My idea for US currency reform

[mgk920]

In the 1930s, half dollars were more common in everyday circulation than were quarters.  They did not truly fall out of favor in everyday use until the mid 1960s when coins were debased under the LBJ administration.  as for halves, IMHO, they would still be in common use today if their composition was made the dame as were dimes and quarters starting with their 1965 dated production.

Mike

[kalvado]

In the 1930s, half dollars were more common in everyday circulation than were quarters.  They did not truly fall out of favor in everyday use until the mid 1960s when coins were debased under the LBJ administration.  as for halves, IMHO, they would still be in common use today if their composition was made the dame as were dimes and quarters starting with their 1965 dated production.

Mike

But dimes, quarters and halves ARE the same alloy, and same unit weight of $20/pound.

[hotdogPi]

In the 1930s, half dollars were more common in everyday circulation than were quarters.  They did not truly fall out of favor in everyday use until the mid 1960s when coins were debased under the LBJ administration.  as for halves, IMHO, they would still be in common use today if their composition was made the dame as were dimes and quarters starting with their 1965 dated production.

Mike

But dimes, quarters and halves ARE the same alloy, and same unit weight of $20/pound.

mgk is referring to half dollars being silver for six years after dimes and quarters switching away from silver.

From 1965 to 1970, half dollars were 40% silver, while dimes and quarters contained no silver. People stopped using half dollars in these six years.

[1995hoo]

In the 1930s, half dollars were more common in everyday circulation than were quarters.  They did not truly fall out of favor in everyday use until the mid 1960s when coins were debased under the LBJ administration.  as for halves, IMHO, they would still be in common use today if their composition was made the dame as were dimes and quarters starting with their 1965 dated production.

Mike

But dimes, quarters and halves ARE the same alloy, and same unit weight of $20/pound.

mgk is referring to half dollars being silver for six years after dimes and quarters switching away from silver.

From 1965 to 1970, half dollars were 40% silver, while dimes and quarters contained no silver. People stopped using half dollars in these six years.

From everything I've read, this is exactly the issue. Even with the reduced silver content during those years, speculators still hoarded half dollars because of the possibility that the silver would make them more valuable, and some people also hoarded them because the Kennedy assassination was such a raw memory at the time. By the time the Mint changed the coin's composition (which presumably required an amendment to 31 USC 5112, the statute governing coin denomination, size, and composition), people had become used to functioning without half dollars and they never returned to widespread usage. Vending machines' non-acceptance of them no doubt compounded that issue (although some change machines accepted them).

[mgk920]

Jukeboxes commonly used them after mid-1970 (single song plays were 25¢, 3/50¢, at the time and had gone up from 10¢ each a couple of years earlier).

Mike

[Scott5114]

My proposal is simpler:

Coins: 5c, 25c, $1
Bills: $2, $5, $20, $100

I'm starting to think some of you haven't actually worked with cash before. 95¢ being three quarters and four nickels would be an unmitigated pain in the ass. Remember, rolls contain either 40 or 50 pieces; if you get rid of the dime that means you could blow through a whole roll of nickels in ten transactions. (Meaning you have to close the window while you get another roll of nickels from somewhere. Meaning customers start being a dick to you.)

The days where we ran out of dimes at work were always miserable.

[epzik8]

Simply put, changing something that's been normal practice for centuries wouldn't garner much American popular support, nor even substantial Congressional support.

[ilpt4u]

Round to the nearest quarter. 13s and 63s round down. 38s and 88s round up (notice: all "tied" rounds end at even dollars or half dollars, intentionally). Part of me thinks the nearest half-dollar, but the prevalence of the current quarter over the 50cent piece keeps me glued to the quarter. The penny, nickle, and dime had their run. Make it legal to scrap them immediately if one so chooses or as deposited to banks they go away after whatever lenght transition period is approved

Coins: Quarter. Dollar. 2Dollar.

Bills: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100

I'd almost rather see a $25 bill and make the $20 go away, but I don't think enough is gained to make that change worth it

[kalvado]

Simply put, changing something that's been normal practice for centuries wouldn't garner much American popular support, nor even substantial Congressional support.

