I once got ready to meet up with a guy, in a certain park in CA, that was known for still having some deep silver (for those with good ears).
As we set up the appointment date to meet, we began to discuss our planned strategies. And when he found out that my style in turf is to pass shallow stuff, HE WAS AGHAST ! Because in his mind's eyes :
1) the clad adds up after awhile. So it's foolish to pass it.
2) Sometimes an old coin might be shallow. Ie.: "Ya never know"
3) perhaps the clad is masking something older/deeper underneath it.
Then things got worse when he found out that I cherry pick, and don't dig foil, nickels, etc... when doing junky urban parks. AGAIN he was aghast ! Saying : "But you might miss a gold ring !!??"
We met, and spent an entire morning hunting. The results were predictable :
Me: a couple of silver dimes, 10 or 12 early green wheaties, and maybe 4 or 5 clad that fooled me.
Him: 50 clad (rotten zinc, etc...) no silver coins, and *maybe* one wheatie.
He simply couldn't understand why he wasn't finding oldies in the same amount of time. He figured : "Gee, I'm 'digging everything', so technically, I should have the best of all worlds", eh? But it never ends up working that way in the end.
(If I'm ghost-townsy relic-hunting ? Sure: My strategy would be different)