# Would you cash a check for a penny? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 16, 2022, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571 "2022-02-16T01:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/1 "2022-02-16T01:40:12Z")
My husband got a check because apparently we overpaid the bill from one of the providers for his knee replacement. Yes, it was for a penny. It was printed, put in an envelope, and mailed to us. **1¢** I’m thinking I might frame it. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/2 "2022-02-16T01:41:38Z")
and here I thought this was going to be about Trump. If you frame it and don’t cash it, you’re obviously not Trump hanging out on the SDMB in disguise. That is a good thing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/3 "2022-02-16T01:44:08Z")
I think I’m insulted, but I’m not sure… 😉 No, I am not any politician incognito. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/4 "2022-02-16T01:46:10Z")
A few decades ago, I subscibed to Toy Collector (that may not have been the exact title). It died before 12 issues came out. I received a check for something like $1.39. I deposited it, cuz that’s how I roll. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/5 "2022-02-16T01:53:13Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I think I’m insulted, but I’m not sure… 😉 There was a story some time ago about a journalist who set up a dummy corporation and sent out cheques for small amounts, like about $10, with some made-up story about an accounting error. He only sent them out to really wealthy New Yorkers. A not inconsiderable number of them cashed the cheques, including the Donald. So the next month, the journalist sent out cheques for about half the amount, from a different dummy company, wiht a similar accounting errror story. But he only sent the cheques to the rich people who had deposited the first round of small cheques. Again, not everyone cashed them, so he did a third round, of an even smaller amount, to the diminshed group who had cashed the previous cheque. Repeat like Zeno’s tortoise. Trump was one of the last ones standing, with a cheque for a few pennies deposited to his account. Ergo, you are not Trump. You’re nice, dammit! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/6 "2022-02-16T01:54:57Z")
That was _Spy_ Magazine. 13 cents. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/7 "2022-02-16T04:04:48Z")
Funny, I opened this thread and earlier today I got an email telling me I’m getting a check for $2.48 for unpaid interest on an old apartment deposit. Good thing I’ve got mobile deposit from my bank. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/8 "2022-02-16T04:11:22Z")
I’ve gotten a few sub-$1 checks over the years. I simply waited until I had a check valuable enough to deposit, and brought them in at the same time. I know a woman whose daughter left an abusive marriage many years ago. In the years since, her ex has bounced around between homeless shelters, prison, and mandated drug treatment, and his own family wants nothing to do with him, either. Anyway, a while back, she got a check from Child Support Enforcement for eleven cents. Like, what was the point, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/9 "2022-02-16T05:06:47Z")
About 20 years ago my local small-town propane company under-billed me by something like 25 cents (they forgot to include some tax or something). So they then sent me a separate bill for the 25 cents. They paid 40-something cents for the postage stamp on it, plus whatever for the cost of the envelope. I stopped by their two-person office to pay the bill in person. I remarked to them that they had just spent 40-something cents to collect 25 cents from me. The clerk told me, entirely seriously, that they could just roll it over into the next month’s bill. It went entirely over her head. Whoosh! ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/10 "2022-02-16T05:33:34Z")
I like the posters who suggest framing such a cheque. A great conversation piece, imho. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/11 "2022-02-16T05:40:49Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > I like the posters who suggest framing such a cheque. A great conversation piece, imho.   I would suggest that the envelope it came in, with the postage stamp for more than the amount of the check, should be saved and framed along with it! ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/12 "2022-02-16T11:37:30Z")
That works too. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/13 "2022-02-16T11:58:37Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > A few decades ago, I subscibed to Toy Collector (that may not have been the exact title). Sex Toy Collector? ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/14 "2022-02-16T12:31:15Z")
I once mistyped a check to an insurance company so it was one penny less than the correct amount - and of course they sent me a bill for that penny. THE BOOKS MUST BALLANCE! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/15 "2022-02-16T13:26:11Z")
I have enough random scraps of paper on my desk so I would probably slide the cheque in with my regular deposits rather than keep it sitting around. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/16 "2022-02-16T22:45:45Z")
I’d cash it just to be a dick. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/17 "2022-02-16T23:42:57Z")
You know pretty much every bank nowadays has an app that allows you to deposit a check by taking a picture of it with your phone, right? Which means you actually get to keep the check after you’ve deposited it (I assume they must have some security to prevent you from taking the same check down the the bank and depositing it a second time). So I would deposit my penny first, and then frame the check. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/18 "2022-02-17T00:27:46Z")
I know from experience that if you don’t cash a check for a trifling amount, sent to you by some company’s computer, it will send you another after a few months. Never mind that it cost more than that to print and mail it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/19 "2022-02-17T00:40:51Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve gotten a few sub-$1 checks over the years. I simply waited until I had a check valuable enough to deposit, and brought them in at the same time. Exactly. Why wouldn’t anyone do this? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571/20 "2022-02-17T00:50:37Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > it will send you another after a few months. This one specifically says _Void After 120 Days_ so I doubt we’ll see another. Honestly, it’s not worth my time to even bother with the deposit app. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-cash-a-check-for-a-penny/959571.md?page=2)