Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Today I found 93 cents . . . 1 nickel, 1 dime, 3 quarters, and 3 pennies (The Splendid Change Cycle).

I found the first three pennies in the parking lot of a business I was visiting this morning. In the evening I headed out to the Astros game and while walking to the stadium I found 50 cents (two quarters) in the change return slot of a soda machine.

Recently the city of Houston has done away with a lot of the standard parking meters in the downtown area. They have replaced them with meter stations, where you pay and get a receipt that you put on your car. I dislike these meters for many reasons, but the primary ones are as follows: 1) they are more expensive than the standard meters 2) there is less opportunity for dropped change as they are all on the sidewalks and away from grass and 3) they are cropping up in areas where I used to park for free.

However, today I was a fan of these meters because I have discovered what could potentially become a lucrative pay out for me. Although the meters will not return change they will not accept payment for anytime past 6pm, which is when the meters turn off. So, if someone tries to pay a large amount of parking around 5:30pm the change will drop and return.

As I was leaving the ballpark I decided to check a few of these meters and I found the remaining 40 cents of the day (one nickel, one dime, and one quarter).

Totals for the day: 93 cents
Race Totals: $598.44