of money isn't it a travesty how much is thrown away?>>

I was thinking the same thing. How much money is thrown away globally each year?
Whether it's sucked through a car wash vac, clothes donated with change in the pockets, change buried under the
carpeting in a vehicle or someone dropping change that doesn't bother to pick up. Could it be in the 10's of thousands?
How much currency is lost, destroyed, forgotten or unintentionally discarded?

I pick up every bit of change. 82 Lincoln cents go into the regular change jar. 81 and prior go into the 95% copper
bin, wheaties into another. Everything is also doubled checked for 1972 DDO's, 1983 DDR's etc.

Billet7

I pick them up usually. After all a penny saved...

Usually I give them to one of my kids and it goes in their piggy bank.

mustangmanbob

I toss all of them in the charity cups at the grocery store (cancer, whatever).

Cocoinut

I pick up any and all coins I find on the ground. They're added to a container of loose change I receive that is periodically taken to the bank or CoinStar machine. The proceeds go toward a vacation fund. It surprising how quickly it adds up.

Jim

GrumpyEd

I pick them up and I check for varieties then I put them back into circulation.
Often I need a penny to make change to avoid getting more change so they're useful.

1Mike1

Once in a while I get bored with myself and search a few rolls of Lincolns. I replace the copper with zinc and send it back to the bank.

adamlaneus

i'll admit i've gotten out a scale and weighed the 1982 to separate even those. because i am insane.

that said...i've vacuumed up NUMEROUS cents without a second thought. i'm not going through a vacuum cleaner bag for a cent.

DBSTrader2

It's weird, but aside from saving all wheaties I find, I don't save pre-82 copper. But, for some stupid reason, I DO save all 1982's! There's still a few folders between my & my kids' collections that need all 7 varieties of the 82's. And if I ever get the time & initiative (and a replacement scale), someday I might just actually go thru those I've collected to sort them out by each type & finally complete those parts in the folders....... just never seem to get around to it.................

- - Dave