Is Coin Roll Hunting Expensive?

Remember, most of these will be returned to the bank

There is one question we’ve been asked time and again by those individuals who are looking to begin coin roll hunting. This question can be summarized simply as, “Is coin roll hunting expensive?” or “Do I need to spend a lot of money to coin roll hunt?” There is a simple answer to this question. To begin, coin roll hunting is not expensive. In fact, those individuals sitting on the sidelines tend to grossly overestimate the amount of money they will have to spend to begin hunting through circulated coins.

What tends to cause this confusion? Firstly, many potential coin roll hunters who are thinking about getting into the hobby will add up the costs by looking at the total cost of the box of coins they are thinking of picking up. This means for a box of pennies, $25. For a box of nickels, another $100. And so on. Admittedly, if this were the case, these costs would add up quickly! However, we now need to think as coin roll hunters, and forget about the total cost of these boxes. Yes, you will need to spend this amount to pick up the box and begin coin roll hunting, but most of this total will be returned, and cashed back in at the bank.

You have to remember that when you pick up a $100 box of nickels, only about 10% of these coins will be made of 99.9% nickel, the ones that we are looking to keep (see our post on which nickels to keep here). That means that even though you paid $100 for the box, you will only be keeping $10 worth, and returning the rest to your bank and getting the money you paid back. The same way of thinking should be applied to your box of pennies (see our post on which pennies to keep here). You will first pay $25 for the box, but will only find about 40% of the copper pennies that we want (this is for Canadian boxes, American and other boxes may differ). So in total, $10 of the penny box will be kept, and the rest of the coins will be returned and cashed back in again.

We have been coin roll hunting for a little over a year and a half, and these percentages have stayed consistent over this time. With our new way of thinking as coin roll hunters, we now know that instead of paying $125 for one box of nickels and one box of pennies to begin coin roll hunting, this is really going to only cost you about $20. Right now we are getting two boxes of pennies and one box of nickels a week, and are only spending on average about $30 dollars a week. Coin roll hunting at these volumes will yield enough results to grow your hoard at a considerable rate, while still being affordable (one box of pennies or nickels a week is certainly sufficient to do so).

Another important point to remember when coin roll hunting is that you do not have to buy an entire box of pennies, nickels, or dimes. One can go to their bank and request only $10 in pennies or $50 in nickels, or less, without much hassle. As well, if you are lucky enough to find boxes that yield much higher averages than what we have found (we have had boxes with close to 90% copper pennies before!), you can always take a week off from adding to your hoard and start back up the following week. Remember, when it comes to coin roll hunting, you are in charge, and you can be as flexible as you need to be if cost is a concern. Add slowly but consistently, and your hoard will certainly grow in time.

If you want more information in regards to the expenses connected to coin roll hunting, be sure to watch our video posted below that we have added to our YouTube Channel. Happy Hoarding!