Take a penny, leave a penny

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Take a penny, leave a penny (sometimes Give a penny, take a penny or penny tray) refers to a sort of tray, dish or cup often found in gas stations and convenience stores, meant for convenience in cash transactions.

The small cup or tray near a cash register is designated as a place for people to place pennies they receive as change if they do not want them. Then, customers who, for example, need one cent for a transaction can take one of the pennies to avoid needing one of their own or breaking a higher-denomination coin into pennies. The tray can also be used by cashiers when dealing with amounts slightly less than others easier to work with; the cashier may take a penny from the tray and then give the customer, for example, one quarter instead of 24 cents.

The penny tray is often given to the store by vendors whose products are sold at the store. They may have small advertisements for products such as smokeless tobacco, newspapers, or soft drinks displayed on them depending on which vendor supplied the store with the tray.

[edit] Popular culture references

"Take a penny, leave a penny" was referenced as a metaphor in the 1999 U.S. film Office Space.
The Simpsons has made reference to "take a penny, leave a penny" trays on multiple occasions:
- In the episode "Behind the Laughter," Apu admits to turning in the Simpsons for avoiding income tax payment. He says, "Never have I seen such abuse of the 'take a penny, leave a penny tray.'" The camera then dramatically zooms in on an empty tray.
- In the "The Sweetest Apu" When the Squishee Lady asks Apu "How's life, handsome?", he responds "(Sigh) . . . Take a penny, leave a penny."
- In the "Papa's Got a Brand New Badge", Apu offers Homer the right to take the only penny in his "take a penny, leave a penny" tray after he foils Snake's robbery attempt using scalding hot nacho cheese.
In the My Name Is Earl episode "Quit Smoking", Earl reveals that one of his past transgressions was "always took a penny, never left a penny".
Episode 14 of the television series Good Morning, Miami is titled "Take a penny, leave a penny".
In Episode 388 of the web comic strip The Order of the Stick, the bard Elan and Thog steal from a "take a penny, leave a penny" dish.
In the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Remooned," the character Meatwad points at a take a penny, leave a penny dish and asks, "Is them pennies? And you're just giving them out?" He then buys gum with the pennies.