Half hunting is it worth it? Fun.. yes, but financially??

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

During the covid I fell away from CRH, then about 2 months ago I really messed up my knee. They were both bad and I knew I would have to have them replaced, totally bone on bone, both of them. The left has really been bad and I actually scheduled surgery for October the soonest they could do it.

I decided to try hunting some halves again. I got two boxes from my pickup bank and 1 box from my local bank who happened to have it for a customer who never picked it up.

I found 1 40% 1969 in the 3 boxes, two skunks. so that is worth about $2.82 melt value.

With the cost of gas I am starting to wonder if it is really worth it. I have found that I drive about 80-90 miles between picking up and dumping coins. I get about 14-15 mpg so that is about $24 in gas. Now I often find that I go 12 boxes before finding a silver, so that is about $144 worth of gas (24x6 since I get two boxes at a time) I find I don't or can't dump for than $350-400 at a time at a dump bank and some of them limit you to $200 which raises my cost.

the $144 would buy about 40 - 40% halves or 16 90%, these are approximate. It really doesn't seem worth it. My best year I found 82 40% and 30 90% in 50 boxes, and drove 1,300 miles picking up and returning, if I do that this year the gas alone would be about $360. The coin were worth about $437, so I made a net of about $67 and spend untold hours doing it.

Now with the bad knees I have real trouble walking into the banks, a pain scale of about 8 out of 10 at times, usually about 4/10. Next year should be better if the knees are fixed.

Now the other side is that CRH is fun and you feel like Indiana Jones hunting for the holy grail. It is such a rush finding something so looking at it, $360 for a hobby for a year is short money as I have spent that much for a memory card for one of my cameras.

My other hobby is bird photography and I don't make ANY money from that but do it for fun and accolades. www.jeffpadell.com is my photo website.

 

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[galenrog]

If all you are after is silver, in most cases you are engaged in a losing battle.

If you include in your searches all errors, types, and varieties, you may then have a winning strategy. Of course, you will need a plan for sales of errors, and the generally less valuable types and varieties.

Time for more coffee.

 

[BennyV]

It doesn’t seem like a good return on your investment. Unless you hit the mother load.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

only looking for silver and the 1974D double die or some 20% off center, no other errors.
probably better off taking the $20 it costs me a week in gas and buying silver

 

[djackson7348]

You might not be getting rich but if you enjoy doing it why not keep going. Your odds of a big score CRH is better than your odds playing the lottery.

 

[Gare]

If you do GARAGE sales ask them for OLD COINS !!! I get a lot from them

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

My problem really is while I enjoy it my body doesn't. My knees are both bone on bone and the left is the worst very painful to walk even 20 feet. So far I haven't gotten my wife to agree to carry my coins for me. My pickup bank will put them in the car for me but I have to get them to my den in the house and to the dump banks. I guess I am just frustrated.

my two banks that used to sell bags now say no, so there is no one south of Boston that will sell bags off the coin counters.

I used to look for missing initials halves but could never sell any even though I tried.

 

[smokeythecat]

I gave it up. The cost of gas versus what I got was not worth the time and with the covid who really wanted to bring a ton of filthy coins in the house?

 

[blueberra]

My problem really is while I enjoy it my body doesn't. My knees are both bone on bone and the left is the worst very painful to walk even 20 feet. So far I haven't gotten my wife to agree to carry my coins for me. My pickup bank will put them in the car for me but I have to get them to my den in the house and to the dump banks. I guess I am just frustrated.

my two banks that used to sell bags now say no, so there is no one south of Boston that will sell bags off the coin counters.

I used to look for missing initials halves but could never sell any even though I tried.

I, too, have given up looking for no 'FG' coins and limit my search to silver and impaired proofs (which I give to the tellers at Christmas), but in my case, my acquisition bank (one box of halves per week) and my dump bank (two boxes of halves every other week) are each 6 miles from my house; furthermore, the dump bank is only a mile or so from the gym, so it's really only another 2 miles if I hit it after the gym.
My gas cost is minimal, my time is free, but my luck finding silver has been bad during the past five months (2 @ 90%, 9 @40% over 25 boxes).

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

I would like to have that luck...

where are you near? I am near Gillette Stadium

 

[blueberra]

I would like to have that luck...

where are you near? I am near Gillette Stadium

Metrowest ... near Framingham

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

So at least we hunt different areas, more or less. I know my banks use Loomis but not sure where their main base is.

I am going to start making calls around again to see if any banks will sell bags off the counters. They act like they contain the nuclear codes...

