Is Coin Roll Hunting Time Consuming?

As someone who is interested in getting into the hobby of coin roll hunting, you may have already gave some thought to how and where you will pick up your coins, or how much you are willing to spend a week, month, year, etc. What you might not have gave much thought to however is how much time you will need to dedicate to this new hobby. Even more importantly, do you have this free time?

In our opinion, coin roll hunting can be a time consuming hobby. There are quite a few steps you will have to do in order to complete your sort. Let’s also be clear that coin roll hunting is not as time consuming as most people would think. The thought of sorting through 2500 pennies by hand (this is only one box!) sounds quite daunting. Most people tend to believe that this would take hours or the better part of a day to get through, when in reality, one box of pennies on average will take us just about one hour to complete. Right now, because we are keeping detailed stats on each box and roll we find, the time per box is still only about one hour and twenty minutes for pennies. We choose to take these stats because we are interested in our overall statistics and like to add them to our coin roll hunting videos (see these videos on our YouTube Channel here). You by no means have to record these statistics. Most coin roll hunters do not, and only add up their total yield. For boxes of nickels, which hold 2000 nickels, we can complete our sort in less than an hour.

Re-rolling your zinc and steel coins can be time consuming

Remember, as a coin roll hunter, our job does not begin nor end with the act of sorting through your coins and separating those that hold metal value. You will also need time to drive to the bank to pick your coins up, as well as return them to your bank. Perhaps the most time consuming part of coin roll hunting is re-rolling your zinc and steel coins before returning them. This may seem intimidating to start, but we can say with some certainty that you will get faster at not only sorting and separating your coins, but also re-rolling them and bundling them back up for the bank. We have become much more efficient in this task over the last year and a half and will probably get faster as time goes on. As well, we like to pick up and drop off our coins when we are already out running errands (or as we prefer to do, after coming bank from the gym) as this will save time since we are already out and passing by the bank. This is a great time saver and will save you a couple lone trips out to the bank. If you’re already out and passing by the bank, why not stop in quick and pick up/drop off?

Other factors in regards to time will depend on how you are sorting your coins. Let’s take pennies for example. Some individuals who coin roll hunt will only separate the copper pennies from the zinc ones and leave it at that. We get into a little more detail then this (personal preference) and sort our copper coins into five total piles. Three for Canadian copper pennies (based on year and weight), American copper pennies (pre-1982s), and finally zinc pennies, which we will return to the bank. This does not include the more rare King George and Wheat pennies that are also sorted into their own piles. Based on your sorting preference, this may add to the amount of time it will take you to complete your sort, but the difference is quite small and you will get faster over time.

One other factor must be discussed regarding time and coin roll hunting. Coin roll hunters can either hand sort their coins, or use a Ryedale machine to sort their coins for them. These Ryedale machines can save you a significant amount of time during the sorting phase of your coin roll hunt since they can accurately sort through hundreds of coins per minute. We have never used one of these machines and only hand sort our coins. Before investing in a Ryedale, you should consider the cost of the machine (these machines cost around $500 each) and also the volume of coins you are going to be sorting through. Some coin roll hunters pick up so many coins that to sort them by hand would be impossible or quite burdensome. If you are just beginning this hobby, you may want to give hand sorting a try and then make your decision once you have completed a number of sorts. We pick up two boxes of pennies and a box of nickels a week and have no trouble with time at this volume.

Keep in mind that coin roll hunting can be a time consuming hobby. Stay consistent and dedicated and budget your time as best you can so you can keep adding to your hoard at a reasonable rate.