checks

Have you ever wondered if Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos Or would Bill Gates bend down to pick up a coin from the ground? And for a 20 euro bill? Apparently that same question was asked in the 90s in the satirical magazine Spyso they decided to test the extent to which some of the most famous rich Americans cared about ridiculously small amounts of money, even when they already had enormous fortunes. Which It started as an inside joke. ended up becoming a real experiment with very specific figures and proper names that was published in said magazine in July 1990. Spy’s prank: ridiculous checks for millionaires To carry out the experiment, the magazine’s editors had to think about what would be the equivalent of taking the trouble to bend down to pick up a penny when you’re already a billionaire. The solution they found to carry it out was quite ingenious: send checks to the millionaires worth a few cents. Since each check was nominal, when the chosen millionaire cashed his check, the magazine’s editors received the charge and knew which millionaire had “bent down” for his coin. In this case, the effort is even less, since the millionaire in question has to go to a bank to cash the check, which is much more intentional than simply bending over while walking. As and as they remembered in Celebrity Networththe editors left no loose ends and Spy created a fictitious but legal company called National Refund Clearinghouse and opened a real bank account to use in the experiment. From that company all refund checks for small amounts of money would be sent to a list of very rich people. To avoid raising suspicions, a note would be sent along with each check explaining that it was a refund for an erroneous charge, something that in those years sounded routine and not at all suspicious for anyone used to handling many invoices. The first shipment was made with $1.11 checks addressed to 58 very famous billionaires at the time. Among them were names like Cher, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Douglas, Christopher Reeve, Martin Scorsese, Ralph Lauren, Rupert Murdock or the young heir to a real estate empire: Donald Trump. In a period of approximately two months, 26 of those 58 millionaires cashed the $1.11 check they had received. The remaining 32 millionaires simply ignored it completely, establishing a clear percentage from the start: around 44.8% of the recipients decided that $1.11 was well worth the effort to “bend” to collect it. The rest did not lift a finger for that amount. To no one’s surprise, Donald Trump was one of those who did not miss the slightest opportunity to get a little richerfalling in this first round: its price was $1.11. Putting more bait on the hook After the surprisingly good result of the first round of checks, Spy editors wanted to find out how much the combination of effort and reward could be played with. So they decided to send a new check to the 32 millionaires who hadn’t bothered to cash the first check. This time they doubled their bet by issuing checks worth two incredible dollars. The actor Richard Gere and the singer Carly Simon, along with four other celebrities ended up succumbing to the generous reward of the new consignment. Not happy with the percentage of millionaires and celebrities that the second round had collected, the editors of the satirical magazine decided to up their ante to an impressive $3.47. Only two millionaires fell into the new trap and cashed Spy’s generous check. Given the low success rate, it was clear that the maximum limit they were willing to cash had been reached and that they would have to raise the figure much higher to attract the attention of those who did not bother to cash the check. It was time to test to what extent the 26 millionaires who had cashed the $1.11 checks would be able to lower their reward level. Those 26 celebrities who had cashed the first check were sent a second one again. check worth 64 cents. The paper it was written on was more expensive than the amount of the check. Curiously, on that occasion only 13 millionaires decided to collect them, just 50% of the initial group. However, Spy still had one final trick: send a third check to those serial collectors who had cashed the $1.11 and the 64-cent checks. On this occasion, the amount of the check would be 13 cents of dollar. It wasn’t even worth the ink it was written with. money is money As expected, this time the percentage of collections plummeted. However, only two people collected the last amount. What surprised the Spy editors most were the names of these people: the frequent arms dealer of the jet set parties of Marbella of the 90s, Adnan Khashoggi, and Donald Trump, current president of the United States. At first glance, Spy’s experiment seems to remain an ingenious and brilliant joke by the magazine to the greatest fortunes of the 90s in the United States. However, what is really revealed is a psychological background in the relationship of some millionaires with regarding finances. Even if they are worth billions of dollars, they collect everything. No matter how insignificant the profits, money is money. In Xataka | The emir of Qatar travels in a private jet so big it helped upgrade Sardinia airport Image | Nano Banana, Flickr (Gage Skidmore), Unsplash (Joshua Hoehne)