How many people stack silver?

[Fat Freddy]

davo--- If you try to "...get the word out..." then people will very definitely think you're weird, and they might well be right. The masses just don't want to hear it -- and it doesn't even matter what the "it" is -- they just don't want to hear it. Period. Try to get "the people" to not elect (or not REelect) a proven, known unethical sleaze, liar and thief or to stop tolerating fascist censorship and oppression. Good luck. I need to bite my tongue here. I could go on forever, but then I really would be a thread hijacker.

So, in closing... The % of serious stackers out of the overall population is statistically insignificant. It's been that way forever, it'll most likely continue to be that way forever and it's very unlikely that any amount of public communications will ever change that.

 

[renovator]

seriously i think we should get the word out for more people to start stacking..it drives up demand

I agree with fat freddy be careful spreading the word im sure everyone was pushing silver when it was in the high 40s saying how good it was then it tanked .Im sure theres a few people that bought in high & now have lost a bit of money on the pullback . Im not sure i want to be responsible for people losing money .I prefer to mention PMs then let them do their own research .

 

[EasyCollective]

I stack but know no one of my immediate friends, family or associates that do. No one knows i do either, i like it that way : )

 

[Jislizard]

So the consensus is that not many people stack but...

There are plenty of dealers in business and they must be selling to someone and it can't all be the same person buying and selling back to the dealers.

Most of these dealers are paying rents, employing staff and managing to stay in business so there must be a fair amount of traffic.

I have a feeling that SS doesn't represent stackers in general, I was stacking before I found this site. SS represents the people actively stacking who are computer literate, have enough time to waste on forums and like to talk about silver.

There are plenty of people who have reached their stacking goals or at least have some exposure to metals but don't want to spend any more money on them. I know people with full sets of Australian Sovereigns who struggle with emails. If my sister ever has a question about something she asks if I am on any nerd forums who would be able to answer it, she doesn't like going on them herself. Other people are happy to lurk without ever admitting to owning anything of value.

The answer, so I have been told, is to get hedge funds to start investing in silver, then we are off to the moon!

 

[Luker]

We are the 1% (now I know how it feels x])

I was thinking we are the .1% or more then likely lower

I think you are in the correct ballpark. I was thinking about this today as I had posted an article from a huge silverbug (The Wealth Watchman) who was attempting to sway the readers by using the seemingly impressive statistic that US Mint sales (in ounces) of silver were 112 times that of gold ounces purchased- thereby implying that the situation could not last for very long since silver is only currently being pulled out of the earth at a ratio of 9-10 :1. (I've heard Eric Sprott use this argument as well). It is totally erroneous of course...the ratio could be 100:1 or 1000:1 but it really doesn't matter one iota if the total investment/jewelry plus industrial demand is not really increasing.

That said, if the the percentage of stackers suddenly doubled in relative terms ( but increased by a very small amount in absolute terms ) that sort of momentum could precipitate the long-awaited silver-to-da-moon scenario.

For simplicity sake lets us say that there are ~1 billion people of the developed/first world nations (North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia) that could potentially stack silver.
If I very arbitrarily define a silver stacker to be one who stacks 100 oz /year (~$2000 of their annual savings) on average, and if the annual investment (coin and bar) demand is 200 million oz,
then this would give us 2 million silver stackers worldwide (of the developed nations) . This ratio is 2/1000 or 0.2%. In my experience this is probably about right. I am a professional (and thus likely in the top 5% of wage-earners in my country ) yet none of my acquaintances stack silver (or perhaps they do but are very discreet about it, but I doubt that).

So if a very small absolute percentage of individuals were to lose trust in fiat currency, the effect would be potentially huge in affecting the demand. (i.e. if just 1/1000 additional people started to stack ( i.e. the percentage of stackers went from 0.2% of the population to 0.3%) that would potentially amount to an additional investment demand of 100 million oz/year (a 10% total increase in annual total demand/ "consumption"). Think about how tight the oil demand/supply curve is, and the effect on the price of oil/barrel if supply was suddenly reduced by 10%. (Admittedly not an apples-apples comparison but you get the point)

Cheers,
Luker

 

[raven]

100 % stack rate, ..........here under this roof !



Don't know any others, at all, but at least I live in a household full.

I should really change that !

 

[SpacePete]

...

My stack suddenly feels inadequate after seeing that pic.

 

[alor]

this is rock solid for the wall.

 

[Luker]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJm3cRRvPoM[/youtube]

 

[The Crow]

Only 50% stack rate at my household - 1 stacker, 1 consumer
I stack PM
Crow steals the bones his sister stacks and consumes them

 

[willrocks]

Everyone at work are slackers. But not many know about silver.

 

[-j-p-shmorgan]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJm3cRRvPoM[/youtube]

Funny how he ends the video with "you never know what it's going to be worth in the future."
Let me be the first to tell you...it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

 

[The Crow]

^^^
And that is true for anything "of value".
I'll bet I could get a damned good price for a cup of dirty water, 500 k west of the Alice, if I run into the right customer .....
Far more than I could get for the same quantity of gold or silver under the same circumstances

 

[phrenzy]

I've seen those videos before. I like them too but I understand people being reticent, I know what it's worth and I'm not sure that I would buy a 10oz bar off of a sketchy dude on the street for $10.

 

[Ag bullet]

Should organise a massive Australian home letterbox spam attack
Featuring a newsletter on precious metals and where the economy is heading
That might bump the prices up a little,once people wake up & smell the Ag & Au

not yet, let us stack a bit more first.

 

[-j-p-shmorgan]

I've seen those videos before. I like them too but I understand people being reticent, I know what it's worth and I'm not sure that I would buy a 10oz bar off of a sketchy dude on the street for $10.

Yeah, but I'd venture to guess that 95% of the people asked don't know current prices or value & that's the point of the video.
He even says u can go with him next door to the coin shop & make sure it's real........lolz

 

[Nabullion Dynamite]

I would say less than 1% . In my department we have 20 people, no one else stacks. One of my cooworkers saw me looking at silver on the computer, he bought a couple bars because he wanted to...later needed money and sold them to me under spot.

Besides some old silver coins my entire life I have never known anyone that stacks, atleast no one has told me or hinted about it.

 

[willrocks]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJm3cRRvPoM[/youtube]

Even I wouldn't buy from Mark Dice.

But seriously, I bet he'd have the same response if he tried to sell a new iPhone for $10.

 

[Roswell Crash Survivor]

Oh scrap, wrong thread.

 

[Jim4silver]

I would say here in the US that the number of silver "stackers" is less than 1/10 of 1% of the population. There are lots of folks who have some junk silver they inherited from their grandparents or parents, but many of them sell the stuff as soon as it is given to them.

If we are talking hard-core silver bugs, the figure is miniscule when factored throughout the entire population. Even many former pro PM type folks are no longer "stacking" because their attention span is too short and the past few years' bear market has scared them off and turned them into anti PM folks. Unfortunately many see PM's as a get rich quick method instead of insurance against all other paper markets.

It is interesting to go on some of the pro PM blogs and read the anti PM comments from some long time posters (like silverdoctors.com, etc). This tells me a bottom has either been reached or is near.

Just my opinion.

Jim