Luck Penny Stories

Mossie1975 · 07-08-2020 10:35pm #1

For as long as I remember, it’s always been a tradition to give/receive luck penny when selling/buying (I still have a lucky pound from selling my calf as a young one - communion money is long gone though). Do you give luck penny?

dodo mommy · 07-08-2020 10:37pm

Always do when selling from home never to sure how much to give though.

893bet · 07-08-2020 10:40pm

Bought a mower last May. He delivered it. Didn’t take payment as there were a few bits missing. Finally came back with them last night and took payment by cheque and have a 40 quid luck penny.

Best 40 he ever spent as he has earned my trust and I will buy from him again.

mahoney_j · 07-08-2020 10:51pm

Selling a lot more stock out of yard now always give a luck penny ,usually 20 euro .when I go to Mart no

Dunedin · 07-08-2020 11:03pm

893bet wrote: »

Bought a mower last May. He delivered it. Didn’t take payment as there were a few bits missing. Finally came back with them last night and took payment by cheque and have a 40 quid luck penny.

Best 40 he ever spent as he has earned my trust and I will buy from him again.

Would always give a luck penny when selling at home. But not in mart (Albeit it’s about ten years since I sold in mart).

Wouldn’t necessary give or expect LP on machinery though.

jimini0 · 07-08-2020 11:31pm

dodo mommy wrote: »

Always do when selling from home never to sure how much to give though.

A pound per hundred is what my grandfather told me. Now he did say something about old money but I didn't understand so he used current currency at the time.

GrasstoMilk · 07-08-2020 11:32pm

Take a few pound off the agreed price as luck penny here

Only on dairy stock though, nothing on bull calves. They go cheap enough with giving more off them

Base price · 07-08-2020 11:46pm

Always give luck money when selling and I make sure to include a rattle of silver (€1/€2 coins) as well.

CloughCasey1 · 08-08-2020 8:20am

Always give a few extra squares as luck when dealing with hay. If a customer takes a big load of rounds they get one as luck. I always get luck buying cattle. Never once have I bought and not get luck. Don't care how big or small the luck. Usually have the buckos with me and a stop for grub is made on the way home. They call it chips money. Id only be buying in twos and threes and its usually 10 or 20 quid. FIL God rest him bought 15 top u grade bullocks years ago. 1125 each. Got the cards in an envelope and a fiver stapled to it. Not being a man to mince his words. He looked at him and said well decare would ya leave yourself short anyway ya tight baxtard.

DukeCaboom · 08-08-2020 8:31am

Bought cattle off a dairy farmer once and he asked me for luck... I said lad it's the other way round that works needless to say he didn't dig into his pocket.

I'd always giv a luck the odd time I'd sell something here.

A large operator down here always called luck "apples from my own orchard"

Another chap bought dairy cows here about 25k of a cheque and got a 2 euro coin for luck. The seller says its not the amount but the luck that matters..... Sound

NcdJd · 08-08-2020 9:03am

Always give back 50 when I'm selling something but don't think I'll ever put anything up in donedeal again. Not worth the hassle.

Also give a tip to delivery drivers if they are coming with loads. If the drivers a grunt he gets nothing but if decent will always throw a tenner to him to get a few coffees.

Bought a tractor last yesr off a man and he said rather than give back something he put a 100 euros worth of diesel in the tank. I said grand thanks very much, when I checked when I got it there was f all in it. Hungry cnt. Took him 3 weeks to post in the tax book. Probably waiting for someone to give him a spare envelope.

whelan2 · 08-08-2020 9:20am

Not a luck penny but a thank you type payment. Often pulled a car out of a ditch or whatever and they'd give you a tenner or a pint the next night you see them. Jump started a van for a lad the other day and nothing, not even a thank you. Moved one of those big esb reels that was in a lads garden with the digger and nothing either. My time must be free

keepalive213 · 08-08-2020 9:53am

I remember a man buying cattle from the grandfather (he was in his 70s), he gave him 5 pound luck back on two weanlings.
When yer man was just leaving he meets the grandmother who asks if he got any luck and he says no, so she gives him another 5 pound.
The truth came out later and the paperwork was held up as a result, it went on for months they had a few angry visits from the dealer who still refused to return the fiver even though the dept was hassling him.
He eventually returned it, he was a stubborn man but not half as stubborn as who he was dealing with.

patsy_mccabe · 08-08-2020 10:10am

I always give a luck penny here when selling pedigree bulls. Usually use it as a sweetner when trying to close the deal. It's like "Give me X amount and I'll throw €20 in for luck".

