The Smart Spending blog on MSN MoneyCentral (who've linked to me a few times — thanks very much Donna and Karen!) posted some reader responses to the question:
I absolutely pick up money I find. Pennies are great. I point out pennies so that my daughter can pick them up. She enjoys carrying them around in her basket (her “security blanket” these days). However:
- I try not to stop the parade to pick up money. I won't go so far as to risk people tripping over me. People seeing me pick up change doesn't bother me, though.
- If I see the person drop it, I'll point it out to them, of course.
- Biting one's fingernails makes it a lot harder to pick up coins off of a tile floor.
We don't set aside our found money for any particular purpose; it all just goes in the pot and pads our bank account a little. It adds up. I know I've found hundreds of dollars a coin at a time. Getting enough little things adding up over time makes a big difference.
On the other extreme, I've seen people discard change, as in physically throw it in the trash (!) or drop it, see that they've dropped it, and walk away. Over time, that adds up too, but it's lost wealth that adds up, which isn't good. I just don't understand that thinking. It seems to say, “I'm so incredibly rich financially that I don't need this money.” Which, if you have tens of millions of dollars, may well be true. But the people I've seen throw away money don't — they're kids, or they're guys like me who certainly aren't incredibly rich financially.
Also, I think that the “per-hour return on my time isn't worth it” argument doesn't hold water most of the time. If I'm standing in line at the grocery store waiting to check out, what's my time worth at that point? I'm certainly not earning any money standing there. I'm standing in line only because my time isn't worth enough for me not to be standing there. If I picked up some change — even a penny — at least I got something for my time. When I'm making enough money that I can hire someone to stand in line to buy groceries for me, then it's not really worth my time, but only because grocery-shopping itself is so costly in terms of lost productivity at that point that I wouldn't run across that penny anyway. But then, what if I'm just shooting the breeze with my buddies at the country club and I spot some money on the ground? Sure, I'll pick it up, because right then I'm not earning any money, so getting some money pays me back better than getting no money. And on it goes. This is why “it's not worth my time to pick up a penny” doesn't make sense to me.
So, check out those Coinstar machines, check out vending machines, check out checkouts for dropped money. If not, don't worry. I will. Pennies rock. 😉
I pick up pennies, too. I'd prefer $20 bills, but I'll take what I can get, LOL
I read a newspaper story about a retired fellow who had a little route he walked everyday where he could find dropped change. (by drive-thru windows, the car wash, etc.) The reporter challenged him to find $10 .. I think he found around $12. If you think about it, if this guy walked his route 5 days a week, and found $10 every time, that's $200 a month, $2400 a year in free money….
I also pick up pennies (nickels, dimes, etc.). It would be nice if I could pick up $100s, but hey, every cent counts, that's not just a saying, it's a philosophy… seriously. Every little bit does help on the bottom line.
–
Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/
I pick up whatever money is lying on the ground. It does not hurt me to pick it up and the benefit of adding to my savings so that I can decrease my debt is what keeps me going.
Hm.. I think i'm the opposite. I actually drop pennies when I receive them.
The extra 3 cents I receive as change is basically zero, and not worth the trip to the bank or grocery store to change it into bills. (think about how much driving alone costs.)
But people find small joy in finding pennies, especially children. So why not drop them for someone else to find?
@Blue: I found out that the bus takes pennies. So, now I collect them.
@Blue: on the other hand if you save all your change and go to a commerce bank when you fill up a bin you can walk out with $100+ for very little time. I used to feel that change wasn't worth it either. Now I just dump it all into an empty milk jug as I empty my pockets before bed.
Hey, while you're looking for pennies… you may spot five dollar bills!
I started a "found bank" five years ago, and it now has $27.44. Not bad for free money!
Haha! I love change too. Like some of you other guys, I put it in a jar at the end of every day.
I have changed in my jar for about $300 worth of change before. I assume it is at about that level right now. However, I hope to break that benchmark for this size of jar, and fill it full of silver change before I take it in. Any pennies I find in that same period of time are a bonus.
if you wanna see what that looks like I put up some pictures of it a while back @ http://www.maxopedia.org/?q=chump_change_jar_good…
My brother and sister-in-law walk to places a lot and she finds more than pennies. Once she found a $20 bill, and once a $50 bill.
Not only are they healthier than most of the rest of us because they walk places that are less than a mile from their home, they pick up (literally) some pocket change on their travels.
Not bad!
We pick up any money we find and donate it to a charity in New Orleans. THEN we get a tax deduction for our efforts!
If I find a penny on the ground that is heads up, I pick it up and pocket it for good luck. If I find a penny that is tails up, I turn it over and make it heads up, for the next person. 🙂
Ever since I have started filling up my container in May, it has gotten quite full, about 25%. I have now even consciously looked even harder on the ground for any change that might be lying around whenever I go out on my way to work, taking a walk, or going shopping It really has become quite fun.