After a Georgia man paid in pennies, a coin firm pays it forward.
A multinational corporation has stepped in to assist a Georgia man in addressing a major “coinundrum.”
Andreas Flaten claims that his former employer poured at least 90,000 pennies on his driveway last month as part of his final payment for work at an auto store.
When Coinstar, based in Bellevue, Washington, learned of his plight, they agreed that change was inevitable.
On Thursday, they collected Flaten’s coins and rounded up the total to issue him a $1000 check.
Additionally, they donated to two charities chosen by Flaten: two animal shelters.
Coinstar has been in the coin industry for 30 years and processes nearly 41 billion coins every year – so picking up 91,000 pennies was all in a day’s work, according to Coinstar CEO Jim Gaherity.
Flaten said that his former employer, A OK Walker Autoworks in Peachtree City, owed him $915 following his November departure.
He eventually received payment earlier this month in the form of thousands of oil- or grease-covered pennies deposited at the end of his Fayetteville, Georgia, driveway. Atop the pile was an envelope containing Flaten’s last pay stub and an obscenity-laced farewell letter.
Flaten spent an hour or two each night washing the pennies he had in a wheelbarrow in his workshop.
Miles Walker, the shop’s owner, told WGCL-TV that he was unsure if he dropped the pennies off at Flaten’s place.
“I’m not sure,” Walker admitted. “It makes no difference; he was compensated, and that is all that matters.”
