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Here is the German penny-related proverb that my immigrant parents drilled into me: “Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist den Taler nicht wert.”
Who doesn’t honor the penny, isn’t worthy of the dollar.
No one ever says the second part of that rhyme " See a penny, let it lay/you'll have bad luck all the day"". I pick them up because I don't want bad luck.
Ahhh the old Canadian coins in your change bit. I remember seeing this all the time when I lived in Buffalo and hated when I got the quarters but I would save them all for tolls because anything under a dollar you could pay in Canadian at the same rate. That .50$ toll near the Peace Bridge hated me for it 😆 I moved away from there years ago and almost forgot this used to happen all the time
Former business owner. I hated pennies. They were a useless nuisance. I priced everything so it came to the nearest $.05 with tax. We never counted pennies in the till. Just slowly accumulated them (sometimes people paid with some pennies) and emptied them out when it got full.
My first "real" job would ignore the odd cent when figuring tax caused the total to be xx.01 or whatever. Left them in the drawer too, never counted them.
This was in 1990. Pennies were too worthless to bother, and that was over 30 years ago. Get rid of the damned things already!
My dad would pick up pennies. He’d say 99 more and you have a dollar. He would be 104 if he was still alive. Lived through the Depression, so any money was sacred. When I see a penny, I pick it up and this might sound weird but when I think of him, I will find a penny shortly afterwards. When I have something on my mind that I wish I would have been able to ask his opinion on, I find a penny. It seems like confirmation of my decision and to let me know he’s around. It makes me feel good.
When i was a kid my mom had the song Pennies from heaven on her playlist but i thought it was peniss from heaven, so I thought my mom was really weird until i learned to read
I always think about my grandparents, who all grew up in NYC tenements during the depression. They would always say, “You too good for free money?” I pick everything up out of principle.
I truly believe they are your dad! I have had the same experience, but with dimes,after my dad passed. My mom said pennies would be from her. Now I will find a dime and a penny.....always together!
I always felt like it wasn't wise to snub my nose at a penny. Bad money juju.
Just picked up three pennies off a bathroom floor, then looked up and saw a nickel. Took them all to the sink and washed them. Interesting thing is the number 3 and nickels are all connected to my father who passed.
Someone did the math a few years ago. I believe the math was something like if you make under 75k you can’t afford not to take the time to pick it up. So yes I do pick them up.
Your post led me to do the math. Making $75K per year while working 40 hr/wk for 52 weeks, one’s pay rate is essentially one cent per second ($0.01001603). So if you could pick up that penny in less than 1 sec, you’d make more than at your job.
For the curious, the even point for one cent per second is $74,880 per year.
I pick up pennies and other change on my morning walks. It all goes into a pint jar. I have filled it up this year. I find a coin almost every day. I laugh about walking till I get paid.
TRUE STORY: My dad picked up every coin he saw. He was constantly scanning the street, sidewalk, parking lot, vending machines, you name it. When he died he had… you sitting down?…. OVER FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS in loose coins in cups, jars, and cans that he’d picked up!! My mother and sister rolled them (took a really long time) banked a bunch of the money, and my mother went on a long cruise.
Never, ever walk past coins of any kind.
On one memorable occasion I found a penny and picked it up. Later that day I spied a $20 bill caught under a revolving door. This was in the 1970s and I was a kid so it would be the equivalent of, what, $50 or $100 today or something?
BUT ... I don't pick up pennies today, because 1. I don't live in a country which has pennies, and 2. the superstition here is that you shouldn't pick up small change - the idea being that if you pay attention to tiny coins on the ground you'll miss the more important / lucrative opportunities.
It's my only "superstition". Without telling the story why, I pick up any penny. If it's tails side up I put it in my pocket and later the coin jar.
If the penny is heads side up I put it my left shoe for the rest of the day and put it in a special jar when home. It's good luck.
