Funny money?

[agentsteel53]

abolishing the penny.

I've always wondered why we've got this one still around.  just who is the penny lobby ... and, more disturbingly, how do they pay off their politicians!?

[Dr Frankenstein]

I guess some greedy people are uncomfortable with having their rounded to the nearest 5¢.

I had the surprise of getting President Dollars as change in the High Peaks rest area last year; I wasn't aware the U.S. had restarted minting dollar coins, and I though "damn, AT GOOD LAST!"

And they seem to be much better than the previous issue of dollar coins that were, indeed, too hard to differentiate from quarters. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be picking up, which is a shame in my opinion. $1 notes are in such heavy circulation that their lifespan is extremely short, and I just hate to have a hard-to-count stash of such notes taking space in the bottom of my pocket or my wallet.

Regarding funny money, have a look at Canada's most recent issue of bank notes. They jumped into the polymer bandwagon, and their notes have transparent areas. And good luck trying to rip them.

[corco]

The zinc industry, actually

[mgk920]

The zinc industry, actually

Also Illinois-based politicians (sigh....)

You know, that 'Lincoln' thing....



Mike

[roadman]

abolishing the penny.

I've always wondered why we've got this one still around.  just who is the penny lobby ... and, more disturbingly, how do they pay off their politicians!?

Even more distrubing to me - why is Congressional action even required for the US minit to change their currency?

[agentsteel53]

Even more distrubing to me - why is Congressional action even required for the US minit to change their currency?

same reason as why legislatures set speed limits: they need something to do.  just because they don't have the relevant engineering know-how doesn't mean they can't stop meddling.

[oscar]

abolishing the penny.

I've always wondered why we've got this one still around.  just who is the penny lobby ... and, more disturbingly, how do they pay off their politicians!?

Even more distrubing to me - why is Congressional action even required for the US minit to change their currency?

So the paper/copper/zinc industries can send in their campaign contributions have their say.

[mgk920]

abolishing the penny.

I've always wondered why we've got this one still around.  just who is the penny lobby ... and, more disturbingly, how do they pay off their politicians!?

Even more distrubing to me - why is Congressional action even required for the US minit to change their currency?

Also, for many years now it has been mainly Massachusetts-based politicians who have kept $1 banknotes going, preventing their full replacement with coins (the mill that makes the paper - Crane & Co. - is located in Dalton, MA).

Mike

[Alps]

[
As to $1 and $2 coins, we have to go there.  A $1 bill today is worth about what a dime was in the 50s.  If somebody had proposed a 10 cent note back then, he would have been laughed at.  But that is what we are doing, printing (at a much higher cost than coins) notes that have a very low purchasing power.  The lowest purchasing power of any note in a major country.  We need to do what Canada did.  Just reclaim all of the $1s as they come into banks and issue $1 and $2 coins.  Within a couple of years, it will be taken care of.

$1 and $2 coins only work if they are unique enough in dimension and/or weight so you can tell the denomination by feel.  That's why the previous dollar coins have been largely unsuccesful in making it into general use, because in a pocket full of change, you can't tell them from a quarter.

However, before we force conversion of $1 and $2 bills to coins, there's a higher priority for the mint - abolishing the penny.

Why not use the same types of coins as Canada? They've done just fine with every denomination.

[The High Plains Traveler]

[
As to $1 and $2 coins, we have to go there.  A $1 bill today is worth about what a dime was in the 50s.  If somebody had proposed a 10 cent note back then, he would have been laughed at.  But that is what we are doing, printing (at a much higher cost than coins) notes that have a very low purchasing power.  The lowest purchasing power of any note in a major country.  We need to do what Canada did.  Just reclaim all of the $1s as they come into banks and issue $1 and $2 coins.  Within a couple of years, it will be taken care of.

$1 and $2 coins only work if they are unique enough in dimension and/or weight so you can tell the denomination by feel.  That's why the previous dollar coins have been largely unsuccesful in making it into general use, because in a pocket full of change, you can't tell them from a quarter.

However, before we force conversion of $1 and $2 bills to coins, there's a higher priority for the mint - abolishing the penny.

Why not use the same types of coins as Canada? They've done just fine with every denomination.

The current U.S. dollar coin has been programmed into numerous vending machines, so it will have to retain those dimensions and weight. I think the coloration applied to every version since the Sacajawea dollar should allow adequate ability to distinguish from the quarter. Too bad the U.S. didn't try a dollar coin long ago (back around the Eisenhower dollar) that had the feel of a British pound - no way to miss those in your pocket. As far as a $2 coin, one big weakness may be that the U.S. long ago got out of the habit of using $2 notes in transactions, as convenient as that may seem to be.

As a very conservative people we hate change (pun intended). Thus the resistance to the metric system or major changes in currency. 

