I am no longer attributing coins...

coppercoins · Site Admin

For the time being, and possibly permanently, I am no longer going to be attributing coins for other people to include on the site. I have fallen woefully behind on this task, and do not believe I have the time or energy to devote to it any longer. I have to focus on making a living, and the charge for attributing coins is not worth the time it takes to do it. Often we end up with less than half of minimum wage for this service, and I cannot afford to continue.

Bob has offered to continue attributing coins for the time being, but this too could change should he decide not to volunteer his time to do so. At that point the site would be left without an attributor until I decide to return, if that happens at all.

rollmeupabe · Veteran Member

Hi Chuck. In the last year I have become a fellow Missourian. Had to move for a job opportunity so I can understand your decision. I pretty much dropped my passions of genealogy and lincoln cent variety searching due to economic curcumstances.

I have always thought that with your expertise the fee you charge for this service is well below the market value and definitely well below the price charged by other services. After you have some time to take a break and recharge some energy you might consider offering a premium service for a more reasonable fee to you and Bob for the time and effort it takes. You would probably see a lot less volume since people may not want to pay $15 for the servcie but you will spend 1/5th the time to earn the same amount. And everyone has to make a living. For the same price, I would choose to send my coin to you and Bob vs. any of the other services. Just my 2 cents. Take care.

Dick · Expert Member

I agree! Rick Snow gets $5.00 a shot for the FE/IHC. The membership to the Fly-In'Club is $30.00, amnd the forum is DESERTED!. You cahrge nothing here, and the forum is always busy. Not like it as when weverybody had a job, and was working. Times are bad, but the day is coming when we will feel better, again. some of us will suffer more than others, but we will get thru that, also.
Chuck, your database is one of the best around, and is FREE. WHY? Charge a fee for access to it. Increase you attributiion fee, at least make it five bucks, anyway! Ten bucks a year for database access is not out of sight. That is My 2 cents!
Dick

eagames · Expert Member

I also think changing the fee makes sense.

I don't know enough to suggest how to set it up but my rough thought is....

There are different sorts of attribution.

I think if a collector knows their coin is a listed variety they probably send it to a TPG since they already know the variety and probably want it in a slab or they can just write it on a flip.

So I'm thinking (maybe wrong?) the main reason to get an attribution is if they don't know the variety or think it might be a new one.

Maybe it makes sense to offer attribution of known varieties for some fee (maybe not a big fee) but if doing that attribution it turns out to be a new variety maybe there should be a different fee and a different service where it gets listed and possibly gets shared with Coneca or other experts.

I think that is an important thing for new varieties, it would be great if it was shared with other key attributors. That matters for the person discovering the new variety and for the other variety collectors. I think people would pay for it. Nothing else links other sources together. No other attributor shares their database so I think this site is the key one for that. After all the work done it really would be a shame not to make it worthwhile to keep it going in a way that pays.

coppercoins · Site Admin

In some part the problem might be the fee, but in large part it's because I need to make a living, and any reasonable fee is not enough, unfortunately. I can easily spend three hours identifying a minor doubled die or repunched mintmark, and if I charged a normal man's wage for the time, it would be at least $30 for the one coin. And realistically, if I charged the same thing I get for web development or advertising design, I'd have to charge $150 for the one coin.

Additionally, the original purpose for developing this site ten years ago was to not only give people a visual reference of what was out there, but also to get my own collection in order and documented. Still yet I have less than 25% of my own collection documented because of the attention I have placed on everyone else's coins.

Another part of it is that I have simply lost interest. Most of what has been reported of late is stuff that I would have no interest in collecting. Doubled columns, minor wavy steps, and minor doubled eyelids might do it for some people, but I don't see anything collectible in them at all, and really don't have interest in spending hours of my time trying to identify them for other people. I just find it disinteresting.

I'm worn out, I can't get to the coins I have here, and have had some of them for six months. I don't like doing things this way, and don't see an end to it. I'd rather just shut this part of the business down and concentrate on the living I make for a while, with the hope that I might pick up interest again sometime in the near future. Pushing myself into it would only make me want to quit altogether.

I do still want to rebuild the site, I do still want to collect...but I'm simply tired of dealing with other people's coins. I want to take the job back out of it so maybe I can have fun with it.

Bob P · Site Admin

Some good points and suggestions here. As most collectors know, sometimes you just need a break from it all. The length of that break has to do a lot with issues like Chuck is facing, and what I was facing a short while ago. Making a living is a necessity, and our love and/or passion for the hobby does not pay the bills.
I will continue to do attributions. As most of you know, I schedule my attribution packages so that I have a good idea when I can get to them. However, even that will need to change a bit. I have finally started working full time again, so I do not have as much time to do attributions.
We will all make it through this. We are a family here. This site still offers significantly more than others, and I am not about to let that change.

GarryN · Expert Member

All the labels you signed are going to be collector's items in their own right, Chuck! Very Happy

Dick · Expert Member

Chuck, It might be a good idea. I recall what you went thru, in FL, and we don't need any more of that! Take a dood, long break, and relax. We can wait for you to return, when, and if you feel you are ready foe another bout. yoer health is much more important than trying to 'be a good guy". Bob has "btoad shoulders", and can carry the extra load. LOL If not, then we will just have to be patient!
Take care, and keep the interest!
Dick

MorgansRmine · Advanced Member

Best of luck Charles. Greatly appreciate all the help and guidence over the years.

hasfam · Veteran Member

Yes, Best of luck to you and your son Chuck. No matter what, you and Bob will always be heroes to a lot of us for giving us the best attribution site on the web. I completely understand the need to back away at times, to put priorities in order again.
Anyway, I hope everything works out for you.

Rock

eagames · Expert Member

coppercoins · Site Admin

I appreciate all the kind words - only time can tell at this point whether I will ever really be in a position to get back into attributing coins full-steam. Right now I have many other things to sort out, then I will get into doing what I've put off for many years - working on the piles of coins I have here. Once I get that completed, I might just have the kick in me to go back to performing that service for others.

As to my general interest, I do still have it. I made the unfortunate mistake of trying to do it for a living, versus just making it a hobby I do once in a while. Trying to make attributing and selling Lincoln cents a successful living simply cannot work. At best, my monthly income from attributing is $150, and my best month selling die varieties was around $800. I'm a simple man and don't need much, but I can guarantee that $950 isn't going to get me by.

On a final note, I owe Bob more than any of you can ever imagine. He has done a LOT to keep this site going in times when I was down. One thing that MUST be understood, however, is that he and I operate separately from one another here. I gave him all the power he needs to do what he wants around here, and he doesn't confer with me in what he does. Likewise, what I do is often unbenounced to him. If anyone here has anything they need to ask one or the other, it will almost always be the case that only THAT person can help. Bob cannot answer for what I do, and I cannot answer for what he does.

Dick · Expert Member

Chuck, If everyone had that kind of trust, and confidence in each other, this would be a MUCH BETTER world.

Do what you have to do. We will do what ever we can to help you get it done. GOD BLESS.

coop · Expert Member

The difference is wanting to do it and having to do it.
Don't see the connection yet?
Change the subject of coin grading to sex.
Then you will see the difference!

Dick · Expert Member

Coin collecting, and women, have one thing in common:
In the general "population", very few "uncirculated" are found.

"The difference is wanting to do it and having to do it", is simple:
PMS.
Pre-Marital sex, and Post-Marital Sex.