The demise of the "luck penny" ??

Banshee Boos

Just wondering does anyone give a "lucky penny" to the buyer these days when selling privately?
It was something that I was brought up with and Something that I continue to do, but been buying a few animals lately and haven't come across anyone still doing it.
Is it a tradition that has died out?

whelan2

Always do, unless the buyer has messed me around

Sam Kade

I often got €50-€100 luck. Some joker one time that I was buying heifers off asked me to give him €50 extra in the bank draft so that he could give me €50 luck :rolleyes: another joker gave me two 50 cent after giving him €7k.

Milked out

Depends on buyers, some lads don't bother with it either way, one fella said straight out don't mind that messing and other lads wouldn't be happy unless they got it. The odd time there'd be a child with the fella buying I'd give the few euro to them alrite. Lads i deal a good bit with there wouldn't be any but generally I think I give good enough prices for what they take

fepper

Some fellas expect too much and are highly insulted if you give less than €20

Sam Kade

fepper wrote: »

Some fellas expect too much and are highly insulted if you give less than €20

Anything less than €20 I'd give it back to you you because you might need it.

whelan2

fepper wrote: »

Some fellas expect too much and are highly insulted if you give less than €20

It depends how much the sale is. Also do ye spit on the note when ye get it

fepper

On the prices you'd Give me I'd need to keep it

Sam Kade

whelan2 wrote: »

It depends how much the sale is. Also do ye spit on the note when ye get it

Yeah, if it was a small transaction then it would be fair enough. I sold hay to a man a few years ago for around €500 he insisted on the luck money but would take nothing more than a euro and he spit on it.

jimini0

My grandad told me when I was a child about the luck penny. £1 for a £100. He said anymore than £1 was just giving the man his money back.
Its supposed to be luck money not a refund.

farmerjj

Always give luck,usually a tenner and don't buy any animal if I don't get luck even if it was only a fiver... Its a nice touch I feel

charolais0153

We bought two pens of hogetts one year . we got a fiver luck for 2000 e worth of sheep and 20e for 1000e worth of sheep. Fair to say you'd be a bit annoyed about that

visatorro

What luck do you get when you buy at a mart?

I give a luck penny but then again it's fr bulls I'd be selling so I suppose you need all the luck you can get with those!

Miname

I think it's a nice gesture and would always throw a bit of luck with a home sale and even an odd mart one. I'm a firm believer in selling an animal lucky and hope they do well for their new owner.

patsy_mccabe

Every time I bought a pedigree animal, I got €20 luck money. It was even stapled onto the cert twice. The last time I sold a bull I gave yer man €50 as part of the deal making.
I think it is a nice touch. It's like good karma, Phiseogs, whatever you're into.

moll3

selling cows on time at a mart and two fellas waiting for me when i came out of the sellers box

epfff

moll3 wrote: »

selling cows on time at a mart and two fellas waiting for me when i came out of the sellers box

I got luck penny from only 1 heavy bull I bought all year
He on the trailer for knacker in the.morning
Didn't work that time
or maybe it did he might have killed me loading him for factory

amacca

Id never even heard of the practice until about 5/6 years ago

Sold a couple of bullocks at a mart and was just coming out of the box when a lad confronted me asking for a luck penny - literally cornered me.

I genuinely thought he as trying to pull a fast one there was some sort of swindling going on so I was wary of him and unwilling to do anything in case id fall for whatever scam this was (having been the victim of such classics as "ah will you buy this calf off me" years before)

My dad was there and he sort of let me know it was alright so I asked yer man how much a luck penny should be and he said it was entirely up to me. I gave him a fiver and he seemed satisfied with that. If Id been prepared and known it was a custom with some people Id probably have given him more (while holding out for a slightly higher selling price beforehand:))

Its never once happened since.

whelan2

I got a luck penny for the heifers I bought that died of ragworth posioning. Sure ya win some ya lose some

FeelTheBern

Always give or get a bit for luck around here on private sale but never really see it in mart - unless maybe selling a breeding bull

Muckit

Sam Kade wrote: »

another joker gave me two 50 cent after giving him €7k.

It's called a luck penny, not luck notes. It's only supposed to be a token thing, a gesture.

Username John

Muckit wrote: »

It's called a luck penny, not luck notes. It's only supposed to be a token thing, a gesture.

Somehow though giving a note seems a better gesture.

I wouldn't sell much at all off the farm, mainly factory. But sold a few pet lambs the past few years and would always try to give a fiver luck, even though you might only be getting 100euro overall...

Think it's a nice thing to do...

Muckit

Oh yeah. Fiver top of the job. I wouldn't give or expect anymore.

And the very lad blowing about throwing fifties and hundreds at lads, wouldn't hardly give you the steam off his piss.

KatyMac

I went sightseeing in a mart in England once and noticed that when the animals were 'on the market' the seller handed the lad who was putting them round the ring (what I assume) a pound coin and when the beast was bought the lad in the ring gave it to the buyer. I inquired what the story was and was told it was normal practice in that market. If someone was there buying a lot of animals on behalf of someone else he would have the coins for himself. I don't know if that is/was normal anywhere else in England this particular market was near Stafford.