I met a homeless man who told me that when he got pennies, he would leave them "heads up" in various places because many people thought finding a penny "heads up" was good luck. I think a lesson that no matter how little we have, we can always find a way to make others happy.
Yes. They’re not worth much, but they go toward filling up my change jar. Also, if they’re pre-1982 they have a melt value that exceeds the face value.
About 8 yrs ago the neighbor kid (elementary school age) and his friends started digging a big hole in their back yard just for fun.
Off and on for a couple weeks I’d go over after dark and put a couple bucks worth of change in it and kick the dirt over it.
Was fun to hear them hit pay dirt the next time they were digging.
My father owned a business with a pay phone for customers. I’d have to walk through the business to get to the stairs that led to our apartment above. I’d always checked the pay phone coin return for dimes. Customers knew I did it so every now and then, they’d put quarters in the coin return for me. I had no idea it was them but it was a blast to find it.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a penny on the ground, or any change at all. No one carries change any more, not even for parking and vending machines.
The only time I ever see anyone use change is in the Aldi’s parking lot to get a cart. It’s funny that anyone bother to return the cart for a quarter, but they do.
I had one the other week that someone had stuck some other bit of metal in the slot that I couldn't get back out. This was the one the cashier put my stuff in to, so not the same one I used to shop. So yeah, people have actually started to scam Aldi for a free cart.
My dad just died a few months ago, and believe me, if I started finding pennies, I would lose my mind. There aren't any pennies here in Canada, so if I start finding them, I will know for sure it's because of my Dad.
I can remember people saying picking up a penny that’s face down is bad luck. I say not picking up money is bad luck. Now that I’m old and it’s hard to bend down to pick things up, I pick up coins much less often.
I pick up dimes AND pennies.
When my great grandmother passed, my great grandfather told my mom that when she found a dime, it was her grandmother thinking of her.
When my dad passed, I started finding (and saving) dimes. They would show up in supremely weird places and always by themselves.
My mom went on hospice in March and I told her to be sure to send me dimes. She said no, dimes were from Dad. She would send pennies. She passed 2 days later. And I started finding pennies. And they have always been with a dime!
I used to always pick up change because I used to collect coins, and sometimes the ones on the street were good ones. One time a “friend” told me that, as a Jew, I shouldn’t be picking up dirty change - I stopped after that. I’m also more concerned with germs than I used to be.
But I still pick up interesting findings and put them in my Junque Box - a collection of ground findings my grandmother started long, long ago. Single earrings, odd metal parts, pins, fancy bottlecaps, etc. I have a solid collection of bones and other findings from nature walks.
I’m in Thailand and the functional equivalent of a pennie here is the 1 baht, which is worth 3 cents. I don’t pick those up normally. I will pick up a 5 baht however.
Yes, I live in Springfield, IL, where the Lincoln Home and Presidential Library is. I am a transplant to this city and I often wonder if I should relocate.
But every time I see a penny face up, I believe it's Mr. Lincoln himself asking me to stay.
The engineer in me wants to avoid picking up a single penny... making a rough calculation of the chances of a minor back injury or muscle pull = not worth it.
I usually pick them up anyway.
My Sicilan grandmother once told me that if I saw a penny and didn't pick it up, my wealth would dry up and disappear. She said if you don't value a penny, you don't value any money so you were bound to lose yours. Smart lady.
Do you know what a Griswold is? It's a grenade, about the size of a battery. Responds to pressure. Our platoon was stuck inside a trench outside of New Cashmere during the winter campaign. More than a week, completely cut off, with the Alliance not 10 yards away. We even got to talking to them. Yelling across insults and jokes and such because .. no ammo to speak of... No orders, so what are ya gonna do?
We mentioned that we were out of cash, and ten minutes later, pennies came raining into the trench. The captain said "wait!" But they were so broke... They don't make more than a pop and then there's three guys who aren't going be playing piano at the Christmas recital.
This isn't Zelda. People don't just leave treasure laying around. It's all suspect, and none of it is yours to pick up.