Few things people basically agree with:
- penny isn't worth enough
- $1 bills don't last too long as their value is down and they go back and forth a lot.

Those could be acted upon, actually Canada survives with $1 and $2 coins but without a penny just fine.
Everything else is "if it's not broken..."

[NWI_Irish96]

Simply put, changing something that's been normal practice for centuries wouldn't garner much American popular support, nor even substantial Congressional support.

Few things people basically agree with:
- penny isn't worth enough
- $1 bills don't last too long as their value is down and they go back and forth a lot.

Those could be acted upon, actually Canada survives with $1 and $2 coins but without a penny just fine.
Everything else is "if it's not broken..."

And realistically, if we just get rid of the penny and dollar bill, we've eliminated the biggest waste in the currency system.

[mgk920]

Round to the nearest quarter. 13s and 63s round down. 38s and 88s round up (notice: all "tied" rounds end at even dollars or half dollars, intentionally). Part of me thinks the nearest half-dollar, but the prevalence of the current quarter over the 50cent piece keeps me glued to the quarter. The penny, nickle, and dime had their run. Make it legal to scrap them immediately if one so chooses or as deposited to banks they go away after whatever lenght transition period is approved

Coins: Quarter. Dollar. 2Dollar.

Bills: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100

I'd almost rather see a $25 bill and make the $20 go away, but I don't think enough is gained to make that change worth it

Round to the nearest quarter. 13s and 63s round down. 38s and 88s round up (notice: all "tied" rounds end at even dollars or half dollars, intentionally). Part of me thinks the nearest half-dollar, but the prevalence of the current quarter over the 50cent piece keeps me glued to the quarter. The penny, nickle, and dime had their run. Make it legal to scrap them immediately if one so chooses or as deposited to banks they go away after whatever lenght transition period is approved

Coins: Quarter. Dollar. 2Dollar.

Bills: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100

I'd almost rather see a $25 bill and make the $20 go away, but I don't think enough is gained to make that change worth it

I like that slate, except that I would use $5 coins instead of banknotes (modern versions of the really old 'half eagles').  OTOH, a denomination of '25' of anything was the real oddball, making finer parsing much harder.  Many other places have found the '1-2-5' progressions much easier and more efficient, too.  BTW, over a century ago, the USA also had a gold 'quarter eagle' ($2.50 coin).

Mike

[CtrlAltDel]

Round to the nearest quarter. 13s and 63s round down. 38s and 88s round up (notice: all "tied" rounds end at even dollars or half dollars, intentionally).

I don't know if that makes sense, if only because there are no ties when rounding an integer cent to the nearest quarter dollar. 12, 37, 62, and 87 cents should all round down, and 13, 38, 63, and 88 cents should all round up.

[mgk920]

Round to the nearest quarter. 13s and 63s round down. 38s and 88s round up (notice: all "tied" rounds end at even dollars or half dollars, intentionally).

I don't know if that makes sense, if only because there are no ties when rounding an integer cent to the nearest quarter dollar. 12, 37, 62, and 87 cents should all round down, and 13, 38, 63, and 88 cents should all round up.

When I am working at my food delivery job, when a customer wants the 'odd' coins (below $1) back, I'll just round the change UP to the next even 25¢.  My total loss on that has been less than 10¢/month on average for the past several years.  (I know, how do I even manage to survive???)

Mike

[7/8]

Am I the first one to mention the colour of US bills? The fact that they're all green drives me nuts, it makes it harder to differentiate them, especially when they're in your wallet. Every other currency I know of uses different colour bills.

[hotdogPi]

They're different colors, starting about 20 years ago. It's just that the colors are muted rather than bright.

[Scott5114]

Yeah, the colors are readily apparent when you have bills of different denomination next to each other. Can't say I've ever gotten them confused. ($1s and $2s are the "same color"—black and white, not green—but the layout of the $2 is different enough that it's obvious it's a different denomination in practice.)

