Penny Experiment - I need your help

[KTP]

OK, my plan is starting to take shape and I need to know how realistic everyone (especially those coupon experts out there) thinks it is. The initial plan is to turn the penny into $10,000 and be able to buy 100 servings of food with each dollar spent That will make 1,000,000 servings of food. Is getting 100 servings of food per dollar realistic?

If it is for a food bank then it needs to be non-perishable, ie can goods. I can't think of any canned good that is $0.01 that I would be willing to eat...maybe some melamine laced stuff from China might be marked down enough...

I would shoot for 5 servings per $1, ie. $0.20 a can.

[mom-from-missouri]

Many Christian Schools and Sunday schools collect pennies for missions. The idea is that my penny alone can't do the job, but our pennies together can. Same concept people should have about getting a task done. The school my girls attended before we moved collected around $42,000 in pennies in 4 years time. Mind you, this was a school of 87 students and 14 staff.

[jasonnoguchi]

Name that penny the "Food Penny", take some nice pics and then set up a website (or use ebay) to auction the "Food Penny" for a base price of $100.

[jeffrey]

If it is for a food bank then it needs to be non-perishable, ie can goods. I can't think of any canned good that is $0.01 that I would be willing to eat...maybe some melamine laced stuff from China might be marked down enough...

I would shoot for 5 servings per $1, ie. $0.20 a can.

I know that under normal circumstances that it would not be possible, but how about with utilizing coupons, double coupon days and sales in combination?

[jeffrey]

Many Christian Schools and Sunday schools collect pennies for missions. The idea is that my penny alone can't do the job, but our pennies together can. Same concept people should have about getting a task done. The school my girls attended before we moved collected around $42,000 in pennies in 4 years time. Mind you, this was a school of 87 students and 14 staff.

I like this idea and maybe I can find a way to incorporate other people's found pennies into the project.

[jeffrey]

Name that penny the "Food Penny", take some nice pics and then set up a website (or use ebay) to auction the "Food Penny" for a base price of $100.

I think this is the basic way I'll head to start off since it has been how I have been leaning in my thought process.

[PrincessPerky]

You could try to get others in on it? Like the 'amazing deals' some folk post for trying to sell their coupon guides, if you get them to do a shopping trip for you (donate to their local food bank) you could get the coupon-ers of the world to unite in your penny goal. Not sure if you would need to 'prove' the food was donated?

Organize all that on a website for all to see, and you don't have to do all the work....

[scfr]

Have you heard about Penny Harvest?
About the Penny Harvest: Penny Harvest, elementary, middle, schools, fund raising, phase, grants, issue areas, planning, party

I like the idea of asking couponing and bargain-shopping folks to get freebies and donate them to their local food bank and then send you a record their donations.

[jeffrey]

You could try to get others in on it? Like the 'amazing deals' some folk post for trying to sell their coupon guides, if you get them to do a shopping trip for you (donate to their local food bank) you could get the coupon-ers of the world to unite in your penny goal. Not sure if you would need to 'prove' the food was donated?

Organize all that on a website for all to see, and you don't have to do all the work....

Love this idea. Will definitely be incorporating it into the overall plan. A lot of positives in doing it this way plus it gives the couponers a chance to show off., help their local areas and with dynamics of scale, make it a lot more realistic in meeting the million meal goal.

[jeffrey]

Have you heard about Penny Harvest?

Thanks for the link. I have heard about the orgainization in passing, but will look more into the details and see if there are ideas that will help me.

[marvholly]

Also, drug stores like Ride Aid, CVs & Walgreens often run rebat, extra bucks and/or register rewards deals on items that couponers have coupons on. This then makes them free or a money maker that can be spent on other items.

Note on the food bank donations:
Around me they really prefer $$ as they "claim" to be able to buy food for $0.07/lb. Right, I also believe in Santa Claus, tooth fairy.............

I tend to prefer to get/donate items that cannot be bought w/food stamp program: personal care items, cleaning supplies..............

[Broken Arrow]

I wanted to stop by and add a couple of thoughts that just crossed my mind.

First, radio stations constantly have pledge drives, and in those drives, they tend to play some of their best contents to attract attention. Anyways, I was wondering if perhaps, through volunteerism, you can create some kind of exclusive content that would make it worth someone's while to donate, and in return, have access to some of your best contents or some kind?

Also, there was indeed an occasion when a penny was literally worth $1.01 to me. When I was in Atlantic City, I was surrounded by all kinds of souvenirs, but they were either too pricey, wasn't good quality, or something I didn't care for. However, I did spend $1.01 on a penny machine that squished the penny with a stamp of the casino I stayed at. I don't know if this sort of overhead is within your operating budget, again, all this is just food for thought.

Good luck!

[jeffrey]

I was able to find someone to purchase the original penny for $10.00 after creating a list of reasons why the penny was worth more. I am going to take the $10 and turn it into 1000 pennies. I am then going to find ways to give those pennies more value. The first is to try and find artists that are willing to help create pieces that incorporate one of the pennies. Any other ideas on how I could add value to some of the other pennies?

[cicy33]

I also want to show that helping others doesn't necessarily mean having to have a lot of money. I think I also want to incorporate coupons in purchasing the food and if it is possible to buy $267 worth of food for a penny, making the goal becomes a lot more realistic. It does mean that I will have to dramatically brush up on my couponing skills and also learn where in the US you can get the most value when shopping.

Sadly this concept will not work. Back in the good old days the stores would let you double the coupon (or triple) and if the value was more than the item they would still give you the amount which would apply to other items. Nowadays, most stores will only give you up to the value of the item. So even if all your purchases were free after coupon the tax is still there I believe. and the likelihood of having a coupon for everything you buy without it being a specific item isn't likely. Every now and then one of our stores here does the original triple sale but it is like once every six months. maybe.

[jeffrey]

Sadly this concept will not work. Back in the good old days the stores would let you double the coupon (or triple) and if the value was more than the item they would still give you the amount which would apply to other items. Nowadays, most stores will only give you up to the value of the item. So even if all your purchases were free after coupon the tax is still there I believe. and the likelihood of having a coupon for everything you buy without it being a specific item isn't likely. Every now and then one of our stores here does the original triple sale but it is like once every six months. maybe.

So what I may need to do is purchase the food in a state that doesn't have a consumption tax, or at least waves that tax on food. Will need to do a bit of research on what states would be the best places to purchase food. Thanks.