[Music]
facts verse presents this man saved
pennies for 45 years and the total
amount was astonishing there is an old
saying a penny saved is a penny earned
a man named Anders took that literally
this guy saved pennies for 45 years and
then he cast them in and their total is
astounding
today Anders is 70 years old a little
over 45 years ago he started picking up
pennies that he found on the ground when
he spoke to the news star he said that
he was sure that each time he found a
penny on the ground it was a sign from
God that he should always be thankful
Landers said that there were days where
he didn't pray those days came more
often than not when he'd find a penny
though he realized there was hope and
there was a reason for him to pray for
years he kept all the pennies in his
home in Rustin in 2015 he realized that
if his home were broken into or if there
was a fire his pennies would not be
covered under his homeowners insurance
he realized after many years that it was
finally time to take his load of pennies
to the bank Anders spent most of his
life working for the Jackson school
board he was a supervisor who looked
after the students who were suspended
from class the students that he worked
with knew that he was a penny saver and
those students would save their pennies
and bring them to school Anders refused
to just take the pennies from the
children though so he would buy them
from them he never allowed anyone not
even his wife and kids to give him
pennies without compensating them for
them he wanted his pennies to either be
found or bought he had somebody else
helping him with his penny savings he
had a friend named jack domino kid brown
jack was saving nickels and Anders was
saving pennies each time domino kid
found a penny he'd give it to Anders
each time Anders found a nickel he'd
give it to domino kid when one of them
found coins for the other there was no
paying each other back they had what
they called an exchange program each man
would often try to outdo the other by
building up their collections when
Anders would visit somebody's home he
had no problem keeping the penny he
would tell the homeowner if he found a
quarter
or a dime if he found either of those he
would return it to the homeowner and
then let them know that if it has been a
penny it would have gone into his pocket
he'd also hold on to a nickel and tell
the homeowner so that he could continue
his exchange program with his friend he
was so serious about saving his pennies
that he stopped spending pennies
altogether
he didn't spend a single penny even if
he had to if he purchased something for
$2 six cents he'd give the cashier two
dollars and a dime rather than spending
some of his pennies he figured that was
the best way to save as many pennies as
possible in the 1970s when there was a
shortage of pennies
the United States government offered $25
for every $100 in pennies that were
handed in Anders could have easily
cashed out his pennies that way but he
didn't he chose to hold on to his
collection and continue saving this was
before coins star was invented which
makes it easy to cash in change without
needing to roll it nowadays
he didn't waver his penny collection was
his pride and joy and he wanted to
continue saving even if the US
government was giving him an easy way to
cash in on his fortune when Anders
decided that it was finally time to cash
in his load of pennies getting them to
the bank was not an easy task the
pennies weighed in astonishing 2,800
pounds this was way too big for him to
bring to the bank on his own to put that
number into perspective his penny load
weighed about as much as the average
American bison when Anders got his 15
water bottles full of pennies to the
bank he then had to figure out how to
get the pennies out quickly and easily
Anders decided that the best way to do
that would be to taking X to the
containers to break them and get the
pennies out when they got the pennies
out of the containers they still needed
to be counted to make things as easy as
possible automatic counting machines
needed to be used had they tried to
count the two thousand eight hundred
pounds of pennies by hand it would have
taken far too long the containers were
broken into plastic buckets and then
they poured the pennies into the
counting machine even with automatic
counters it took over five hours for the
bankers to count the pennies the bank
staff had to switch out the coin bags
every 20 minutes because each one only
held about $50 where the pennies
when the pennies were finally done being
counted the moment of truth came Anders
was so excited to find out how much
money he had after 45 years of saving
pennies he ready
the total came out to five hundred
thirteen thousand six hundred fourteen
dollars over half a million dollars this
averages out to thirty-one pennies per
day over the course of sixteen thousand
four hundred twenty-five days according
to Anders if he wasn't worried that his
homeowners insurance wouldn't cover the
pennies he'd probably still be saving
them today rather than cashing them in
Anders isn't the only person who saves
their Fannie's either in 2015 a man
named mr. Gann bought a new car in China
using collected change he bought his car
with six hundred sixty thousand dollars
in coins and twenty thousand dollar
notes his haul weighed eight thousand
pounds in the US a man named IRA Keyes
saved up his pennies when he took his
all to the bank it weighed 500 pounds
and he cashed it in for 816 dollars when
Anders was asked what he would be
spending that money on his plan was a
bit less fun than going to Vegas or
buying a Rolex he says that he needs to
have some expensive dental treatments
and he'd be using the money to cover the
cost on the plus side he's gonna have
some glamorous chompers subscribe for
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