Base price · 08-08-2020 10:56am

A man used to come here for years and buy a good number of feeding bulls. We would put up the dinner in the local hotel for himself, his wife and the work man that always accompanied him. When he paid on delivery we always gave him a rattle of luck as well. He is retired a few years but he was one of our best customers and sadly missed.

White Clover · 08-08-2020 11:10am

Base price wrote: »

A man used to come here for years and buy a good number of feeding bulls. We would put up the dinner in the local hotel for himself, his wife and the work man that always accompanied him. When he paid on delivery we always gave him a rattle of luck as well. He is retired a few years but he was one of our best customers and sadly missed.

Fair play, that's why he was a regular customer.
I like that he brought his work man with him, shows he appreciated and respected him too. More would leave them at the farm slaving away at something on their own.

Lady Haywire · 08-08-2020 11:58am

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I always give a luck penny here when selling pedigree bulls. Usually use it as a sweetner when trying to close the deal. It's like "Give me X amount and I'll throw €20 in for luck".

That's the way we do it too. Always like to see a customer happy, especially with the bulls as they're basically free advertising if they go well for them.
In the mart I'd usually check in the office on who buys the cattle & if it's a decent price I'd go root them out around the ring & give them something.

Wouldn't expect it when buying something, so it's always a nice surprise to get it.

PoorFarmer · 08-08-2020 12:39pm

FIL has a luck jar in the house since he started farming more than 50 years ago. All luck money goes into or out of that jar and is never spent by him. The bottom half of it must be out of circulation with 40 years at this stage.
He's semi retired now and said the jar will stay there till he passes on or all his luck will go with it.
His son took over one of the farms this year and he has one started too.

Shaunoc · 08-08-2020 2:14pm

Not farming. But bought a used car recently and seller tried giving me 50 back luck money. I refused it as the price was the price agreed. Hope that doesn't give either of us bad luck
To be fair he was a young fella starting out and he had car in great nick. He earned keeping it.

Dunedin · 08-08-2020 2:17pm

whelan2 wrote: »

Not a luck penny but a thank you type payment. Often pulled a car out of a ditch or whatever and they'd give you a tenner or a pint the next night you see them. Jump started a van for a lad the other day and nothing, not even a thank you. Moved one of those big esb reels that was in a lads garden with the digger and nothing either. My time must be free

I was on my first pint in the local a few years ago. Was only in about ten minutes when a fella came in and said a neighbour crashed up the road and would I get the tractor. Left my pint and went and got tractor and duly pulled yer man out.

He didn’t say thanks that night or ever since. Often met him in the pub over the years and never even got me a pint. It’s the first and last thing I think of when I meet him even to this day and it’s nearly 15 years ago now.

patsy_mccabe · 08-08-2020 2:38pm

Funniest I heard was a guy that caught a load of mackerel. He had a full big bag and when he stopped off at nearest shop, the owner said he'd take them off him, as he didn't want them. On the way out , yer man grapped a litre of milk. The shop owner charged him for it.

Deagol · 08-08-2020 2:54pm

Mossie1975 wrote: »

For as long as I remember, it’s always been a tradition to give/receive luck penny when selling/buying (I still have a lucky pound from selling my calf as a young one - communion money is long gone though). Do you give luck penny?

Not directly farming but I bought an old Peugout car off a man once from a newspaper advert, turned out to be Willie Daly the matchmaker - t'was one of his kids cars I think. Lovely fella, wouldn't let me leave the place though till he found a few pence for the luck penny - I hadn't seen in it in a long time as I moved away from country village to town - was nice to see it again

Mossie1975 · 08-08-2020 5:27pm

Deagol wrote: »

Not directly farming but I bought an old Peugout car off a man once from a newspaper advert, turned out to be Willie Daly the matchmaker - t'was one of his kids cars I think. Lovely fella, wouldn't let me leave the place though till he found a few pence for the luck penny - I hadn't seen in it in a long time as I moved away from country village to town - was nice to see it again