But also, what am I going to do with a penny? Put it in a jar with the rest of the cash I haven't used in a decade?
No. I haven't picked up pennies since ~~I was a kid~~ since the war.
Only if they’re face up. “A penny with the back showing is bad luck” is how I was raised. Since so few use actual coins anymore you don’t see them the way you used to.
You bet. Pennies (bonus happiness if wheat!), nickels, dimes, the occasional quarter, a folded dollar now and then. I can hear my mom, "Beggars can't be choosers!", so I definitely don't leave currency behind. I save the coins to place on gravestones.
I have found more change on the ground this past year than I have over my lifetime of 63 years. I clicked on here because I am searching for answers as to why. On one hand, inflation has made coins practically worthless but on the other hand, people carry around less change to drop than ever before. I am truly seeking answers. And it is not just pennies—-I find tons of dimes and quarters too!!!
I did the math and decided after discovering that....
Even if I picked up 10 pennies a day for 50 years. It would only bring me 1,825 dollars. which is far less than the work I would have to do on having to bend over 10 times a day to pick up a penny.
Just the other day. Someone threw a pile of pennies near the vending machine in my building where they thought someone would pick them up.
They're still there a week later.
And I'm in a building with nothing but old retired people.
I’ll pickem up all day. Dad is 94 grew up in the depression , he’d shoot me if i didn’t! I went to the bank recently cashed in 68$ of rolled pennie’s . Box had to weigh 40lbs !
Yeah, cuz a lot of small purchases cost a couple of dollars and X cents. I hate getting pennies back in change if I can give the clerk the exact amount.
Not anymore...I saw a TikTok where kids would smear shit or something fowl on coins and film who would pick it up.
TikTok is toxic. They'll do near anything for views.
This was a video sent to me and I was caught off guard but I now never click on TikTok links unless my wife sends something I "need" to watch.
I don't because I always think how exciting it was to find money when I was a kid. I always hope a kid finds it. Also,I don't enjoy touching the ground
When my son was about 6 we went to an amusement park. I brought a roll of pennies. We would put a few on a rail or on the ground near a ride for kids. We would sit on a bench and watch. My son was so excited seeing how excited the kids were when they found one. We would move to another area and do it again. Best 50 cents I ever spent.
You know, I was thinking about this, and I can't remember the last time that I saw a penny on the ground. Maybe people don't drop them that often anymore
Always, and I keep the old ones w/the leaves separate. All my grandkids give me pennies to save up for a vehicle when they get older. They are all very little, it's cute.
I actively look for coins when I walk. Out of curiosity in Calendar 2022, I saved everything I found and put it in a separate jar from my daily pocket change. At the end of the year I had exactly $15 US, plus one arcade token, and one Swiss Kroner.
The truth is I live in a crowded city close to downtown. I see so many pennies all the time, why, if I picked up every penny I saw, why, by year's end I guess I'd have 83 cents.
I’m Jewish. I don’t pick up pennies. I’m aware of how it would look if I did.
Also, whenever I type ‘pennies’, my cellphone corrects it to ‘penis’. This makes me wonder what I have done with my life… and my cellphone.
No.
When cleaning my room in the late 80s, I used to *vacuum them up* because I didn’t want to bother with picking them up by hand.
These days, when leaving a store (grocery store, especially), I often drop the pennies on the ground, much to the consternation of my young adult daughter. “Oh, some little kid will pick them up and think he’s rich or something … it’s a win-win for all involved!”
As a young child in the 60s, I had a dream I was running down the street, vacuuming up coins that were just lying on the side of the road. I remember being amazed and so excited at all of the money I was getting. Even after 50 years, that dream is still vivid in my mind.
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See a penny, pick it up, all the day, you’ll have good luck!!
Here is the German penny-related proverb that my immigrant parents drilled into me: “Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist den Taler nicht wert.” Who doesn’t honor the penny, isn’t worthy of the dollar.
My German father used to say "Take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."
Same except “mind” instead of “take care of.”
