Do you move in slow motion? It takes all of two seconds to pick up a penny, assuming it’s on one’s path and no detour is required. That works out to $18/hour, tax free.
Anything about a penny, it’s mine. Mine, d’ya hear me?? Mine!!
In that case, I got 37p worth of your pennies today. Nyeh!
but the 1 euro cent is all mine…
Besides, the cost argument only makes sense if you’re already earning money at the time when you pause to pick up coins, and have to clock off to collect the coin, or if your life is so desperately full of profitable activity that you can’t stop for a moment.
It’s extra income. It doesn’t really matter what hourly rate it works out to. I sold something on eBay yesterday - I imagine if we divided the profit by the time it took me to pack it up, queue at the post office, etc, it would be below the hourly rate for my main employment - but it doesn’t matter - it’s extra money - and I wasn’t doing anything more profitable with the time.
Yes and only as a sign of respect to money that is hard to obtain but very easy to spend or lose.
When I was growing up, my parents used to make a point that picking up a coin is a very German thing to do and - for a portion of society I used to live in - Germany was ideal of economic society one would like to live like so… I started picking up coins long time ago.
Nowadays, I pick coins up and deposit at Tim Hortons hockey fund box.
Occasionally I’m asked to complete a survey for a marketing company. They take around 20 minutes, and pay $25 to $50. I purposely do these on my iPad while sitting at a bar drinking beer. And I cackle maniacally because I’m being “paid to drink”.
I noticed a real difference when the schools were on holiday (Scottish schools get two weeks off over Easter) and some days I got no coins at all, or was lucky to get one green penny that had obviously been there for weeks.
Now that they’re back, I’m getting pound coins, twenties, 5ps and the usual coppers again 
Picked up a quarter on the way to my classroom this morning. That makes the total for the month $1.26.
So, I finally gave in and smashed the darned money jar - £37.47, including 500 pennies, 186 two pence coins, 107 5p pieces, 12 ten pences, 16 20ps, two 50ps, and 18 £1 coins.
Oh, and a few rusted beyond recognition coins, and some euro cents, canadian and american coins, and one plastic Early Learning Centre toy coin. 
Not bad for a few years worth of collecting!
I wouldn’t stoop for a nickel or less – at my age, the risk of stumbling or even hernia seems to outweigh the monetary benefit.
In Thailand it’s common to feel a taboo against picking up such money. For example, before I got a cell phone I used pay phones and very often found coins left in the return slot.
Reported.
This is a whoosh, right? FTR I don’t own any Apple devices, but from what I’ve seen the typical reward for filling out an online survey of this type is around $1. $2.50 would be outstanding, let alone $25.
If it drops Inside a shop, yes. If it drops outside, on the pavement for instance, nope. It’s obviously intended to be picked up by someone who needs it more than me. I began to do that early in life, and it almost rose to a matter of principle.
(Note : I don’t actually believe that’s it’s “intended” for someone, that there some fate or higher principle at work or such a thing. I just think that I can spare a coin and some other people don’t, so if it leaves my custody, it’s up for grabs).
I actively dislike nice people who tell me “look! You’ve just lost a 2 cents coin!” because it makes me pick it up, as I’m not going to explain that I don’t pick up coins, look as a weirdo as a result, and makes the person who tried to be nice uncomfortable or perplexed about their well-intended gesture.
ETA : I didn’t understand you wee refering to coins dropped by other people. Obviously, I don’t pick them up, either.
I’m like “clairobscur” - With my kids, I let them pick up any coin they see. If it’s just me, I never pick it up. I hear this little thought - “Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck” and automatically think that I’m already pretty damn lucky… so I leave it for someone who may need the luck more. 
Pretty much always.
In 1987 I broke my leg. The doctor wanted me to walk as much as possible so when Ms Hook got off work we’d take a stroll. We got to looking for money as it gave us something to do while tooling around. It didn’t take long to figure out a route that went by a couple of bars, a gas station, and a car wash. All prime money dropping spots we discovered.
Some days we’d pick up $3-4.
Anyway we sort of got in the habit of it and still do it.
I got a £5 note at the weekend - best find in years
Quite. We pinch groats…
I once heard that at one point Bill Gates was making so much money so quickly, that, if he spotted a thousand-dollar bill on the ground, and he had the choice to either stop working for a couple of seconds to pick it up, or keep working and be paid the equivalent of the money he was making for the same amount of time, it would pay off for him to just keep working.
I haven’t worked out the numbers for my own situation, but let’s just say that I will pick up a quarter.
I pick up any coin I find.
I always pick up money, even pennies. I rarely use change and I just put the change I get back into my pocket. When I empty my pockets at night, I look at the change I have because I have a friend who is a coin collector and because some of my friend’s kids like foreign coins.
Imagine my delight a couple of years ago when I found a 1955 double die penny in my change. My coin collector friend almost cried when he I offered it to him. Of course, I had no idea what I had, I just thought that it was interesting and knew that he liked wheat back pennies. To me, it was just a “hey, look what I found in my change, its kinda cool, do you want it?” moment. He has spent his life looking at his change for something like that and I probably just picked it up off the street.
He refused to take it and helped me find a good place to sell it. It wasn’t in very good shape, but I still made enough off that one penny to have 180 cats fixed and vetted.
Eeek! Typo and to late to edit. 18 cats.