Nicholas Thompson spent time with an “elite money hunter”: a 67 year old gentleman who, since 1987, has been collecting and recording all the spare change he finds abandoned on New York streets and sidewalks:

• Chilly mornings when people are wearing gloves and thus fumble with their wallets are a good time to find loose change.
• Too cold though and people won’t go outside, making it more difficult to find stray coins.
• Bus stations where people have to find exact change are also promising hunting grounds.
• Night birds may want to keep a watch on stumbling patrons reaching into their pockets around bars in the evenings.
• Up until 2006 one could expect to make around $58 a year this way in New York City.
• Then Apple bought in the era of the modern smartphone and people became more focused on their screens. Annual takings jumped to $95 a year.

Read more here.

Source: The New Yorker

Via: Marginal Revolution; Kottke