Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406300071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By JIM STRATTON DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium
Discarded by consumers. Loathed by waitresses. Victim of centsless puns.
Admit it, you contribute to their penny-ante stature. You absentmindedly drop them in your desk where they languish among the paper clips, packets of Sweet 'N Low, and business cards from people you'll never call.
Or you stick them in that ceramic frog on your dresser thinking that some day - ``honest, someday soon'' - you'll count them, wrap them and take them to the bank.
The time has arrived.
The U.S. Treasury Department is urging people to bring their old pennies out of retirement and back into the marketplace. Seems we've become a nation of hoarders, and the feds are at least a little skittish we might be headed for a penny shortage.
There's no problem yet, but Treasury officials want to get more pennies into circulation to head off any trouble.
``It happens over a period of time,'' said Treasury spokeswoman Rebecca Lowenthal, of the gradual decline of pennies in the market. ``And it becomes necessary to encourage people to bring them back.''
So the Treasury is making its penny pitch. And it's prodding banks to help out. Lowenthal said the Treasury would like to see more banks willing to accept people's loose change and exchange it for real money. A few banks offer that service, but many require customers to count it and roll it beforehand.
And therein lies the rub.
Counting and rolling takes time. It's boring. Your hands get dirty. Is it any wonder we just plop our pennies down in the ashtray, leaving millions of dollars scattered throughout our homes and businesses?
``Individually, pennies aren't worth enough to spend - people walk by them on the street,'' said Crestar Bank spokesman Tony Mattera. ``And once you do get enough to do anything, they're a problem to deal with.''
So we hoard - sometimes with a vengeance.
Rep. Robert Scott has a piggy bank-full at home. Scott would not reveal the specific amount in the pig, saying only that it was ``a lot, probably a lot.''
The Democrat from Newport News also would not outline his position on penny-pinching, claiming he would ``have to get my legislative aide in charge of pennies'' to study the issue.
Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore was just as cagey.
In a statement, a Gilmore spokesman said, ``The attorney general does have some in a jar at his home. The amount is undetermined, but it is substantial.''
But Linda Jablonski wanted to talk, and Linda Jablonski knows pennies.
The 16-year veteran of the Blue Star Diner rarely gets through a day waitressing without finding a few pennies slipped in with the silver and green of her tips.
``I must have a million of 'em at home,'' she said, topping off a customer's cup of coffee. ``But I never have the time to roll them and take them in.''
``Eventually, I'll get around to it,'' she said of counting and rolling her change. ``Like maybe when they tell me it's the law.''
by CNB