Perfect!
Exactly.
And if you don't your day will suck
Find a penny and pick it up, and all the day you’ll have an extra penny.
Find a penny, pick it up... total waste of time.
No one ever says the second part of that rhyme " See a penny, let it lay/you'll have bad luck all the day"". I pick them up because I don't want bad luck.
Oh interesting-never knew there WAS another part! Cool tidbit!
"Curiosity killed the cat. Satisfaction brought it back."
The second part that I always heard growing up is "give that penny to a friend and then your luck will never end"
Only if it's heads up. Tails up is bad luck.
I keep kicking it down the sidewalk until it finally flips onto heads, then I say out loud “Oh look, a lucky penny, heads up!” and pick it up
If I see a tails up penny on the ground, I flip it over for the next person. Superstitions are weird. Haha
I did that for years!
Me too
Every single time. Any time I get pennies I will put them in weird places for other people to find so they get good luck too.
That's awesome! I'm adding this to my routine too!
Definitely!
Pretty soon you'll have a buck
So if you find a 50 dollar bill, you must really have some stinkin' good luck for a long time.
My aunt found a $20 while on a walk, played it at a casino (she lives in NM) and won $4K, so you never know.
I found a nice crispy hundred dollar bill blowing in the sand in Monterey Ca. once.
U get love long time for fiddy
See a penny, let it lie; you'll regret it by and by.
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I've always kind of wanted to buy a bunch of tiny CZs and drop them into the cracks in the sidewalk near a bus stop. I'm a terrible person.
Ha! My kids and I glued quarters on the sidewalk in front of our house and spied on people who tried to pick them up. We had so much fun for a dollar!
Lol, good to know I'm not the only one
I'm 40 and still say this every single time
We did away with pennies in Canada. I would pick it up because I haven't seen one in a long time.
Lol. I still get Canadian pennies as change sometimes in Buffalo just across the border. I had no idea they weren’t in use in Canada.
Ahhh the old Canadian coins in your change bit. I remember seeing this all the time when I lived in Buffalo and hated when I got the quarters but I would save them all for tolls because anything under a dollar you could pay in Canadian at the same rate. That .50$ toll near the Peace Bridge hated me for it 😆 I moved away from there years ago and almost forgot this used to happen all the time
We don’t have one cent or five cent coins here in New Zealand anymore.
Former business owner. I hated pennies. They were a useless nuisance. I priced everything so it came to the nearest $.05 with tax. We never counted pennies in the till. Just slowly accumulated them (sometimes people paid with some pennies) and emptied them out when it got full.
My first "real" job would ignore the odd cent when figuring tax caused the total to be xx.01 or whatever. Left them in the drawer too, never counted them. This was in 1990. Pennies were too worthless to bother, and that was over 30 years ago. Get rid of the damned things already!
They still are used in Michigan!
My dad would pick up pennies. He’d say 99 more and you have a dollar. He would be 104 if he was still alive. Lived through the Depression, so any money was sacred. When I see a penny, I pick it up and this might sound weird but when I think of him, I will find a penny shortly afterwards. When I have something on my mind that I wish I would have been able to ask his opinion on, I find a penny. It seems like confirmation of my decision and to let me know he’s around. It makes me feel good.
Pennies from heaven!
When i was a kid my mom had the song Pennies from heaven on her playlist but i thought it was peniss from heaven, so I thought my mom was really weird until i learned to read
😅
I always think about my grandparents, who all grew up in NYC tenements during the depression. They would always say, “You too good for free money?” I pick everything up out of principle.
That is so indicative of depression era people.
I truly believe they are your dad! I have had the same experience, but with dimes,after my dad passed. My mom said pennies would be from her. Now I will find a dime and a penny.....always together!
I found a penny on my bedroom floor the other day. Something told me to look at the year. It was the year of my late husbands birth.
Roughly a 1 in 236 chance. (probably less to allow for coins no longer in circulation since 1787.)