[Duke87]

I guess some greedy people are uncomfortable with having their rounded to the nearest 5¢.

Yep. Having to charge $3.95 for that tchotchke instead of $3.99 can start to add up after a while to a large retailer.

I had the surprise of getting President Dollars as change in the High Peaks rest area last year; I wasn't aware the U.S. had restarted minting dollar coins, and I though "damn, AT GOOD LAST!"

And they seem to be much better than the previous issue of dollar coins that were, indeed, too hard to differentiate from quarters. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be picking up, which is a shame in my opinion. $1 notes are in such heavy circulation that their lifespan is extremely short, and I just hate to have a hard-to-count stash of such notes taking space in the bottom of my pocket or my wallet.

The older dollar coins (1978 and earlier) were larger than half dollars and much larger than quarters. There was no confusing them. For whatever reason, when the mint introduced the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979, they sized it down to being near identical in size to a quarter, which caused confusion and caused people to stop using them. Rather than come up with a replacement, the mint simply pulled dollar coins from production.

You experienced personally the reason they came back: a growth in vending machines which sell things more expensive than drinks and snacks. Since these machines cannot give bills in change, they all of a sudden created demand for dollar coins. Today they pretty much drive the circulation of them, people don't use them otherwise.
Production of dollar coins resumed in 1999, with the current size and color being implemented in 2000 so as to distinguish them from quarters.

[formulanone]

Back around 1980, they produced about 1 billion one-cent pieces; enough for 250 million people (about the population of the US at the time) to have "enough" to make change for a nickel.  It would seem that there would be enough pennies to go around without having to mint so many every year. And yet, people hoard the damn things in a 5-gallon-jug.

You could conceivably cease its future production, yet keep it as a viable currency. Theoretically, those saved pennies would eventually go back into circulation, or just rust out from staying in a fountain too long...

[DaBigE]

Back around 1980, they produced about 1 billion one-cent pieces; enough for 250 million people (about the population of the US at the time) to have "enough" to make change for a nickel.  It would seem that there would be enough pennies to go around without having to mint so many every year. And yet, people hoard the damn things in a 5-gallon-jug.

I don't think I would use "hoard" to describe it. Personally, I rarely ever have use for a penny...they're more of a nuisance for me than anything. Most vending machines don't take 'em, very few 1 cent mechanical toys exist anymore (and even if there were more of them, I'm way to big to ride them), nor do parking meters accept them. I'd love to use pennies more often, but since I use plastic frequently and rarely use exact change, they typically reside in a dish on my dresser until I have enough of them to warrant a trip to the bank. Sure, a few stores have Coinstar machines (or whatever your regional brand may be) to exchange coins for something more "useful", but it'll be a cold day on the sun before I pay to have my money exchanged for different US currency.

Count me as one who is in favor of abolishing the penny. And for how much time I've wasted trying to flatten out a dollar bill in order for a vending machine to take it, I gladly welcome expanded use of the dollar coin.

[Road Hog]

When I was in Germany on post, funny enough, pennies did not exist. Everything was priced in 5¢ increments at the PX and the commissary and at the time, postage was 25¢. Also, strangely enough, $2 bills were in heavy circulation. I used to hoard them until one day when I was completely broke and had to raid my stash.

Off post, Germans got along fine with their smallest note being 5 marks (coins of this amount were much more common) and Brits got along fine with their smallest note being a fiver (although I did come across a £1 note once as change from a McD's in Scotland).

Get rid of the dollar bill and the dollar coin will take off. Yeah, they look like quarters. $5 bills look like $10 and $20 and $50 bills too. People will gripe at first and then get used to it.

[1995hoo]

Back around 1980, they produced about 1 billion one-cent pieces; enough for 250 million people (about the population of the US at the time) to have "enough" to make change for a nickel.  It would seem that there would be enough pennies to go around without having to mint so many every year. And yet, people hoard the damn things in a 5-gallon-jug.

I don't think I would use "hoard" to describe it. Personally, I rarely ever have use for a penny...they're more of a nuisance for me than anything. Most vending machines don't take 'em, very few 1 cent mechanical toys exist anymore (and even if there were more of them, I'm way to big to ride them), nor do parking meters accept them. I'd love to use pennies more often, but since I use plastic frequently and rarely use exact change, they typically reside in a dish on my dresser until I have enough of them to warrant a trip to the bank. Sure, a few stores have Coinstar machines (or whatever your regional brand may be) to exchange coins for something more "useful", but it'll be a cold day on the sun before I pay to have my money exchanged for different US currency.

Count me as one who is in favor of abolishing the penny. And for how much time I've wasted trying to flatten out a dollar bill in order for a vending machine to take it, I gladly welcome expanded use of the dollar coin.

