Would You Pick Up A Penny (or the equivalent thereof)?

[AquaLung]

Yes!!!! Every time, in front of people, with the only exception I can think of being when I see them in a urinal. In the U.S., if you're literally short a cent or two, you can easily remedy that by scanning a typical commercial parking lot. I would guess on average that on a typical strip mall, or convenience store parking lot, one can find 3 cents each time.

It's very rare to find anything other than a penny on the ground in the U.S. On occasion, I may find a dime. Dimes seem more common on the ground than nickels, possibly because of size. A matter of being less noticed. Pennies have become the scum of the Earth. They are made of copper, dark, and get corroded. They almost look leprous at times. All other U.S. coins are bright and shiny. As far as I know, a penny won't by anything anymore. I don't look at gumball machines anymore, but I don't think pennies are an accepted form of currency for any vending machine, let alone a product costing 1 cent. Some store clerks won't even accept pennies. They've either handed them back to me, or tossed it in the "take one" contraption at the cash register stand.

I mainly like to put pennies back into circulation. I shutter to think of how many pennies probably end up at a garbage dump. I admit to being concerned about their cleanliness, but that's something we have to deal with as far as all currencies.

How about you? Do you walk by a penny (or your national equivalent), or do you pick it up?

 

[GaijinGolfer]

Depends where I find it. As long as its nothing thats too disgusting, I'll pick up a penny. I always seem to hear that old saying of, "find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck" and while Im not sure if I exactly 100 percent believe it, I figure why take the chance?

 

[AquaLung]

I always seem to hear that old saying of, "find a penny, pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck" and while Im not sure if I exactly 100 percent believe it, I figure why take the chance?

I think there's some moral implications in doing so (at the risk of sounding self-glorifying). Maybe something along the lines of voting. One vote in itself statistically wouldn't be likely to alter the course of an election, but in principle it's the right thing to do. Picking up discarded unwanted pennies, putting them back into circulation may not get rid of our economic woes, but in principle it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Generally, no. If I bother to pick up a penny, or a one yen coin, its to put it between my thumb and middle finger and SNAP, send it zinging somewhere. The sound it makes if you do it right is worth the penny, but not worth going to go find it.

This used to disturb my ex-wife who would complain that I was wasting money, cause I would take them out of my wallet and zing them. I suggest worrying about dollars, not pennies. One has only so much worry and attention to spare. Its wasted on pennies.

 

[Gee337]

The smallest coin we have is 5 forints here (~0.023 USD). If I do find one (which doesn't happen too often), I usually pick it up. It's more useful here, since if you buy anything the price is always rounded so it either ends in 5 or 0. (so if you buy something worth 18ft, you pay 20 - but if you buy two of it, you only pay 35.) A few years ago we used to have 1 and 2 forint coins as well - back then, I wouldn't have bothered with smaller coins (only 10 forints or more). Well, in elementary school some kids would spit on a random coin and throw it away, then see if anyone picks it up.