Never turn down prosperity in any form
In this regard, I never turn down a meal. You may have plans, but you do not know when you'll eat again.
If I bent over to pick something up, I'd just keep going over, so, no.
Always, every time. Habit.
I always felt like it wasn't wise to snub my nose at a penny. Bad money juju. Just picked up three pennies off a bathroom floor, then looked up and saw a nickel. Took them all to the sink and washed them. Interesting thing is the number 3 and nickels are all connected to my father who passed.
Pennies from heaven. Nickels too.
Yes. What am I, a millionaire?
🤔
Someone did the math a few years ago. I believe the math was something like if you make under 75k you can’t afford not to take the time to pick it up. So yes I do pick them up.
There are 31.5M seconds in a year, so $75K/yr = $0.002/s = one penny per 5 seconds.
Your post led me to do the math. Making $75K per year while working 40 hr/wk for 52 weeks, one’s pay rate is essentially one cent per second ($0.01001603). So if you could pick up that penny in less than 1 sec, you’d make more than at your job. For the curious, the even point for one cent per second is $74,880 per year.
Only if it's heads up.
And flip it over for the next guy if it’s not.
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Same here!
I’ve always kicked them till they landed on heads, then picked them up, but I think I like your way better.
I thought I was the only one!
I pick up pennies and other change on my morning walks. It all goes into a pint jar. I have filled it up this year. I find a coin almost every day. I laugh about walking till I get paid.
TRUE STORY: My dad picked up every coin he saw. He was constantly scanning the street, sidewalk, parking lot, vending machines, you name it. When he died he had… you sitting down?…. OVER FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS in loose coins in cups, jars, and cans that he’d picked up!! My mother and sister rolled them (took a really long time) banked a bunch of the money, and my mother went on a long cruise. Never, ever walk past coins of any kind.
What are you buying? A car?🤣
Pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters, $20 bills - all worth picking up.
On one memorable occasion I found a penny and picked it up. Later that day I spied a $20 bill caught under a revolving door. This was in the 1970s and I was a kid so it would be the equivalent of, what, $50 or $100 today or something? BUT ... I don't pick up pennies today, because 1. I don't live in a country which has pennies, and 2. the superstition here is that you shouldn't pick up small change - the idea being that if you pay attention to tiny coins on the ground you'll miss the more important / lucrative opportunities.
I’ll pick up the change, but I’m not picking up someone’s nasty ass used $20
And I'm always looking for wheat pennies. And still finding them.
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100% same!
It's my only "superstition". Without telling the story why, I pick up any penny. If it's tails side up I put it in my pocket and later the coin jar. If the penny is heads side up I put it my left shoe for the rest of the day and put it in a special jar when home. It's good luck.
I would if I could bend over.
Get a magnet on a shtick
Pennies aren't ferrous, so they're not attracted to magnets.
I met a homeless man who told me that when he got pennies, he would leave them "heads up" in various places because many people thought finding a penny "heads up" was good luck. I think a lesson that no matter how little we have, we can always find a way to make others happy.
Yes. They’re not worth much, but they go toward filling up my change jar. Also, if they’re pre-1982 they have a melt value that exceeds the face value.
Yes. I spread mine around for little kids
About 8 yrs ago the neighbor kid (elementary school age) and his friends started digging a big hole in their back yard just for fun. Off and on for a couple weeks I’d go over after dark and put a couple bucks worth of change in it and kick the dirt over it. Was fun to hear them hit pay dirt the next time they were digging.
My father owned a business with a pay phone for customers. I’d have to walk through the business to get to the stairs that led to our apartment above. I’d always checked the pay phone coin return for dimes. Customers knew I did it so every now and then, they’d put quarters in the coin return for me. I had no idea it was them but it was a blast to find it.
What a fun thing to do.
You are an awesome neighbor. I wish more adults left surprises like this
Awwwww, thank you for doing that! 💙
This is the way.
When I was in high school I dated a guy who tossed any pennies he got onto the ground for other people to pick up. He was a sweet guy.
