Pennies in landfills

[snopes]

Comment: Is it true that 27% of pennies wind up in landfills? It seems a
little bit too much like the 8 spiders people swallow to me.

[BluesScale]

I suspect that this is one of the 16% of stats that is made up on the spot.

How could you measure such a thing? There is no way to know where most of the pennies are.

Blues

[Silas Sparkhammer]

From my experience of life, a great many pennies are kept in jars in people's homes. This may be an inflation-fighting measure, as such money, kept sequestered, is not circulating, and thus reduces the effective money supply.

Silas

[Mycroft]

The US Mint obviously knows how many 1c coins are produced (over 2.6 billion in 2008); and how many are withdrawn from circulation due to damage.

[WildaBeast]

On a related note, I recall hearing somewhere that older people are more likely to save pennies, wheras younger folks generally dislike pennies, sometimes to the point where they throw them away.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

The US Mint obviously knows how many 1c coins are produced (over 2.6 billion in 2008); and how many are withdrawn from circulation due to damage.

True, but that information alone says nothing about where the extant coins are.

- snopes

[Flagg]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

From my experience of life, a great many pennies are kept in jars in people's homes...
Silas

These folks have a good bit of them:


http://realcent.forumco.com/default.asp

(a message board for people who hoard pennies)

[Thebobo]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

On a related note, I recall hearing somewhere that older people are more likely to save pennies, wheras younger folks generally dislike pennies, sometimes to the point where they throw them away.

I remember when I was in college we would shoot pennies at each other in the hallway and didn't care where they wound up. Other times we would shoot them at the girls from our 9th floor window. So I guess this is quite the same as throwing them away since we didn't bother to retrieve them. This was back in 1985 when the dollar went a lot further then it did today.

Today I save my pennies(along with my other change) in a big 5 gallon water jug. I don't have the patience to let it get even a quarter full as I love to see how much I have and put it towards something.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

On a related note, I recall hearing somewhere that older people are more likely to save pennies, wheras younger folks generally dislike pennies, sometimes to the point where they throw them away.

Throw them away, as in the trash? I've never seen anyone do this even once.

Leave them behind with a cashier or on a counter, throw em in the street or at a friend or in a coin train, sure. But actually throw them in the trash, I've never seen that.

[Flagg]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

Throw them away, as in the trash? I've never seen anyone do this even once.

Leave them behind with a cashier or on a counter, throw em in the street or at a friend or in a coin train, sure. But actually throw them in the trash, I've never seen that.

I doubt many people actually make a habit of putting pennies in the garbage can purposefully. I can see them being vacuumed up and tossed, especially from the floors of cars.

Well, there is one person I know I don't doubt would actually put them in the garbage. My wife has a girlfriend with an irrational hatred of pennies. She doesn't do it to be funny, and it can get out of control. When she is handed pennies with a handful of other mixed change after a transaction in a store she will be upset, but just sorts them out and leaves them on the counter. If she is handed pennies alone, with no other change, she curses at the cashier and throws them back. Usually they land on the floor behind the counter, but she has hit cashiers with them before.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Silas Sparkhammer

From my experience of life, a great many pennies are kept in jars in people's homes. This may be an inflation-fighting measure, as such money, kept sequestered, is not circulating, and thus reduces the effective money supply.

Silas

I doubt that people keeping pennies in jars has any significant effect on inflation. Notes and coins only make up a tiny fraction of the money supply, the rest is electronic money - cards, interbank transfers etc.

[Not_Done_Living]

When my kids started school last September, we made a deal that they could keep all the change they found in a big jar in the living room, and if they got at least a B average when they finished the school year, they would get to split everything they found.

They made their average, and when we counted it up.. they had almost $400 in pennies nickles and dimes that they found on the floor/ground over the course of the year...

It was shocking to say the least (as i know much of that came out of my own pocket)

[zerocool]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

Throw them away, as in the trash? I've never seen anyone do this even once.

Leave them behind with a cashier or on a counter, throw em in the street or at a friend or in a coin train, sure. But actually throw them in the trash, I've never seen that.

