The value of a single dollar
December 6th, 2006 by KenricThese jars are after the people who don’t want to be bothered with any change, even single dollar bills! I’ve seen people pay with a $10 bill for a $7.50 meal. They drop the $2.50 into the jar. I know it’s such a hassle to put it back into your pocket. What’s another 33% on top of the meal? My local Chipotle tip jar is filled to the top with change and dollar bills when I go at around 2pm! That’s easy money for a business!
That one dollar bill can make you money for the rest of your life. You can decide to just give it away into a jar or make that dollar work for you. Spend it and that dollar leaves your life forever. Use that dollar on a long term investment and that one dollar will work for you for the rest of your life! You might say that it’s only a dollar. What can one measley dollar do for me?
You can put that dollar into an ING or Emmigrant Direct account which both pay about 5% interest and it will make you $0.05 a year. Remember that the actual amount returned is not important. Understanding and embracing the concept of making money work for you is. People spend small amounts of money on haphazardly on things simply because it is a small amount of money. Just because it’s a small amount does not mean that it’s not important! At what point does the amount become important? That way of thinking will eventually carry forward towards larger amounts of money.
Can you imagine if every dollar you’ve made continually makes money for you for the rest of your life? There is no possible way you wouldn’t become wealthy if that happened. It all starts with a single dollar.
Posted in Finances | 11 Comments »
Stumble it!
Most cheap-asses are so tight with their money that they don’t take the necessary financial risk to become rich. Also, no one likes to hang out with a cheap ass, waiting to nickel and dime you on the bill. I believe that one should be generous with your money. I gave some crack head 7 dollars the other day. It’s not lost forever, I bought karma.
By knuckleheaded on Dec 7, 2006
Good call Knuckleheaded- Crack head- $7, Good Karma- priceless
By prlinkbiz on Dec 7, 2006
nice.
I think you have a point here, Ken, about “throwing your money away” because you don’t see the value in small bills/change. That said, tipping isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Here’s a though I have on tipping that I haven’t actually been able to follow through on. It’s derived from my experience that I’m not always appreciated for the tipping I do (which is above average in most cases). Here is is:
- Say you buy coffee every day for $3.50 and you leave the $0.50 as tip. Instead of tipping that $0.50 every day (which may go unnoticed), save it up. After 300 trips to the coffee shop, you will have saved up $150. Now even well off people will recognize it if you hand them $150. Give it to someone who has truly served you well over the past year.
By Jason Coleman on Dec 7, 2006
I’m all for tipping… but is this really tipping?
Are you giving this change to the person or business because they deserve a tip, or is it because you don’t care about the money?
Does that money get divided among the people who worked to serve you that food or does it go into the pocket of the owner?
By Kenric on Dec 7, 2006
I don’t think giving a crackhead $7 so he can get more crack will give you good karma.
By Kenric on Dec 7, 2006
Ken– I couldn’t agree more with “You might say that it’s only a dollar. What can one measley dollar do for me?” My S.O. doesn’t understand my angst over deciding what to do with the small amounts I get monthly from my Prosper loans. It may only be $1.38, but that’s $1.38 that I took substantial risk to earn, only to have it sitting interest-free at Prosper. I still don’t have a good solution, short of adding more money to meet the $50 minimum to roll it into another loan. It would be ideal if they added a modest money market account on the site, or direct deposit back into my personal account.
By Asset Gatherer on Dec 7, 2006
In Arizona and some other states, restaurant workers make $2.13 an hour instead of the $5+ minimum wage that everyone else gets. They are supposed to make up the difference with tips! If people don’t leave tips, the people who get hurt are those who make $2.13 an hour. It’s fraud for a business owner to keep tips that belong to employees.
By ubu50 on Dec 7, 2006
UBU, I understand leaving tips at restaurants… but I am talking about a glass jar sitting next to the cash register at a place like Taco Bell or Burger King. Do we really need to tip them?
By Kenric on Dec 7, 2006
Well, she didn’t say it was for crack, she said it was for a bus ticket to Minnesota. I questioned for a bit and finally said, “I’m giving you $7. I hope you’re not full of sh*t.” But I knew she was. Does it matter to me that it was probably for drugs? A little. I made her smile for a while and that’s enough for me. Is giving a smoker a match bad too?
By knuckleheaded on Dec 8, 2006
Of course you don’t need to tip them. However, I’m sure some of the employees to really appreciate it when someone adds some money to the tip jar. It is used in places where tips are less common. You probably don’t need to tip your Taco Bell employee 15%, but a few cents does add up over the thousand customers in a day. I’m sure the employees split it all up at the end of the day, it has nothing to do with the business owner, it would be something set up by the employees.
I like the idea of tipping a large amount to the people who seem to do a good job, and serve you well… I’ll have to see about that this-year at my usual coffee shop.
NG
By NLG on Dec 8, 2006
Ken, Comments are broken on your two newest posts.
By NLG on Dec 8, 2006