Kicker: Record-winning pennies and patience

NICK EICHER, HOST: Well, they say a penny saved is a penny earned. 

And if that’s really true, a man in Phoenix, Arizona has earned a lot. 

Cory Nielsen managed to collect more than 6,000 pounds of pennies. To give you an idea how big a deal that is: It took two cargo vans just to transport that legal tender to the bank. 

He spoke with local TV station KSAZ.

NIELSEN: Today I am turning in 1,030,315 pennies.

Alright, you may have the math in your head. But if you don’t, I’ll move the decimal point for you. We’re talking about $10,303 dollars and 15 cents. 

But prior to the bank deposit, Nielsen used the pennies to build the world’s largest penny pyramid. Right in his garage! 

It took him three years to do it: painstakingly stacking all the coins into a freestanding structure.

MR: Why? Why would anyone do that?

You know what? I was ready for that question …

NIELSEN: I’ve seen people try to do this record before, and they just lost their mind and they stopped, but I liked it. I enjoyed it. It was a stress reliever for me.

Yah, but it did require a lot of patience … and a lot of pennies.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.