I have thrown them in the trash, when moving out of a college dorm room. I was the last one out, and had no use for a half cupful of pennies. I think I found 53 on the floor, behind desks, and under beds. This was after cleaning and emptying the room entirely, including vacuuming. If we left anything in the rooms or common areas we could be fined, and I was very close to the deadline for vacating the room. So in the trash they went!

[Ravenhull]

Originally Posted by Flagg

I doubt many people actually make a habit of putting pennies in the garbage can purposefully. I can see them being vacuumed up and tossed, especially from the floors of cars.

Well, there is one person I know I don't doubt would actually put them in the garbage. My wife has a girlfriend with an irrational hatred of pennies. She doesn't do it to be funny, and it can get out of control. When she is handed pennies with a handful of other mixed change after a transaction in a store she will be upset, but just sorts them out and leaves them on the counter. If she is handed pennies alone, with no other change, she curses at the cashier and throws them back. Usually they land on the floor behind the counter, but she has hit cashiers with them before.

What...in...the...Hell???? Is this the girl's only problem? I can see her maybe not wanting them or something, but the verbal abuse and throwing them point towards some deeper issue. That is just bizzare.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Ravenhull

What...in...the...Hell???? Is this the girl's only problem? I can see her maybe not wanting them or something, but the verbal abuse and throwing them point towards some deeper issue. That is just bizzare.

There's a boy racer lad who frequents my local Spar.
Normally when he's handed a bundle of change, he picks out the €1 or €2 coins and scatters the rest on the floor. Recently a tiller was short of notes and made it up in 50c pieces. I saw him fire the lot back at her, and then turn on his heels out of the store.

Originally Posted by Flagg

These folks have a good bit of them:

http://realcent.forumco.com/default.asp

(a message board for people who hoard pennies)

I get the gist but really?

[Jay Tea]

I saw him fire the lot back at her, and then turn on his heels out of the store.

What, literally chuck it? How vile! If somebody threw money at me or mine like that there would be serious repercussions. 'Boy racer'? Egregious as*hole more like...

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by zerocool

I have thrown them in the trash, when moving out of a college dorm room. I was the last one out, and had no use for a half cupful of pennies. I think I found 53 on the floor, behind desks, and under beds. This was after cleaning and emptying the room entirely, including vacuuming. If we left anything in the rooms or common areas we could be fined, and I was very close to the deadline for vacating the room. So in the trash they went!

Didn't you have pockets or a bag with you?

I'm one of the "collect them up" types. I don't have much use for coppers on a day to day basis, but I store them up and take them to the bank when I make £1.

[snapdragonfly]

I keep a jar on my desk and all the change including pennies, go in it, and when it gets full I take it to my credit union and put the change in that cool machine that counts it for you.

I figure most people do that. Before that machine, one would get those coin rolls and count out change into them on a puttery, around the house type day.

I pick up pennies, not because they are really worth the bending over in and of themselves, but because of a (probably superstitious) belief that if I snub my nose at pennies, the larger denominations will pick up on and that avoid me in favor of people with a more welcoming attitude.

Sort of a gratitude thing. Yes, it's superstitious. On the other hand, being grateful for small things is a rather nice trait to have and I try to cultivate it.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

What, literally chuck it? How vile! If somebody threw money at me or mine like that there would be serious repercussions. 'Boy racer'? Egregious as*hole more like...

She put the money in his hand. He looked it at and I heard him say something like, "what the nfbsk are ye givin me, ya stewpid c**t?" and literally threw it all back(albeit, not fiercely) at the girls body.

He drives one of those debadged yokes. Wears white socks, baseball cap on sideways, Charlie Chaplin walk. Whenever I see his car about, (I should say, I can hear the bass thump first) it's one of those rare times I'm grateful for the gazillion speed bumps in my area. Sorry to stereotype someone, but seriously, I couldn't make this character up.

[bcampbell]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

On a related note, I recall hearing somewhere that older people are more likely to save pennies, wheras younger folks generally dislike pennies, sometimes to the point where they throw them away.

I pick up every penny I see on the ground. Well, with the exception of the one at the bus stop that had a big yellowish-green loogie on it. Does this mean I'm getting old?

I also roll them all by hand and bring them to the bank when I get a few dollars' worth of coins.