[formulanone]

Just revalue our current currency to where 1 penny now equals $1.

I would make out like a bandit, with all the bronze (1981 and earlier, and some 1982) pennies I'm holding, for their copper value, which is nowhere near $1. There are really serious penny hoarders out there, who would reap enormous profits.

Yea, the bronze cents now about 2.84¢ each in 'melt' (market metal) value and the newer 'Zincolns' are now 0.74¢ each (source - usacoinbook(dot)cam ).  I'm still a bit surprised at how many 'bronzies' I'm still getting in change.  Neither cents nor nickles can possibly be made at a profit by the USA.

Mike

If I had a penny every time I've heard this...

Specie is not a scratch-off lottery ticket to be used once and then discarded. More than 99% of all circulating coinage winds up reused multiple times. Besides, commerce and inflation guarantees it gets used multiple times.

Sure, there's a few collectors, hoarders, and lost change but that's an iota of circulation.

[Scott5114]

The problem is that if a 1¢ coin has more than 1¢ in materials in it, it starts to become profitable to harvest the materials from the coin rather than circulate it.

[formulanone]

The problem is that if a 1¢ coin has more than 1¢ in materials in it, it starts to become profitable to harvest the materials from the coin rather than circulate it.

Which is against the law.

[Scott5114]

The problem is that if a 1¢ coin has more than 1¢ in materials in it, it starts to become profitable to harvest the materials from the coin rather than circulate it.

Which is against the law.

Yes, and we all know that because murder is against the law, nobody ever gets murdered...

[formulanone]

The problem is that if a 1¢ coin has more than 1¢ in materials in it, it starts to become profitable to harvest the materials from the coin rather than circulate it.

Which is against the law.

Yes, and we all know that because murder is against the law, nobody ever gets murdered...

...but if we dare not use our turn signals, it's death to the infidels.

Nobody is going to bother melting down tiny amounts of coinage, and obviously the "system" still works. Though I do agree the penny could disappear and I wouldn't care, there's lots of reasons why it seems politically unpopular. There's enough out there to never mint another penny again, and let it slowly disappear from circulation. Convincing the masses they deserve less money just never seems to be much of a political platform; besides, we'd dump the cost of one cent pieces into another form of currency and magically there'd be nothing left over.

politics ≠ logic, anyhow

[Rothman]

Something tells me the cost of getting the materials out of pennies would be more than it's worth.

[1995hoo]

Yeah, the colors are readily apparent when you have bills of different denomination next to each other. Can't say I've ever gotten them confused. ($1s and $2s are the "same color"—black and white, not green—but the layout of the $2 is different enough that it's obvious it's a different denomination in practice.)

....

I thought the same was largely true of the style of bills with which most of us grew up. There were various visual cues aside from the numerals. For example, the elaborate scrollwork along the top was unique to the $20 compared to any of the other banknotes in that series. I still feel like that style of $20 was perhaps the most "elegant," for lack of a better word, of any US banknote issued during my lifetime.



The $50 was laid out similarly to the $2 in terms of having "The United States of America" on the bottom, but the numeral "50" appearing in those circles was unique among the set of seven banknotes.



It was the mid-1990s series of "large portrait" notes that seemed to confound some people. As I've noted elsewhere, I recall multiple times when I encountered cashiers who mistook the $50 of this style for the $20. Obviously there were visual distinctions, but I'd say they were a lot more subtle in many ways compared to the previous styles seen above ("20" was shaded, the words "Twenty Dollars" were positioned differently from the words "Fifty Dollars," the $20 had a different little border around the white space). I very much prefer the current series to these. (The blue band on the current $100 bill, seen above in Scott5114's post with images of the current series, is a further unique identifying feature for that one.)

[SEWIGuy]

To me, the biggest visual cue about the old-style money was that different bills had different numbers on them indicating their value. 

[1995hoo]

To me, the biggest visual cue about the old-style money was that different bills had different numbers on them indicating their value. 

Heh, I also thought about saying that but, for once in my life, I decided it was more snarky than I felt like being at the moment.