I thought you were going to say you got a wife as luck penny lol

patsy_mccabe · 08-08-2020 5:31pm

Deagol wrote: »

Not directly farming but I bought an old Peugout car off a man once from a newspaper advert, turned out to be Willie Daly the matchmaker - t'was one of his kids cars I think. Lovely fella, wouldn't let me leave the place though till he found a few pence for the luck penny - I hadn't seen in it in a long time as I moved away from country village to town - was nice to see it again

Saw Willie Daly being interviewed by Grainne Seoige before about match making in Lisdoonvarna. He said they only needed Willie Daly up to about 9 O'Clock. After that they had Arthur Guinness.:rolleyes:

kollegeknight · 08-08-2020 9:26pm

Mossie1975 wrote: »

I thought you were going to say you got a wife as luck penny lol

Twud have been a costly car if that was the case.

kollegeknight · 08-08-2020 9:39pm

Firm believer of giving a bit of luck. I tend to deal with people a second time if they offer it. It’s a nice piece of old Irish culture.

Amazing the variations.
Bought a bull for €2350 one time and got a tenner back in luck.

Bought two yearlings for €500 each and the lad gave €20 back and €5 to my two children.

A lad I buy straw off of brings his wife for the drive. He gives €20 back and she follows behind with €2 for every child she meets. There could be 5/6 depending if my brothers children are around.

Mind you, I never haggle with him and we always have a dinner for the two of them, he never brings crap straw.

My OH and I were at a salvage yard up north we happened upon. We bought a few bits, he threw an old carriage lamp for luck. Dad said thanks very much before we could say it was ours. Spent a few nights sitting in the dark sitting room enjoying the light from it.

Limestone Cowboy · 09-08-2020 12:20am

I always give a bit even if if I sold stock in the mart and a local bought them I'd be sure to throw them a tenner. If I was after getting a nice touch for a bundle I'd give back 50. I won't spend any luck money I get with a beast while they are still on the farm. Have a few hundred from bulls and heifers I bought over the last few years hidden away. I like to get it but I'd never ask for it either.

dodo mommy · 09-08-2020 9:08am

I'd have no problem giving a man or woman a fifty if I get what I'm looking for when selling bulls from home but it bugs me when lads expect what I'd call big luck's penny when they already gotten a good deal.

patsy_mccabe · 09-08-2020 9:17am

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

I always give a bit even if if I sold stock in the mart and a local bought them I'd be sure to throw them a tenner. If I was after getting a nice touch for a bundle I'd give back 50. I won't spend any luck money I get with a beast while they are still on the farm. Have a few hundred from bulls and heifers I bought over the last few years hidden away. I like to get it but I'd never ask for it either.

That's gas. I never heard of the luck being linked to the money. I'd spend the money right away, no bother.

Ard_MC · 09-08-2020 9:20am

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

That's gas. I never heard of the luck being linked to the money. I'd spend the money right away, no bother.

Same as that. Always put it on the lotto is what I do with it!!

whelan2 · 09-08-2020 9:23am

dodo mommy wrote: »

I'd have no problem giving a man or woman a fifty if I get what I'm looking for when selling bulls from home but it bugs me when lads expect what I'd call big luck's penny when they already gotten a good deal.

What's worse is a lad haggling over a deal and then not cashing the cheque. Lad came back to me last week with the cheque I gave him in july 2019 for hay

CHOPS01 · 09-08-2020 1:33pm

Strongest memory of luck pennies is when I was young following my father around SMB mart and he trying the find the owner of cattle he might have bought to get a luck penny out of them.

Lime Tree Farm · 09-08-2020 1:46pm

Here is another nice one from Wexford - they even has a cure for scour, but no luck money from Cork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjThf3Duaxo

kerryjack · 09-08-2020 2:06pm

Some people are just mean, I bought a jeep there recently off a lad for 6400 cash and he through my young lad a fiver that he had rolled up specially for the job, fellow county man as my own as well.

Base price · 09-08-2020 2:23pm

Lime Tree Farm wrote: »

Here is another nice one from Wexford - they even has a cure for scour, but no luck money from Cork.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjThf3Duaxo

That was very enjoyable. I smiled at the one with uncle Peter scaring the daylights out of the young lad telling him about the Banshee. I think we all had a uncle like him.