The Coinstar machine at the grocery store near us gives you the option of exchanging the coins for one of various gift cards (e.g., iTunes or Amazon.com) and if you do that you don't pay a fee. So that's what we do since sooner or later we'd buy something from one of those two places anyway.

I know Finland does not mint 1¢ euro coins, although of course such coins minted in other euro countries can still be used in Finland. Doesn't seem to have caused them any problems. To me what really underscores how worthless the penny is in the USA is the ubiquity of the "leave a penny/take a penny" trays at so many stores and the large number of them you find lying on the street or the sidewalk because people feel it's not worth it to pick them up (I usually do, though). Shortchange a little old lady by 1¢ and watch her go ballistic, though!

....

Production of dollar coins resumed in 1999, with the current size and color being implemented in 2000 so as to distinguish them from quarters.

The other major change on the current design is that the Anthony dollar had a "milled" or "reeded" edge, just like the quarter, whereas the "golden dollar" has a smooth edge (the edge lettering, which is unique for a US coin, doesn't feel anything like a milled edge). It's supposed to be a way to help people tell the dollar from the quarter simply by feel, although I have no idea how effective it is because I don't know anybody who actually uses them, as opposed to receiving them in change from vending machines.



The two things that I sometimes have trouble with in Canada are (a) remembering to dig in my pocket for the $1 and $2 coins (both because of ingrained US habit and because if I'm on a ski trip there's usually other junk in my pockets as well) and (b) the coin holder in the car doesn't have slots for the $1 and $2 coins and so I toss them in the cupholder and then forget they're there. Obviously both of those are minor habits that are easily overcome in a short time, though no doubt they're both the sort of things the whiners would raise in arguing against scrapping the US $1 bill.

[agentsteel53]

I am a coin collector so I could point to a lot of strange examples in my possession. Some of the more notable finds in circulation:
A mint condition 1969 dollar bill
A 1970 S dime from a proof set (in the corner of a dept. store)
A 1970 S quarter from a proof set (in change)
I forget the year, but I have a D over S double strike penny (not at all sure how that happened)
One wartime silver nickel (duplicated my already completed set)

I've never found any of the prior issues of coins in circulation except for dollars, where Anthonys would still turn up with Sacs for several years. I imagine you can't find Ikes anymore because dollar rolls have probably all adapted to the smaller size.

I've found mainly paper money in circulation, since that is what I've looked for. 

$1 note from 1985 from an uncut sheet (sloppily cut out by hand; 9999xxxx serial number on the pre-1974 serial number press), heavily circulated
1934 North Africa $10
1934A $20 in nearly uncirculated condition out of an ATM in the mid-90s
1928 $100 (#4 district seal, as opposed to letter D)

and just about every series after 1950.  It helps to have worked as a cashier for a few years, and to have had a friend who worked at a bank.

just now in Argentina I traded a recent $20 for a 1950D $20 that they had taped to the wall with a sign saying "no funny money accepted!" or the like.

never been able to acquire a 500 or higher from circulation... a friend of mine got one in 1991, which is 22 years after they were officially withdrawn, but at the time I didn't have that kind of disposable income.

somewhere I have three rolls of 1964-D half dollars, each stamped Denver Mint.  got those at a bank in 1994!

[agentsteel53]

The two things that I sometimes have trouble with in Canada are (a) remembering to dig in my pocket for the $1 and $2 coins (both because of ingrained US habit and because if I'm on a ski trip there's usually other junk in my pockets as well) and (b) the coin holder in the car doesn't have slots for the $1 and $2 coins and so I toss them in the cupholder and then forget they're there. Obviously both of those are minor habits that are easily overcome in a short time, though no doubt they're both the sort of things the whiners would raise in arguing against scrapping the US $1 bill.

I never actually use coins in general... so at the end of a Europe trip, I ended up with something like $220 in change just because I never reused my 1- and 2-euro coins.  if the US started using the dollar coin more regularly, I'd probably end up with over a thousand dollars in change on my dresser every year.

[Road Hog]

Since the subject is funny money ...

[Takumi]

I've gotten a few Standing Liberty quarters in change at work before. Once a couple years ago I opened a quarter roll to discover all silver coins.

[agentsteel53]

I've gotten a few Standing Liberty quarters in change at work before. Once a couple years ago I opened a quarter roll to discover all silver coins.

excellent!

I haven't gotten a silver coin in years.  the last time was a 1944 Canadian 10 cent coin in Whitehorse; before that, it would be probably 2001 for a 1955 US quarter.

[kphoger]

For whatever reason, when the mint introduced the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979, they sized it down to being near identical in size to a quarter, which caused confusion and caused people to stop using them

I can't tell the difference between a $1 bill and a $5 bill when I reach into my pocket, either; if we abandoned the $1 bill, it would be easier to tell them apart.  Oh, wait, I keep bills in my wallet.  But, no, pulling a few coins out of my pocket to rifle through takes less effot than pulling out my wallet, opening it up, finding the right pocket, and rifling through bills that are exactly the same size.  The $1 coin still wins in my book.

