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Picking up loose change makes sense
Hand holding coins
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Kai Ryssdal: "Pinching your pennies" is a common enough phrase in tough economic times. Lots of people are probably doing that -- metaphorically, anyway. But what about actually pinching those pennies as you find them lying on the ground? From the mean streets of New York City, Sally Herships reports.
Sally Herships: How much loose change do you think you've passed on the street? A few cents? A penny here, a penny there? And who stops for a penny, anyway? The Humphrey family does. Barbara and Scott Humphrey live with their two daughters on Staten Island. They've been collecting loose change from the street for a few years now.
Barbara Humphrey: This is it. This is our fiscal year 2008 change pot jar.
And even they're surprised by how much they've found.
Herships: What is your grand total so far?
Brianna Humphrey: I know!
Daughter No. 1, Brianna.
Brianna: It's a $1,013 and something cents. I can't remember the change.
Just to be clear this is money they've found -- on the ground. It's sort of a hobby. They take a lot of long walks.
Barbara: We're all looking around. You know, we have our glasses; we have our Purell bottles; we have our little change purses.
The family has a blog called ChangePot, where Barbara keeps a running tally of their findings.
Barbara: 'Cause I figured it would be a nice way at the end of the day, kind of like a Doogie Howser thing. You know, at the end of the day how he'd write down things. We basically keep track of it that way.
It all started about three years ago, when Barbara was at college and saw some money on the ground.
Barbara: In my school people -- they'd complain about not having money. But meanwhile, there's seven cents on the floor, nobody would pick it up.
So she did. But there were some odd looks. Even from Scott.
Scott Humphrey: I thought she needed help. 'Cause, I mean, why are you picking up change? I mean I make a decent salary. What is this? And three years later, it's added up kind of nice.
And now the whole family contributes.
Karen Humphrey: Even if you find a broken penny in the street.
Even 6-year-old Karen knows to look for beaten up coins. Banks will give you clean new shiny ones in exchange. But not all change seekers are in the Humphrey's league.
Scott Caulfield: Currently, as of right now, I've found $268.11. But I did find a dime and two pennies on the way over here.
Scott Caulfield lives in St. Louis. He also chronicles his finds on a blog called ChangeRace. And he seems to share a certain outlook on life with the Humphreys.
Caulfield: I'm the kind of guy I'd much rather drive around for five or 10 minutes and find a free spot or a metered spot, than pay seven or eight bucks. It's kind of just a different way of thinking. I don't look at it as cheap. I just look at it as smart.
He's a totally dedicated change hunter. Even on the most important day of his life.
Caulfield: I found one penny on the dance floor during my wedding.
Scott sees the value in small change.
Caulfield: It's interesting how people just walk away. You know, they'll drop a quarter, they'll drop a nickel, they'll drop a dime and they'll just, they'll walk away.
Barbara: I mean, People see change as just that, nothing worthwhile or significant . My daughter on the other hand, when she sees a penny, she says 99 more make a dollar. And I'm very proud of her for that. Very proud.
Neither the Humphreys nor Scott Caulfield have specific plans for their savings. But, I know what I'm going to do. Follow some advice I got from Scott: Keep my head down and look for silver.
I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace.
Kai Ryssdal: We've got links to the blog that Sally mentioned, as well as her own try at looking for spare change on our Web site. It's marketplace.org.
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I've been picking up stray coins for nearly 3 years now - inspired by a fellow bicyclist and friend. Now I'm addicted. It is hard to explain the joy I get from finding a coin or two on the street and adding it to my special collection. For me, it's not a frugality issue as much as it is the fun of finding "treasure" and the competition of finding more than the year before.
I dream of a day when the penny becomes the ubiquitous symbol for charity in this country.
Imagine -- The U.S. Treasury mints between 7 billion and 13 billion pennies each year, and each year, half that many fall out of circulation. Nobody knows for sure how many, but the best estimates put the number at somewhere between 250 and 750 billion pennies that are sitting in the drawers, the bottoms of purses, in jars, and in "give one/take one" trays around the country -- generally out of circulation.
That's between $2.5 billion and $7.5 billion!
That's why we started Got Cents? in 2005.
Just a few months after the last Presidential Election, we started collecting pennies as a way of showing people how many Africans had lost their lives to AIDS. The goal was somewhere between 19 million and 25.4 million pennies. Our thought -- put them on display and then donate the money to groups that are working to fight AIDS on the ground in Africa.
Nearly four years later, both the Democratic and Republican Conventions, in conjunction with ONE and World Vision will be hosting our penny display at the conventions. Today, we have amassed 6.1 million pennies. That's approximately one penny for each African life lost to AIDS since we begain collecting.
And the odd thing -- that number is so great, that we have to truck the pennies from Denver to Minneapolis/St. Paul, because MSP doesn't have enough pennies.
As we like to say (and it is profoundly demonstrated by the thrifty families you interviewed):
Start where you are,
Use what you have,
Do what you can,
It will be enough!
-- todd
(650) 269-4477
As an inveterate coin picker upper, I thoroughly enjoyed this piece, as well as the comments of the other "pickers." I'm torn, however, about whether to applaud you for publishing this material. I don't like to encourage my competition in any way.
My father died when I was 14 and left a will with a specific amount to be given for my wedding. Just out of college in 1951, we decided to give up the wedding and spent it all on a honeymoon to Bermuda. When we returned to New York we had no money for groceries but just enough to go to a movie and it was two weeks until payday. On leaving the movie we found a $20 bill by the curb -- and it got us through!
There is an unconfirmed legend about one of the richest man in Hong Kong. As he was getting out of his car, he dropped a coin and proceeded to search all around the car for the lost coin. His company's security offered to help and in a few minutes, located the lost coin and returned it to him. He then tipped the guard with a large bill. This was used as an illustration of his key to wealth and success: Being frugal about every penny, and yet totally unstinging in rewarding his subordinates.
Check the Washington Post's archive for "TAILS OVER HEADS": SURE, I KEEP TRACK OF EVERY COIN I FIND ON THE STREET. DOESN'T EVERYONE?
William Casey
October 13, 1996; Page C1
Picking up coins found on the street and in public places doesn't need to focus on its money value. The charm for many of us lies in collecting data about these discoveries over time, examining questions such as where, when, how many at one time and so forth.
The 17,351 coins and bills found during my 15-year study (1/1/85 - 12/31/1999) revealed a wide array of fascinating patterns. The fact that one or more coins was found in 47 of the 50 U.S. states during that time, that Fridays were the best day to spot them, that less than 49% of those found every year had the observe (heads) side up, that two 50-cent pieces found, that mint locations of the coins varied predictably depending on where they were found, that .45% of all coins found dated from prior to 1960 -- all of these aspects and many more were of greater interest to me than the $834.70 in total value they represented.
Some of the data collected during the study were used, with my permission, as the basis for an analysis problem in a statistics text.
All the actual coins found during the study period are still here, stored in jars in Minnesota. I do not know quite what to do with them, I admit.
William Casey
Do the math: if it takes me two seconds to pick up a penny, that's thirty cents a minute, and $18 an hour. Do you make $18 an hour? Nickels are worth $90 an hour. Do you make $90 an hour? Is it worth your time to pick up change? Judge for yourself.
In the 9 months prior to the birth of my son, my brother who was then a janitor at a High School in Concord, CA. collected about $500 in change and gave it as a birth gift to our son. It is the basis of his first bank account.Not a bad way to start out your life. I always pick up 'Lucky Pennies'. coins.
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