MasFer · 09-08-2020 2:44pm

Two nice experiences from marts where you dont expect luck penny

The seller had a tenner stapled to the card for a heifer of his I bought

In another mart I bought a few heifers belonging to one owner. Owner came up to me and give a fiver saying, best of luck, that's all change I had buy a pint. I was happy with gesture and said thanks. A little later he came back with a twenty euro note.

davidk1394 · 09-08-2020 3:28pm

I'm a firm believer in a luck penny if I'm buying or selling. The first machine I ever bought the farmer gave me €50 luck and anytime I animals or fodder I usually give a €20 luck to the person. I had repeat customers ever since.

A fella starting out in sheep bought nearly all the sheep hurdles off me yesterday. I gave him €40 luck to get himself a few pints. I'd offer him dinner but the whole Corana virus put a stop to that.

One person has a shelter for horses so each Christmas I give her 2 free bales of hay and 2 free bales of straw.

Also a recent one was a fella living a few miles over the road but works abroad drove into a flash flood a few days before Christmas. Car stopped mid flood, my father was coming back up the road with the digger and saw your man. Drove down to him and towed out the car. Asked him if he wanted a lift home or any other help. The man said he was okay and thanked him. A couple of weeks later when he was back home he arrived up with a bottle of black barrell Jameson. It only took a few minutes and the thanks was good enough for the father but that was a nice touch

zetecescort · 09-08-2020 7:05pm

have bought the odd vintage car or tractor and the seller would throw in a few spare parts. really nice if they are genuine parts that may be hard to find otherwise and worth a few quid if they went and sold them separately afterwards.

Dunedin · 09-08-2020 7:59pm

davidk1394 wrote: »

I'm a firm believer in a luck penny. A couple of weeks later when he was back home he arrived up with a bottle of black barrell Jameson. It only took a few minutes and the thanks was good enough for the father but that was a nice touch

I wonder did the two boys that were fighting over the land a few weeks ago (hammer on the tractor and all that) drop down a bottle of something to the neighbors.........

Tigerpants · 12-08-2020 12:34am

Lucks penny hard to come by with the car dealers nowadays, they act stupid like they never heard tell of it!!
Or if you pay with some cash, say 50s, they do laps of the showroom to find a tenner!

divillybit · 12-08-2020 12:40am

I bought a tractor last year for 3500, a rough old zetor. The seller was glad to be getting rid of it. I gave him ten 50 euro notes as a deposit and we agreed I would lodge the remaining 3000 into his account before bringing the tractor away. He gave me 50 euro back for luck but it wasn't one of the 50 euro notes I gave him. He said its bad luck to give a man his own money back as luck money which I had not heard of before.

Base price · 12-08-2020 12:46am

divillybit wrote: »

I bought a tractor last year for 3500, a rough old zetor. The seller was glad to be getting rid of it. I gave him ten 50 euro notes as a deposit and we agreed I would lodge the remaining 3000 into his account before bringing the tractor away. He gave me 50 euro back for luck but it wasn't one of the 50 euro notes I gave him. He said its bad luck to give a man his own money back as luck money which I had not heard of before.

+1

einn32 · 12-08-2020 12:46am

I remember the father buying average quality square bales of hay off a lad at the mart. He coaxed your man to deliver them as it was kind of on the way back to Cork. Your man obliged and the father gave him a kind of a reverse luck penny/compensation. Your man wasn't impressed with the amount but the oul lad told him it was enough because we had done him a favour buying the full load in one go and he would be home early and all instead of hanging about the mart selling bales in dribs and crabs.

Your man took into a fit of saying my father was the toughest man in Ireland and how now he had to face into driving a Leyland 282 back to Cork from Limerick with no doors, bad weather forecast and a concrete block propping up his seat would give him a numb arse by the time he got to Cork.

Tigerpants · 12-08-2020 12:50am

einn32 wrote: »

I remember the father buying average quality square bales of hay off a lad at the mart. He coaxed your man to deliver them as it was kind of on the way back to Cork. Your man obliged and the father gave him a kind of a reverse luck penny/compensation. Your man wasn't impressed with the amount but the oul lad told him it was enough because we had done him a favour buying the full load in one go and he would be home early and all instead of hanging about the mart selling bales in dribs and crabs.