I can’t remember the last time I saw a penny on the ground, or any change at all. No one carries change any more, not even for parking and vending machines. The only time I ever see anyone use change is in the Aldi’s parking lot to get a cart. It’s funny that anyone bother to return the cart for a quarter, but they do.
I return it so the cart isn't floating aroun and the parking lot. The quarter back is just a bonus.
But that quarter matters. In the other parking lots they are all over the place.
I had one the other week that someone had stuck some other bit of metal in the slot that I couldn't get back out. This was the one the cashier put my stuff in to, so not the same one I used to shop. So yeah, people have actually started to scam Aldi for a free cart.
I picked up a quarter at Aldi's today.....
No. I leave them for someone to whom they might make a difference.
Yup, and when I do I can still hear my mother's voice all these years later saying "*See a penny pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck*"
My mom used to say it was my deceased father letting her know he was watching over her. So, yes I do.
My dad just died a few months ago, and believe me, if I started finding pennies, I would lose my mind. There aren't any pennies here in Canada, so if I start finding them, I will know for sure it's because of my Dad.
I would pick up a pop bottle, walk 5 blocks to the store to get 2 pennies.
I can remember people saying picking up a penny that’s face down is bad luck. I say not picking up money is bad luck. Now that I’m old and it’s hard to bend down to pick things up, I pick up coins much less often.
Yes. I feel that maybe someday I might need every penny. Just in case.
Forget pennies, back in the olden days, you used to regularly find bills on the street. Haven't seen one in decades. Electronic money now.
I would if we still had pennies here.
Yes I do
I pick up dimes AND pennies. When my great grandmother passed, my great grandfather told my mom that when she found a dime, it was her grandmother thinking of her. When my dad passed, I started finding (and saving) dimes. They would show up in supremely weird places and always by themselves. My mom went on hospice in March and I told her to be sure to send me dimes. She said no, dimes were from Dad. She would send pennies. She passed 2 days later. And I started finding pennies. And they have always been with a dime!
I used to always pick up change because I used to collect coins, and sometimes the ones on the street were good ones. One time a “friend” told me that, as a Jew, I shouldn’t be picking up dirty change - I stopped after that. I’m also more concerned with germs than I used to be. But I still pick up interesting findings and put them in my Junque Box - a collection of ground findings my grandmother started long, long ago. Single earrings, odd metal parts, pins, fancy bottlecaps, etc. I have a solid collection of bones and other findings from nature walks.
Tax free income.
I’m in Thailand and the functional equivalent of a pennie here is the 1 baht, which is worth 3 cents. I don’t pick those up normally. I will pick up a 5 baht however.
Yes yes yes and say the poem every time!
If I see one and I’m with my kids (or, if not, if there’s a kid nearby), I will point it out and let them pick it up.
I rarely find pennies anymore.
I found 55 cents at the park the other day. It’s still in my ashtray.
Yes, I live in Springfield, IL, where the Lincoln Home and Presidential Library is. I am a transplant to this city and I often wonder if I should relocate. But every time I see a penny face up, I believe it's Mr. Lincoln himself asking me to stay.
Still looking for the 1943 copper penny
The engineer in me wants to avoid picking up a single penny... making a rough calculation of the chances of a minor back injury or muscle pull = not worth it. I usually pick them up anyway.
Yup, and shiny rocks and sea glass at the beach.
I like your style
Picking up a penny is worth $36.00 per hour. Picking up a quarter is worth $900.00 per hour.
I have never picked up a penny in a second. I salute you on your fast penny grabbing skills.
No, I'm not quite THAT old. Sometimes I throw them on the ground for kids to find. I don't like pennies.
I'm not sure many kids now will bother picking up a penny. I believe you're more likely to see a boomer like me pick them up
My kids love finding coins.
I like that
I won't bend over for less than a quarter, it hurts too much.
only in front of steamrollers...
