Story by Jon Stalnaker AKA The Studebaker Dude
I used to always carry a little rubber coin purse in my pocket, but not so much anymore. I still have several of them as they are handy when you are paying cash for something. The problem is that I don’t use cash very often anymore, and when I do, I don’t usually have a coin purse in my pocket. So I put my loose change in my pants pocket, and when I get home, I put that change in the coin purse. They fill up rather quickly that way. When they get to be so full that I can’t put any more change in them, I try to remember to carry it in my pocket until I can buy something and use my loose change to pay for it.
I have been carrying one in my car for decades. I used to use them to pay tolls, as they are convenient for getting the coins out before you get to the toll booth. That was back in the old days when tolls were less than a dollar. Many of the old toll booths just had a big funnel to throw the money in, so you didn’t even have to stop to pay. Who remembers that? We old people, that’s who.
Now that I have a sticker on my windshield, I don’t need coins for that anymore. It does come in handy when I am going through a drive-through and have plenty of time to get the exact change for my hamburger. I keep it in my center console, so it is always handy. It is also handy to refill it when I have pocket change because I forgot to put the other coin purse in my pocket. So, yes, I still use them from time to time.
Just thinking about these this morning, I found 3 of them right away. I found the one I keep on my dresser to take with me when I know there is a chance that I will use cash at some time during my day. I found the one I keep in the car, and another one on my computer desk. All three of these are red ones. I’m pretty sure that I have others around here somewhere. I think I remember having a green one and maybe a blue one, if I recollect correctly.
I don’t remember ever buying a coin purse. Most of them were freebies at the many events and car shows I have attended. I think that they still give them away at these events, so I can’t imagine I’m the only dinosaur that still uses them. But there may be some whipper snappers that don’t have any idea of what I am talking about. I write these stories well aware of that.
I was curious about how much money was in each of these little purses, so I counted them out. They contained $1.67, $2.73, and $2.10, and there were pennies in each one. Having only recently lived through the trauma of the making of the last penny, I’m sure there aren’t any folks out there that are asking “what’s a penny?” but if this story is being read decades from now, as if, there could be some confusion. I’ve seen posts on Facebook recently claiming that if you save one penny a day, you will have saved $36,500 by the end of the year. I’ve seen this post a dozen times. Can there even possibly be people dumb enough to believe that? It’s a scary thought.
When I’m dead and gone, whoever gets to go through the massive collection of crap that I can’t bring myself to toss out, I can envision them coming across my green and blue little rubber coin purses. I only hope that this event will be far enough in the future that they won’t know what those copper coins are. And maybe, they will be more valuable as collector coins.