Your man took into a fit of saying my father was the toughest man in Ireland and how now he had to face into driving a Leyland 282 back to Cork from Limerick with no doors, bad weather forecast and a concrete block propping up his seat would give him a numb arse by the time he got to Cork.

Where was his latest model landcruiser and split new tri-axle trailer?? ðŸ˜†

Cattlepen · 12-08-2020 2:30pm

DukeCaboom wrote: »

Bought cattle off a dairy farmer once and he asked me for luck... I said lad it's the other way round that works needless to say he didn't dig into his pocket.

I'd always giv a luck the odd time I'd sell something here.

A large operator down here always called luck "apples from my own orchard"

Another chap bought dairy cows here about 25k of a cheque and got a 2 euro coin for luck. The seller says its not the amount but the luck that matters..... Sound

I have to agree with the man. It’s the sentiment of what your purchasing being sold to you “lucky”.
Now I always give a decent luck penny meself. If someone bought 25k worth of stock off me the would be going of with €500 in their pocket. I know of 70acres bought in the last 8 years and €2 coin was the luck. Purchaser was happy with that
Know of the dearest recorded sale of farmland in Kildare,
1.5million for 13.5 acres. The buyer asked the solicitor to ask for a luck penny and the seller said he was to f*#k off, that he had enough luck in life! Purchaser not happy

Albert Johnson · 12-08-2020 4:33pm

Cattlepen wrote: »

I have to agree with the man. It’s the sentiment of what your purchasing being sold to you “lucky”.
Now I always give a decent luck penny meself. If someone bought 25k worth of stock off me the would be going of with €500 in their pocket. I know of 70acres bought in the last 8 years and €2 coin was the luck. Purchaser was happy with that
Know of the dearest recorded sale of farmland in Kildare,
1.5million for 13.5 acres. The buyer asked the solicitor to ask for a luck penny and the seller said he was to f*#k off, that he had enough luck in life! Purchaser not happy

Yes the sentiment is important but I hate meanness and I was always told that a luck penny never made anything dear or cheap. I've witnessed a man losing the sale of 4 rams at €1000 as he wouldn't cough up the score for luck that he had agreed to when making the deal. The buyer quite rightly told him to keep them altogether and the next time they appeared in the mart there were only 3 rams as one had gone to his eternal reward.

A relation of my own sold a ram for €400 with a tenner for luck another day. As before when it came to paying he wouldn't hand over the tenner and was told to stick his ram up his arse. I never saw the smile to disappear off a man as quick and it was grand to see the mean prick squirming until the tenner was handed over and the deal completed. I always try to deal to the best of my ability be it buying or selling but I hate people who try to back peddle afterwards. A deal is a deal and if your not happy with the outcome you should have been a better judge of your business at the time.

Durrus Boy · 12-08-2020 6:37pm

With the year that was in it, we sold a lot of cattle from the yard. All the yearling bullocks and bulling heifers were sold to farmers and each man got luck money for each bunch of stock even though none of them asked for it.
However, we were also selling a bunch of forward store bullocks and it was agents for feed lots who showed the most interest in these, with almost their first question being.. "ah sure there'll surely be a nice bit of luck? " before a deal was even struck!!!!! Pissed me right off I must admit, as they would never see them again once leaving the yard.....

powerfarmer · 15-08-2020 12:22am

einn32 wrote: »

now he had to face into driving a Leyland 282 back to Cork from Limerick with no doors, bad weather forecast and a concrete block propping up his seat would give him a numb arse by the time he got to Cork.

Funniest thing I've read in ages

tractorporn · 14-01-2024 9:52pm

Sorry for bringing back up an old thread, but I am selling cows over the weekend and I would like to give a luck penny for each cow. What would be the vest way of making sure that the cash ended up in the buyers pocket? I was thinking of stapling a note yo each card and let the mart office dole them out? Any suggestions appreciated.

kevthegaff · 14-01-2024 10:00pm

Remember when I started milking, I gave 27k(loans) to buy first bunch of cows. The wife gave me 4 euros in coins(husband was sick as why they were getting out). I was disgusted but just sucked it up

blue5000 · 14-01-2024 10:02pm

I got a fifty euro note luck money from a Cavan man, it will be a sad day when I have to spend it.

TP put it in an envelope attached to the card, but you'll never really know if the buyer gets it or not.

Luck Penny Stories

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