Just my 5 dollars.
Let me see… Way back in the early 70’s, I heard that a dollar was really only worth .26 cents. So today .02 cents wouldn’t be worth spit.
Treefiddy
Butler’s hourly wage rate.
Whatever you are willing to pay
A wooden nickel.
Based on the average inflation rate of 1.4% p.a.since independence and starting from 1787 when the first cent was minted giving two cents worth is a little over $50 today.
https://www.officialdata.org/1776-dollars-in-2018?amount=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugio_cent
That’s hiya one order of magnitude with fries for ragingloli’s $5.
I’d imagine the phrase came some time after the penny was first minted.
According to Snopes, it dates back to mid 1920’s. Another site says March 1926.
That comes out to about $0.29 in 2018?
@raum is correct—it was never supposed to be more than a minimal contributed amount. Just enough to tip or balance the scale.