# Do you pick up pennies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370 "2015-11-23T17:15:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/1 "2015-11-23T17:15:47Z")
Lately, at work, people have been leaving them all over the place in the break room. I’ve seen people drop them, and they don’t even bother to pick them up. I don’t quite get this attitude. Why would you throw perfectly good money on the floor? Sure, each penny isn’t worth much on its own, but they add up quickly enough. I pick them up whenever I find them, and they go into a coin jar at home. When they start to accumulate, I count them, put them into rolls, and take them into the bank with all my other change. I find it’s a great way to make an extra deposit into my savings account. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/2 "2015-11-23T17:41:01Z")
Sure. Why not? I even picked up 3 cans that I saw while waiting in line at the Hardee’s drive-up a few days ago. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/3 "2015-11-23T18:47:13Z")
[The Master speaks:](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/302/is-it-worth-it-to-pick-up-a-penny) ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/4 "2015-11-23T18:58:16Z")
I used to, but have since stopped (partly because Canada no longer uses pennies) mainly due to their low value… I don’t agree that they add up fast enough. Anything you have to pick up 150 times to buy a coffee with is pretty low value. Despite Cecils article about taking the time to pick up pennies as equivilent to earning $7/hour… I just think of how many pennies I see/saw that I could pick up in a year - it was generally less than 25. If I picked up 20 pennies per year for 65 years I’d have a grand total of $13. I could make the same amount by goofing off or making a personal call 1-time for 20 minutes at work. So when you think about a life time’s worth of penny picking being equivilent to what you’d make during one long coffee break, it seems like a waste of effort. Penny picking and can collecting (well actually can collecting yields 10-times the rewards) is of course different if you occasionally come across a large clump of pennies/cans and can scoop up a bunch at a time (especially true if you’re the one that paid the deposit). But picking up the occasional penny here and there a few times a year and expecting it to make any kind of difference to one’s finances doesn’t pan out. Yes, it’s perfectly good money just sitting there, but the amount of effort required to get is isn’t perfectly good at all. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/5 "2015-11-23T19:14:08Z")
I not only don’t pick up pennies, I throw out the ones that merchants give to me. I hate them. It’s a disgrace that we cling to a unit of currency so small and insignificant. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/6 "2015-11-23T19:28:26Z")
Yep, I do- it’s one of my two superstitions. (The other is “do random acts of kindness for Karma”). Mostly as I pretty much know it’s silly, but you are a penny richer and some animal wont eat it then. OTOH, if the business has a 'take a penny leave a penny" I’ll often leave all my change but quarters. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/7 "2015-11-23T19:32:01Z")
I don’t, mostly because I think some little kid will come along be so much more happy about finding a penny or nickel than I am. I will pick up quarters. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/8 "2015-11-23T19:33:04Z")
Of course I do. Find a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/9 "2015-11-23T19:33:05Z")
I don’t pick up or take any change less than a quarter. I keep the quarters in my car to pay for parking. I leave any change less than a quarter on the counter. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/10 "2015-11-23T19:33:11Z")
No, in fact I hardly ever use cash. It’s pretty rare for me to have any money on me. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/11 "2015-11-23T19:49:45Z")
I bite my fingernails and it’s too hard to pick up a penny (or especially a dime) off a floor with a smooth surface. I’ve let pennies, dimes, even quarters go if I drop them. I always hope a little kid finds them. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/12 "2015-11-23T19:54:16Z")
I used to, but I’m getting to that age where if I have to bend over to tie my shoes I think, “Is there anything else I can do while I’m down here?” Shoe tying is necessary, penny picking isn’t worth listening to my knees pop. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/13 "2015-11-23T20:33:56Z")
If you had an extra hour in your day, would you use it to read a book or to work at a minimum wage job? If the minimum wage seems attractive, then picking up the odd penny is for you. (I see that the Master beat me to this observation.) Picking up a nickel is different; now you’re getting a middle-class wage. I wouldn’t pick up a nickel, however. Not because I disdain the paltry sum but because, at my age, the slight risk of tripping or developing a hernia by bending over far outweighs the sudden boost in my fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/14 "2015-11-23T20:41:57Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Of course I do. Find a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. Not quite, if you find a penny face up it’s good luck, if you find a penny tails up, it’s bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/15 "2015-11-23T20:50:07Z")
I do. Don’t see any reason why not. I’ve usually got a pocket full of change anyway so what’s one more coin. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/16 "2015-11-23T20:54:30Z")
If I dropped it myself, of course I’ll pick it up. Just like I’d pick up any other piece of litter that I was responsible for. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/17 "2015-11-23T21:06:33Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I do. Don’t see any reason why not. I’ve usually got a pocket full of change anyway so what’s one more coin. Yep, exactly. I figure that someone is going to pick it up eventually, and I see no reason that it shouldn’t be me. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/18 "2015-11-23T21:06:40Z")
When gas prices were at their peak in 2008, I worked with a woman who also worked at a gas station, and she couldn’t get over the people who yelled at her for the cost of gas (as if she had anything to do with it) :mad: and then didn’t want their pennies. :rolleyes: 😕 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/19 "2015-11-23T21:15:19Z")
I used to walk every morning and kept track of both mileage and money picked up. Over several years, I observed an average of about $20 a year found on suburban streets. Biggest haul was $3 in a crumpled wad. Apartment buildings with street parking tends to attract lost coins. Also, basketball nets are a good indicator for coins nearby. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370/20 "2015-11-23T21:52:03Z")
I’ll pick up any I see, and I see plenty. My regular routine involves walking across the quad after lunch to check in the front office for mail. You’d be amazed at how much change 2000 high school students can drop during lunch. I usually pick up enough to buy a 6-pack of decent beer a month. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-pick-up-pennies/738370.md?page=2)