Monday, May 09, 2005

Monday, May 9, 2005

Today I found $1.39 . . .3 nickels, 1 dime, 3 quarters and 39 pennies (the legendary coin cycle).

Today I am going to throw a dilemma to the readership and elicit some feedback. First, my finds were as follows: 26 cents at the Kwick Kar Wash (one penny & one quarter), six cents (all pennies) at the Sonic next door, and $1.07 in a vacuum cleaner at Exxon.

For the past several days I have made large finds inside vacuum cleaners at area gas stations. Bailey has raised some questions regarding the validity of these finds, although I fail to see a reason why they should not count.

The rules of the Change Race are simple, the coins must be lost (i.e. they can’t be taken from a give a penny, take a penny jar on a counter) and their must be no clear ownership to the coins. Here is my take on the vacuum cleaner dilemma: The true owner of the coins is the person that lost them in the first place. For example, if I am using the vacuum cleaner to clean my car and I suck up a penny that penny belongs to me. At the point that I choose to drive away and leave the change I abandon ownership of the coin.

Bailey argues, and Brian might back him up on this, that the gas station has a right of ownership to the coins. I disagree. To me this is a slippery slope argument. Any property owner (gas station, fast food establishment, car wash, city) could argue that the coins on their property are theirs. I wouldn’t accept that argument. Just because a coin is dropped there doesn’t mean they own it. If that was the case than any coin that is ever found (unless it is on your property) belongs to someone else. Thus, the dilemma. One last fact, that can be considered if you would like, is that none of the vacuum cleaners were locked. All were open and accessible to anyone, including the original coin owner, to retrieve coins if desired. What does everyone else think?

Totals for the day: $1.39
Race Totals: $56.51

10 Comments:

At 9:12 PM, Blogger Bailey said...

Even if they aren't locked, it still feels like you are breaking into the vacumn cleaner.

More thoughts on my blog.

 
At 6:43 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Chris and Bailey...
Sometimes the description of these vacuum-cleaner finds borders on a break-in and sometimes it seems they were just amid some dust.

What is the true case? Are they coming from the actual slot where the coins are supposed to gather or the coin-return slot or just on/near the vacuum cleaner.

I think the coins should be considered the property of the car wash if they are from the "gathering spot." That is, though the car wash is stupid for not safeguarding them, the coins aren't truly up for grabs.

Now, if the coins were in the coin-return slot (even if it was a massive cache or regular occurrence because of a defective machine), then I think they can safely be considered found. Same goes for if the coins were just on top of the machine.

But, if I understand Bailey's perspective correctly, these coins are coming from inside the actual mechanism, and I think he has a solid case for discounting them from the race totals.
Brian

 
At 9:11 AM, Blogger Bailey said...

Correct me if I'm wrong.
But Chris isn't breaking into the COIN section of the machine. That would be WAY over the line and would be an obvious break of the rules. Chris has to much honor and respect for the race to do that.
He is in the section where the stuff gets vacuumed up. The dust and stuff.

I go back to my post from Monday. While I'm not a fan of it, I think it is within the rules of our race, which was to find as much LOST change as fast as you can. I think that you could debate who owns the change, but in the end, Chris probably has the more valid arguement. The owner lost possesion of the coin when it was vacuumed up and they failed to retreive it. And since they don't lock the cleaner, the gas station isn't really staking claim to the coins either.

I've let it be known that I'm not a fan of it, but I can accept it.

 
At 9:21 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I didn't mean to suggest it was intentional thievery, but I felt the descriptions of the circumstances were unclear.

If the coins were in the region where the dust collected, and not the coin-gathering spot, then I think there is no foul here.

 
At 12:54 PM, Blogger Bailey said...

Brian,

Since you are the one closing in on $500, we defer to you.
Your decision is final. The clown in DOWN!

 
At 3:28 PM, Blogger Chris said...

An excellent exchange. I will stand by my original statement that I too don't think there is a foul. That said, I want this race to be as equal as possible. It would be no fun in winning if I'm cashing in on an area that Bailey ignores.

I understand Bailey's arguements and I'm going to go on record as stating that if he does not intend to look in vacuum cleaners than I'm not going to check them in the future.

The coins found to date will count towards the daily total's, but no more. THE CLOWN IS DOWN!

 
At 4:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am sorry all that other stuff aside, you are rooting through garbage. Dust is 98% human skin. What is wrong with you.

 
At 8:06 PM, Blogger Chris said...

Mr/Mrs Anonymous:

That's a question even professionals are unable to answer. That said, it might be anotehr good reason to avoid the vacuum cleaner in the future. Thanks for the input.

Chris

 
At 6:52 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

man u miss a day...

 
At 8:06 PM, Blogger Chris said...

ETW:

That's right. The change finding world is a fast paced gig. Hang in there, I'm sure you won't miss a beat.

 

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