Penny Pinching.

A little over a week ago I wrote about the big, dirty piles of snow that were in the parking lot of a local shopping center. I seriously thought those things would stick around for a few weeks since they were fairly huge, but they're gone. I was there yesterday and the only thing that's left is a wide circle of debris that got scraped up with the snow. There was a bit of garbage, gravel, chunks of the speed bumps that accidentally got ripped up, and, oddly, a handful of pennies.

At first I thought someone had just dropped a bunch of pennies and didn't pick them up because they were in a hurry and pennies aren't worth the effort. Then I realized that the pennies were most likely the random single coins I almost always see in parking lots and on sidewalks when I'm out shopping. I always want to pick these pennies up because, after all, it's free money, but I never do because I don't want to look like cheapskate and it's simply not worth the physical exertion to bend over and pick up a penny. But what about a bunch of pennies? Those would be worth picking up, wouldn't they? Maybe. But I didn't pick them up because it was probably only fifteen cents at the most, but I almost had to physically restrain myself. I've had similar feelings around those wishing fountains, or whatever they're called. If I could, I'd get a bucket, wade out into it, and scoop up loose change until I couldn't stand it anymore. It's free money, you know, unless you get caught.