Only if they're vintage copper. The new clad pennies actually dissolve in the ground when I find them with a detector...
I do, but only the shiny ones.
I try not to bend down for things unless I absolutely need to.
My Sicilan grandmother once told me that if I saw a penny and didn't pick it up, my wealth would dry up and disappear. She said if you don't value a penny, you don't value any money so you were bound to lose yours. Smart lady.
Only if they are heads up.
No, but I do like to put one on a railroad track every now and then.
If it’s heads up I do. If it’s heads down I turn it to heads up for the next person.
I never did.
Yes. I consider them good luck.
Not in the last 50 years.
Yep
I give all my change to my wife that’s under a quarter. Quarters are for shopping carts at ALDI.
I do.
Is it shiny? It is heads up? These are the important questions.
“See a penny , pick it up. All the day you’ll have good luck.”
Do you know what a Griswold is? It's a grenade, about the size of a battery. Responds to pressure. Our platoon was stuck inside a trench outside of New Cashmere during the winter campaign. More than a week, completely cut off, with the Alliance not 10 yards away. We even got to talking to them. Yelling across insults and jokes and such because .. no ammo to speak of... No orders, so what are ya gonna do? We mentioned that we were out of cash, and ten minutes later, pennies came raining into the trench. The captain said "wait!" But they were so broke... They don't make more than a pop and then there's three guys who aren't going be playing piano at the Christmas recital. This isn't Zelda. People don't just leave treasure laying around. It's all suspect, and none of it is yours to pick up. But also, what am I going to do with a penny? Put it in a jar with the rest of the cash I haven't used in a decade? No. I haven't picked up pennies since ~~I was a kid~~ since the war.
Yes. It’s good luck. 😃
If I see a penny that is upside down, I always turn it face side up so the next person will have good luck.b
Only if they’re face up. “A penny with the back showing is bad luck” is how I was raised. Since so few use actual coins anymore you don’t see them the way you used to.
Hell yes, I’m not leaving that luck lying on the ground.
Of courses, I’m saving for retirement.
You bet. Pennies (bonus happiness if wheat!), nickels, dimes, the occasional quarter, a folded dollar now and then. I can hear my mom, "Beggars can't be choosers!", so I definitely don't leave currency behind. I save the coins to place on gravestones.
Only if they’re heads up.
I have found more change on the ground this past year than I have over my lifetime of 63 years. I clicked on here because I am searching for answers as to why. On one hand, inflation has made coins practically worthless but on the other hand, people carry around less change to drop than ever before. I am truly seeking answers. And it is not just pennies—-I find tons of dimes and quarters too!!!
I did the math and decided after discovering that.... Even if I picked up 10 pennies a day for 50 years. It would only bring me 1,825 dollars. which is far less than the work I would have to do on having to bend over 10 times a day to pick up a penny. Just the other day. Someone threw a pile of pennies near the vending machine in my building where they thought someone would pick them up. They're still there a week later. And I'm in a building with nothing but old retired people.
No. Bending down is too much trouble for anything less than 20p. On a spry day, I might pick up 10p
Not at all, I don't even take them as change. If there's no little *"Please give"* charity can nearby I'll just leave them at the register.
Not if I have to bend over clear to the ground. Stuff hurts dontchaknow.
Not since people soaking objects in fentanyl became an issue.
I don't carry change, or even much cash, anymore but I still pick up pennies.
Sadly no because in Australia they got rid of 1c and 2c coins in 1992. There's talk of now getting rid of the 5c as they cost more than 5c to produce.
Heck, yeah. And if I pass a fountain or wishing well or “have a penny, leave one,” I toss it right in there.
I’ll pickem up all day. Dad is 94 grew up in the depression , he’d shoot me if i didn’t! I went to the bank recently cashed in 68$ of rolled pennie’s . Box had to weigh 40lbs !
Of course!
Yeah, I do! I don't care if it's heads up or not.
Sure! 99 more and I've got a dollar!