Base price

Muckit wrote: »

It's called a luck penny, not luck notes. It's only supposed to be a token thing, a gesture.

We always give a luck penny or rattle depending on the purchase price. A man used to buy a good few cattle from us twice a year. We always gave him a luck penny and payed for lunch/dinner for himself, his wife and farm worker in the local hotel on their way back home.
I would never take an animal home (even calves) unless there was a luck penny given.
At the end of the day it is a simple gesture of goodwill/luck.

davidk1394

It's a nice gesture alright. A neighbour here and a friend sold calves to some fella. Anyway he left €20 on the table for your man while they were at the paper work. Next thing the wife slowly worked her way up to the table and swapped the 20 for a tenner. She's as mean, you could give the day working there and ya wouldn't even get a cup of tea

keep going

only found recently the origin of this practice.when you give someone luck money you are giving them "compensation in lieu"so that if the animal goes wrong you have already paid up on the garuntee so to speak

Banshee Boos

Well it's good to see its still going strong with many! Obviously I just dealt with a couple of stingy buggers lately....well I suppose they were from Tipp after all.

Kovu

Always give a luck penny with private sales, bull in Carrick there got €20 sent off with him. Usually if I buy something and get a luck penny with it, the money will go on the first ai or whatever, it's always put by in a 'safe spot' til then.

Seen two sucks tonight in Drumshanbo sold with a fiver luck money each in the ring, though that a bit strange, especially as they were sold through the dry cows :pac:

davidk1394

Banshee Boos wrote: »

Well it's good to see its still going strong with many! Obviously I just dealt with a couple of stingy buggers lately....well I suppose they were from Tipp after all.

Definitely north tipp !!

nhg

Do ye keep the luck money or do ye spend it?
I have most luck money that I got here in an envelope as I didn't know (maybe €100 in total between a €5 here & €20 there in the last 4 yrs) if you spent it were you giving your luck away?

First time I got luck money was €20 from a dealer selling through the mart - cousin helping us get started buying stock told me what it was as I hadn't a clue why this guy was handing me money... Some lads knock it off the price when the deal is done before the cheque is written... I still get taken by surprise when given it...

Speedwell

Heh, I bought a car from a local mechanic for cash when I first moved to Ireland a couple years ago, and he gave me the "luck penny". I'd never heard of it, but if he was standing there handing me money I wasn't about to tell the kind fellow no. My husband explained what it was all about when I got home, though. Is it just when you're selling something of a significant value as a private seller?

Reggie.

Base price wrote: »

We always give a luck penny or rattle depending on the purchase price. A man used to buy a good few cattle from us twice a year. We always gave him a luck penny and payed for lunch/dinner for himself, his wife and farm worker in the local hotel on their way back home.
I would never take an animal home (even calves) unless there was a luck penny given.
At the end of the day it is a simple gesture of goodwill/luck.

Always give a luck penny myself but you reminded me o something there base. Around here if you buy calves off a farm it's considered bad luck if that animal ever returns to that farm for any reason. Had to do a few extra runs to may sure certain animals weren't in the trailer while visiting local farms one time due to this. Wonder is it just a local thing?

CloughCasey1

Always give luck. So I always expect it back. There is always the mean few. Lad bought hay off me recently and I threw in four squares for luck. When paying he gave a tenner for the kids on top of not even haggling. I'm a hoor for haggling but it all counts I suppose.

Muckit

When you said 'threw in four squares' l thought first it was into his shed and why didn't you help him with the full load?!!

Bit slow this morning:)

4 squares was a nice luck penny. The deal was done but what you didn't change the price, which is the way it should be.

RightTurnClyde

Sam Kade wrote: »

?.... a euro and he spit on it.

The ba****d
I hope you returned the gesture and wiped your a**e with the cheque

Touché
:)

Base price

Reggie. wrote: »

Always give a luck penny myself but you reminded me o something there base. Around here if you buy calves off a farm it's considered bad luck if that animal ever returns to that farm for any reason. Had to do a few extra runs to may sure certain animals weren't in the trailer while visiting local farms one time due to this. Wonder is it just a local thing?

I never heard of it tbh. Bought and loaded calves from a dairy farmer that we buy from. Arrived to another regular over 20 miles away to pick up calves that we had bought the week before as their BVD's were not back at the time. Opened the trailer to load the calves and a dog shot down the ramp and ran away through the yard. Spent about half an hour trying to catch the dog which belonged to the previous farmer's young children. We drove the 20 miles back to return the dog, a 7 or 8 month old Lab pup.
Two weeks later arrived back to the first farm. Did the deal for the calves and when we loaded them the farmer told us to leave the ramp down. He walked into a different pen and pulled out a lovely LMx bull calf and walked him up the ramp. It was a lovely gesture and one that I still appreciate.

Mac Taylor

Always give luck money when I sell anything at home. Never would in a mart, mind you never been asked.