Penny Wise and Plain Stupid

Six cents.

That was the amount of the check. Zero dollars and six cents.

I looked over the check again to make sure it was the correct amount. And it was. It was from some financial institution that had apparently messed up on money they owed me, and this was the difference.

Don’t believe me: here’s a copy of the check (with vital information blacked out):

Think about it: the cost of a stamp is 46 cents. Other costs include the paper the check is printed upon, the cost to print the check, the cost to figure out I was owed six cents and to process that information.

I was going to throw it away, but I had a couple of other checks I needed to deposit, so I thought, “Why not?”

And then I ran into another issue. When I went to deposit the check using the ATM, it wouldn’t let me deposit the check for six cents. Why not? Well, I could call my bank and find out, but I had already wasted enough time on the six cent check.

If I were to guess, it would be because the ATM doesn’t accept checks that are less than a dollar—and I don’t blame the bank for doing that.

After all, who would be stupid enough to cut a check for less than a dollar, right?