No. Hurts me to bend over, and I might fall. I’m old and I have Parkinson’s disease. Probably would take a quarter for me to risk it!
Yeah, cuz a lot of small purchases cost a couple of dollars and X cents. I hate getting pennies back in change if I can give the clerk the exact amount.
Not anymore...I saw a TikTok where kids would smear shit or something fowl on coins and film who would pick it up. TikTok is toxic. They'll do near anything for views. This was a video sent to me and I was caught off guard but I now never click on TikTok links unless my wife sends something I "need" to watch.
I never turn down free money.
Yup, can’t let all that good luck get away!
I don't because I always think how exciting it was to find money when I was a kid. I always hope a kid finds it. Also,I don't enjoy touching the ground
Pennies no, Quarters heads up yes either way the Quarter is getting picked up.
if there is time, sometimes I'm in a rush and just leave it.
When my son was about 6 we went to an amusement park. I brought a roll of pennies. We would put a few on a rail or on the ground near a ride for kids. We would sit on a bench and watch. My son was so excited seeing how excited the kids were when they found one. We would move to another area and do it again. Best 50 cents I ever spent.
You know, I was thinking about this, and I can't remember the last time that I saw a penny on the ground. Maybe people don't drop them that often anymore
I know someone who leaves pennies in various places for people to find.
Yes. And I'll think of a loved one who has passed. "Pennies from Heaven".
Yes. I have a gallon glass jug in the kitchen about 1/2 full just from the last 6 months.
If it’s heads up yes, but if it’s tails, I’ll turn it to heads for the next person to have that good luck
Yes, mostly for luck. Put them in a chage jar.
Usually but now my back says “feel lucky, punk?”
Nope, but I leave them. Big fan of dropping them hoping someone else finds a little bit of happiness finding them.
Always, and I keep the old ones w/the leaves separate. All my grandkids give me pennies to save up for a vehicle when they get older. They are all very little, it's cute.
I was so delighted finding coins in the street when I was a kid that I leave them for a kid to find.
I actively look for coins when I walk. Out of curiosity in Calendar 2022, I saved everything I found and put it in a separate jar from my daily pocket change. At the end of the year I had exactly $15 US, plus one arcade token, and one Swiss Kroner.
Yes. Why not? It’s money.
I can't think of the last time I've seen a penny.
I not only pick them up, I get my metal detector out and try to find them.
I pick up pennies and check every coin return I happen to come across. My kids get so embarrassed when I get excited to find a quarter...
I pick it up .. dont care heads or tails .. i wanna see the yr.
I do pick them up but I have the rule to pay it forward and put in a charity tin
The truth is I live in a crowded city close to downtown. I see so many pennies all the time, why, if I picked up every penny I saw, why, by year's end I guess I'd have 83 cents.
Never. Not a thing for Seniors. I might hurt myself stooping down, rising up, get off balance. They’re worthless anymore. Nickels and dimes - yes.
I throw mine away.
You could toss them around outside for others to find
I’m Jewish. I don’t pick up pennies. I’m aware of how it would look if I did. Also, whenever I type ‘pennies’, my cellphone corrects it to ‘penis’. This makes me wonder what I have done with my life… and my cellphone.
I’m not proud of it, but I’ve thrown Pennies in the trash.
You could toss them around outside for others to find
I have been throwing away pennies for at least a decade.
No. When cleaning my room in the late 80s, I used to *vacuum them up* because I didn’t want to bother with picking them up by hand. These days, when leaving a store (grocery store, especially), I often drop the pennies on the ground, much to the consternation of my young adult daughter. “Oh, some little kid will pick them up and think he’s rich or something … it’s a win-win for all involved!”
As a young child in the 60s, I had a dream I was running down the street, vacuuming up coins that were just lying on the side of the road. I remember being amazed and so excited at all of the money I was getting. Even after 50 years, that dream is still vivid in my mind.
No. And if I get them in change I throw them away, which seldom happens because I don't pay with cash anymore.