A couple of years ago, a story was going around that Samsung had tried to pay a $1bn fine in five cent coins.
It was pretty funny: the idea that a multi-million dollar corporate hired out 2,755 trucks to carry buckets and buckets of pennies to a rival.
A massive “here’s your money but also screw you.”
The story turned out to be fake, because a private company can reserve the right to not accept coins.
However, a state court in the US can accept coins, and this is where we meet one Brett Sanders.
Brett is an IT professional from Texas who was angered when he was caught driving 9mph above the speed limit.
“I didn’t hurt anybody,” he said in an interview with NBC5. “I didn’t endanger anybody. My speed was safe for the conditions around me. I didn’t feel like I owed anybody anything.”
Unfortunately a public court did feel he owed something, and Brett lost his trial over the issue, where he was fined $212 (£147).
The speeding fine was $79.90, but the court fees amounted to $132.10 for a total ticket of $212, Frisco Municipal Court spokesperson Catherine Ross told BuzzFeed News.
Incensed at the ruling Brett hatched his fake-Samsung-inspired plan.
“I decided I wanted to make a point that this is not right,” Sanders said. “This is not fair.”
In a remarkable act of pettiness resistance, Brett withdrew thousands of pennies from two of his local banks and paid the fine entirely in pennies.
He filled two buckets, subtly labelled “extortion money” and “policing for profit” and dumped them all over the floor and counter of Frisco Municipal Court traffic ticket counter.
Recording his act of “resistance”, Brett yells “just mail me the receipt,” to the lady behind the counter, who in no way was responsible for Brett’s fine.
In a particularly sour twist, the people responsible for counting Brett’s pennies found that he had overpaid his fine by $7.81. Brett currently hasn’t gone to retrieve his money.
“It felt good just from an emotional standpoint to just kind of stick it to them one last time,” said Sanders. “But at the end of the day, I left without $212. At least I proved my point and was able to share that with a lot of other people and spark a debate.”
You certainly did that. Next time, try not to speed and perhaps we can avoid the whole situation.
