Tall Tales

When I pick up boxes of pennies bank I often queried by the teller regarding the purpose of wanting so many pennies.  I gotta admit, it takes all my strength to suppress my knee-jerk response of "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"  Instead, I find ever more creative stories to distract their attention from my actual objective: Coin Roll Hunting.

An example of an effective tale comes from last year.  I was working a job at a paper mill out of town.  The job was finished mid day and I headed home.  Driving through town I stopped at several

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banks to pick up some boxes, still in my jeans, boots, and hairstyle left by a hardhat.  The teller asked what I was doing with so many pennies.  I explained they were to be used to cover the top of a bar at a house I was working on, with a clear resin poured over the top.  People could pick out the
dates..."This is when we got marries"..."This was when we bought the house"..."This is when little Billy was born."

She ate it up, offered me more coins, asked me to bring back photos.

I never did build a bar covered with pennies, but if I did, I'd be sure to take a photo in with me on my phone.  Other construction projects covered with pennies include floors, end tables, and countertops.  It's a believable story.  They look great, it can be done by anyone, and the cost is quite reasonable.

Another tall tale that I have used extensively is  the tale of a kid stacking pennies.  This one developed over several weeks when I stopped in to the same bank where I did not have an account.  If you say the coins are for a kid, they tellers are much more willing to part with their boxes.

In this story, I'm at that bank because I don't have time to drive across town to get to my own bank.  There is a kid who comes into the restaurant I work at to get a tall Iced Tea.  He mows lawns, it's hot.  He takes his lawn mowing money, buys pennies, stacks them, and makes videos.  But check this out...he makes money on the videos.  He's saving up so when he's 16 he can get a truck and a trailer and mow more lawns.

They love this story.  It combines a kid with work ethic and saving for the future.  At one point that particular bank shut me off for not having an account there.  Fortunately there was a lady behind me heard me explain everything before being so callously shot down.  She had an account and asked for two boxes of pennies.  I gave her 50 bucks and told her to type in "pennystacking" in the Youtube search bar.  It really IS a Thing.

People stack pennies in pyramids.  Sometimes with lights.  It's really quite impressive.  Here's a stack with around a quarter million pennies...

I'm not alone in my shenanigans.  David W writes

When I go into banks to get a box every now and then, I always say that my nephew is starting out with collecting coins and I thought it would be neat to get him a box of pennies. If I remember it, I also ask if they have any Kennedy Halves or Ike Dollars. Of course if the ladies only knew that I'm 61, and my nephew is over 35... they might not give the pennies up to readily.