(This piece originally published in 2012, comes from my project Give Take Give, which explored the gift economy and social network connected to the Social Service League dumpster in downtown Lawrence)
Coffee and a bagel, $4.97. I handed over a five-dollar bill, got three cents change and put the coins in the little ceramic dish next to the cash register - a small gift for a future patron who comes up a few pennies short. The next time it may be me who needs the help, and without a second thought I'll reach into that same dish. In a very unscientific study of coffee shops along Massachusetts St., I found that all five of the locally owned ones I visited maintained penny dishes, while the two corporate chains I checked did not.
It's a modest convenience to help make change and keep the wheels of commerce turning. It's also a form of gift exchange that operates right next to the cash economy. As pennies lose buying power (Canada minted its last one cent piece in 2012, and many in the U.S. have called for the end to the penny here), they are easier and easier to part with. But imagine, if there is, let's say, just $20 in change that circulates through these exchanges in Lawrence in a week, that would mean $1,040 in a year, and literally millions circulating freely across the country, from those with more than they need to those who don't have quite enough.
All of us who give and or take a coin or two are participating in a kind of 'pay it forward' economy predicated on trust (there are no explicit rules for how many coins we can take) and long-term reciprocation (we can imagine that one day we will be the ones in need). This begs the question, if we can freely exchange pennies, nickels and dimes, why not other things like food, housing and education?
(Since I wrote this, the exchange of currency (dollars and change for goods) is rapidly vanishing, replaced by cards and payment apps on our phones. A consequence of this shift is that increasingly we are prompted by payment screens to tip or “round up” when we purchase something, while penny dishes disappear as fewer and fewer people carry change of any denomination let alone pennies in their pockets.)