Pennies and Dimes

I have occasion to go to the high school where my girls attend. I park in the parking lot that sits between the school and a super market. Invariably, I find coins in the parking lot as I’m walking to or from my vehicle. Mostly pennies, but I’ve also found other denominations of coins as well.
I asked one of my girls once why that was the case. She said that the students will go over to the store at lunch time and buy something from the salad bar or deli. They will walk back through the parking lot. They don’t want the change that was given to them in the transaction, so will just toss it into the parking lot.
I don’t know about you, but that seems like wanton waste to me. Growing up in the middle part of the 20th century, I recall when nickels bought candy bars and packages of peanuts. Pennies bought gum balls and tootsie rolls. Dimes bought soda pop and quarters and half-dollars (remember the Franklins and walking liberties?)…oh, my, one was wealthy with those in his pocket.
Store coupons back then were for three cents (or some such small number) off the purchase price. People used and saved them just as they do today with the dollar off coupons. Virtually nothing at the grocery store was over a dollar in price (unlike today when virtually nothing is UNDER a dollar) And five dollars would buy plate lunches for the entire work week with change left over for a coffee break in the afternoons.
On a more modern note, I have a change jar in my bedroom that I put spare change into. It takes about nine months for me to fill it, and when full has about $150 in it. No, pennies and nickels don’t buy much any more. Dimes and quarters are no longer made of silver and half dollars don’t circulate. But they will, when combined, result in an amount of money that almost anyone would willingly accept if offered.
I’ll take the pennies and dimes, kids.