I guess some greedy people are uncomfortable with having their rounded to the nearest 5¢.

I had a coworker who was convinced that the tax rate would go up if we got rid of the penny.  He reasoned that what used to cost 8c would now cost 10c, therefore a tax that used to be 8c on the dollar would now be 10c on the dollar.  After a few days, I gave up trying to convince him otherwise.



I've never had any trouble spending dollar coins, half dollars, or $2 bills anywhere.  If anything, people are happy to receive them.  As for $50 bills go, I usually request them when I'm getting cash for a long road trip.  It's the perfect denomination for buying a tank of gas (our car usually fills up for slightly less than or slightly more than $50), for example.

[1995hoo]

....

I've never had any trouble spending dollar coins, half dollars, or $2 bills anywhere.  If anything, people are happy to receive them.  As for $50 bills go, I usually request them when I'm getting cash for a long road trip.  It's the perfect denomination for buying a tank of gas (our car usually fills up for slightly less than or slightly more than $50), for example.

The only time I've ever had a problem with any denomination of US money (coin or paper currency) was when I owed a colleague $60 and I asked him if he had change for a $100 and he said no and that he didn't want a $100 bill anyway because he considered anything larger than a $20 to be a nuisance, so I went to the ATM and got some $50s and I gave him a $50 and a $10 to piss him off.

Otherwise, my experience with things like $2s and half-dollars is the same as yours: Because people view them as a curiosity, or even think they're no longer circulated, they're fascinated and they often pull out some $1s or some quarters so they can keep the $2 or the half-dollar for themselves. I've certainly experienced people looking curiously at such things when I use them, and in the case of the Susan B. Anthony dollar I completely understand that because there's no denying it looks like a quarter.

[cu2010]

Regarding funny money, have a look at Canada's most recent issue of bank notes. They jumped into the polymer bandwagon, and their notes have transparent areas. And good luck trying to rip them.

They're also ugly as hell, with all of the relevant text that actually, you know, makes it legal money being shoved off into whichever tiny space they could simply for the sake of being different. Which is a terrible reason for doing things.

I really liked the Birds of Canada series. The design was simple, elegant, yet effective.  The two series since have been far too busy for my liking.

(Of course, Canadian banknotes do get credit for at least retaining at least semi-consistent design between denominations...the current series of American notes are terrible in this regard.)

There's actually an automatic car wash around here that not only accepts $1 coins, but gives them out in change! I routinely put a $20 bill in there, select the cheapo $8 wash, and sort through all the dollar coins that come out to find ones I don't have (after putting my car through the wash, of course...why waste $8 just to get a bunch of dollar coins?) Usually just get repeats, which I just spend. Gave some to a Thruway toll collector once...the look they gave me was hilarious.  I'm not a fan of the $1 coin- $1 bills fit much easier in my wallet, and I rarely dig in my pockets for change- but they are practical for keeping in the car and paying tolls with. I just wish the government would actually redesign the $1 bill to actually make it look like the rest of the money that's been redesigned twice since!

Pennies...can't get rid of 'em fast enough, I say.

[Duke87]

I never actually use coins in general... so at the end of a Europe trip, I ended up with something like $220 in change just because I never reused my 1- and 2-euro coins.  if the US started using the dollar coin more regularly, I'd probably end up with over a thousand dollars in change on my dresser every year.

Indeed, this is a key reason why dollar coins do not see use here. Americans have grown accustomed to using only bills to pay for things. I myself am guilty of this - I never carry coins in my pocket unless I have received them as change from somewhere. It is an annoyance to have to put them in my pocket in the morning. There is no place to put them other than loose. Women at least have purses they can put coins in. Men have no convenient way to carry them. They certainly can't go in my wallet anywhere.

For this reason I, like many people, have change just build up, more or less. Quarters get used at the laundromat, so those I have no problem with. And I ditched most of my pennies last year about this time by donating them to Penny Harvest. But the nickels and dimes... I've got $30-$40 worth of them lying around that have gradually accumulated over the past 10 years or so. I keep meaning to take them to the bank but haven't gotten around to it.

As for dollar coins, the ones I occasionally end up with I simply spend.


When I am in Canada, I spend change simply because I am forced to carry it around with me if I don't and I won't be able to roll it up and take it to the bank. Loonies and twonies I have no trouble spending, though some of the smaller change starts to get annoying.

One thing that does bother me though is that since the smallest bill is $5, vending machines in Canada generally do not accept bills at all. This is annoying when you want a soda but have exhausted your supply of larger change.

[kphoger]

Men have no convenient way to carry them.