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Back when this forum was really rompin', we would have this discussion frequently. Most people that thought they were 'turning a profit' really weren't. With gas prices where they are and silver at ~$18, 99+% of people can get silver delivered to their doors cheaper than they can go out and find it. The only possible exception is someone who lives in an area that produces decently (if there are any left), and has the resources and enough order and dump banks within a reasonable driving distance that would allow for many thousands of dollars to be searched weekly. Even then, it'd be iffy.

With that said, most hobbies cost money. Golf is expensive. A new bass boat can top $100,000. While most CRHers don't turn a profit, whether or not its "worth it" can only be determined by the individual CRHer. Do what makes you happy.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Even when I question the hobby or complain it is that it makes me feel like Indiana Jones...

 

[Jorgeke]

During the covid I fell away from CRH, then about 2 months ago I really messed up my knee. They were both bad and I knew I would have to have them replaced, totally bone on bone, both of them. The left has really been bad and I actually scheduled surgery for October the soonest they could do it.

I decided to try hunting some halves again. I got two boxes from my pickup bank and 1 box from my local bank who happened to have it for a customer who never picked it up.

I found 1 40% 1969 in the 3 boxes, two skunks. so that is worth about $2.82 melt value.

With the cost of gas I am starting to wonder if it is really worth it. I have found that I drive about 80-90 miles between picking up and dumping coins. I get about 14-15 mpg so that is about $24 in gas. Now I often find that I go 12 boxes before finding a silver, so that is about $144 worth of gas (24x6 since I get two boxes at a time) I find I don't or can't dump for than $350-400 at a time at a dump bank and some of them limit you to $200 which raises my cost.

the $144 would buy about 40 - 40% halves or 16 90%, these are approximate. It really doesn't seem worth it. My best year I found 82 40% and 30 90% in 50 boxes, and drove 1,300 miles picking up and returning, if I do that this year the gas alone would be about $360. The coin were worth about $437, so I made a net of about $67 and spend untold hours doing it.

Now with the bad knees I have real trouble walking into the banks, a pain scale of about 8 out of 10 at times, usually about 4/10. Next year should be better if the knees are fixed.

Now the other side is that CRH is fun and you feel like Indiana Jones hunting for the holy grail. It is such a rush finding something so looking at it, $360 for a hobby for a year is short money as I have spent that much for a memory card for one of my cameras.

My other hobby is bird photography and I don't make ANY money from that but do it for fun and accolades. www.jeffpadell.com is my photo website.

Jeff
What a nice photos in the link😎😃

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Jeff
What a nice photos in the link😎😃

Thank you very much, photography is my main passion followed by astronomy...

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

One bag like I got this weekend makes up for a lot of time and pain and frustration.

47 40% and 17 90% in a bag off a coin counter

 

[MalteseFalcon]

I am in it because it is treasure hunting in my own living room.

I can watch a cool movie while searching. Like....."The Maltese Falcon", lol.

My order bank is only about 8 blocks away, and I order when I go there for
other purposes. My dump bank is a couple of miles away, so technically
my expenses could be considered extremely low on the financial end.

My main expense is just the time. I already have a good career and good sideline
so I am not particularly in it for the cash.

For those of you with a significant other, they can rest assured, while you are mindlessly counting
endless boxes of pennies in front of the TV, at least you are not out raising hell and/or getting
into some kind of trouble. Wifeys love it when hubby stays home within their sight, lol.

The thing is, when you buy a half, the cost is 50 cents. A 90% half is currently valued at 8.66 spot.
After your fees/commissions when selling, you still are getting many times your investment on them.
So even though I am not looking to make a "profit", you DO make a profit by default on the ones you find.

And the real profit is mainly just finding little pieces of treasure once in awhile.
Hey, a 40% is cool. A 90% JFK is cooler. Then get your first Ben, Standing Liberty, or Barber. Wow!
Not to mention the commemoratives, like Booker T. Washington, or Stone Mountain, etc.
Get out your Indiana Jones hat, park your ass on the cushy sofa, and begin searching.

No digging required. No giant granite balls coming after you to crush you. No booby traps or snakes.
No bad guys trying to steal things from you.
Just relax and find treasure with minimal effort.

And as you are not really losing any money on all the rest of them, it is not like a stock investment, where
suddenly you could find yourself holding worthless shares and losing your investment.
You just recycle those clad coins of the realm, and use the cash to search for more.

The trick is, of course, to find a whole bunch of them in one box. Then your profit margin on that box, at least, will go through the roof.
Then you can go back to a life of misery and despair getting nothing but skunk boxes.