'Would you bend to pick up a penny?' poll discussion

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

A friend of mine spent a year picking up 1p and 2ps and saved them up.(to prove a point)
She had over £151 by the end of it.
Not small change at all when added together.
I get loads of pennies in my garden when the schoolkids going past flick their change at each other when messing about.They just don't seem to care that it's money.
There's always pennies lying around at the bus stop over the road too,it's ridiculous.

JPW75

The exercise of walking an extra few steps and bending down can only be beneficial. Also any amount gained "for free" increases your wealth and also gives you the sentiment that you're in luck today.

HOWEVER, were you to hurt your back or knee whilst picking up "free money" and to lose days at work through illness, and the cost of using taxis to do your shopping etc, you'd have lost rather than gained.

UNLESS the sum you have picked up more than covers the cost of the injury. A rough calculation of the statistical chance of injuring oneself and the insurance premium needed to compensate loss leads me to suggest that 5 pence is the minimum you should make any physical effort to retrieve.

Less than that, you would be a loser, were you to repeat the action a great number of times.

The same as the national lottery that returns only 50% of the income through ticket sales because the rest goes to admin, lottery company, good causes, exchequer, retailer etc...Statiscally you will only ever see a 50% return on all your tickets bought over the years. The 50% you lose pays for the fun of gambling and the hope you'll be lucky on this occasion.

Pick up a penny today and you may not slip and injure yourself. But someone doing the same, somewhere, at some point, will.

Stick to 5p and above!

Cheers :beer:

suiko

No way would I bother with less than 20. I never take coppers in shops either, unless there's a collection box there.

What I can't really work out is why I'd pick up 20 but not 10 :-)

raddyantic

A word of caution if bending over to pick up money....A few years ago I was in wales for the footy I saw the funniest thing ever....outside a bar a few lads had super glued a £1 coin to the pavement and waited for someone to pick it up eventually a woman duly obliged - and obviously she tried to pick the coin up and failed miserably - cue cries of 'jew jew' LOL

hothothot_3

By law I would have to hand it into a police station as lost property - hardly worth the effort of picking up 1p?

raddyantic

hothothot wrote: »

By law I would have to hand it into a police station as lost property - hardly worth the effort of picking up 1p?

Truesay you have to hand in any amount by law as it's still theft or as I recall from my Police days they call it it TWOC - Taking Without Consent.

Also from a Monothesian religious perspective you are meant to trace the owner on the first instance (which would be prob impossible!) or give it to charity - i.e. at no point should you keep it!

I personally reckon if its 50p or more most peps would pick it up and prob keep it!!

POSSETTE

you all need to see my thread i started 2-3 years ago..about picking up all money you find on street for a year,then adding it up.We all then make a payment of that amount off our Credit cards! So someone else is paying them! Some people do really well,but i seem to get around 3-7 quid over year!
i challenge you to save money you find on street that is the name of thread if anyone else wants to join..

harryhound

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=680303&highlight=