My idea for US currency reform

[Scott5114]

Hm.  Wonder how that commissioning of coinage actually works.  Isn't The Mint's production at least somewhat driven by private banks' demand?  The Fed sets its borrowing rate and distributes to banks, but it would seem strange to dump currency/coinage through the banking system that just sits somewhere.

The Federal Reserve System places an annual order with the Mint/BEP outlining how much currency the system needs to meet demand over the next year. (This year's print order includes a request for 307,200,000 $2 bills.)

[kkt]

I'm not in favor of totally scrapping the penny as a unit of coinage, but I see nothing wrong with putting a halt to minting of new pennies temporarily (or even indefinitely). There are plenty of pennies in circulation, and probably a lot more being hoarded that could be put back into circulation.

I agree that there a lot of pennies out there, but how do you convince lots of people to empty their pennies jars, roll them, and take them to the bank so they can go back into circulation?

Not having to roll them would go a long way.

I've never rolled coins to take them back to the bank  If your bank requires that, then I'm sorry.

If it's a few, they don't care.  If it's over 100 or so, either you have to roll them or they will but they'll charge, you guessed it, a fee.

[Scott5114]

I'm not in favor of totally scrapping the penny as a unit of coinage, but I see nothing wrong with putting a halt to minting of new pennies temporarily (or even indefinitely). There are plenty of pennies in circulation, and probably a lot more being hoarded that could be put back into circulation.

I agree that there a lot of pennies out there, but how do you convince lots of people to empty their pennies jars, roll them, and take them to the bank so they can go back into circulation?

Not having to roll them would go a long way.

I've never rolled coins to take them back to the bank  If your bank requires that, then I'm sorry.

If it's a few, they don't care.  If it's over 100 or so, either you have to roll them or they will but they'll charge, you guessed it, a fee.

Banks in Oklahoma usually have a Coinstar-esque machine you can dump loose change into. It prints off a receipt you take to the teller, and done.

As I complained about in another thread, my credit union in Nevada doesn't even accept or dispense coins. My business bank account's fee structure is such that even talking to a human teller costs $0.45 (and they have no change machine, either, so rolled coins it is).

I might try hitting up one of the casinos to see if they'd like to take my change. (The casino I worked at in Oklahoma exchanged coins for bills for free, but I don't really know what the standard policies are in Nevada.)

[GaryV]

my credit union in Nevada doesn't even accept or dispense coins. My business bank account's fee structure is such that even talking to a human teller costs $0.45

So you come into the credit union with a check you want to cash. Do they keep the cents, or round it up when they give you the money?

[Scott5114]

my credit union in Nevada doesn't even accept or dispense coins. My business bank account's fee structure is such that even talking to a human teller costs $0.45

So you come into the credit union with a check you want to cash. Do they keep the cents, or round it up when they give you the money?

The only thing you can do with a check is deposit it into your account at the ATM. If you want to withdraw cash after that, well...it's an ATM. Hope you like $20s and $100s.

The people in the branch are all sitting at desks and are there to do things like open accounts, issue loans, do wire transfers, print cashier checks, etc. They don't have any cash.

[kphoger]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

[kalvado]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

If I remember correctly, currently banks are required to work with 0.1 cent increments internally, rounding things to 1 cent for external use.
I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example. Probably there is a balance of few $0.001 floating somewhere.

[mgk920]

People still need coins for laundry machines?

I a in zero mood to enrich the credit card companies!

Mike

Enrich Whirlpool and buy one instead. (Or a used one off Craigslist.)

I'll try (and often succeed) in helping out a more local entity instead.  Most of my usual coin laundry's machines were made at the Speed Queen plant in Ripon, WI. ( Most 'Continental Gerbau' commercial machines are made there).

Mike

[kphoger]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

If I remember correctly, currently banks are required to work with 0.1 cent increments internally, rounding things to 1 cent for external use.
I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example. Probably there is a balance of few $0.001 floating somewhere.

But if "they don't have any cash" or "even accept or dispense coins" (as Scott claims), then how could they cash out his checking account if he closed it with a remaining balance of $162.39 or whatever?

[mgk920]

The best that I can tell, nearly all of the Congressional resistance to eliminating the cent is due to either from the Illinois delegation (the Abraham Lincoln, 'favorite son' thing) or the Tennessee delegation ('blank' maker rtazn LLC is located in Greene County. TN).  This is just like how most of the organized opposition to dropping a banknote denomination is from the Massachusetts Congressional delegation at the behest of Crane and Co, of Dalton, MA (make of the paper).

Mike

[mgk920]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

If I remember correctly, currently banks are required to work with 0.1 cent increments internally, rounding things to 1 cent for external use.
I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example. Probably there is a balance of few $0.001 floating somewhere.

But if "they don't have any cash" or "even accept or dispense coins" (as Scott claims), then how could they cash out his checking account if he closed it with a remaining balance of $162.39 or whatever?

The bank gives you an extra couple of suckers?

Mike

[1995hoo]

Maybe they give you a cashier's check instead of actual cash.

[GaryV]

I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example

And yet, when you fill out your taxes, they round both income and withholding to the nearest dollar.

[SEWIGuy]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

If I remember correctly, currently banks are required to work with 0.1 cent increments internally, rounding things to 1 cent for external use.
I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example. Probably there is a balance of few $0.001 floating somewhere.

But if "they don't have any cash" or "even accept or dispense coins" (as Scott claims), then how could they cash out his checking account if he closed it with a remaining balance of $162.39 or whatever?

Cashier's check.

[kphoger]

See, to me, that's kind of squirrely.  "I'd like my money now, please."  "OK, here's a check."

[1995hoo]

See, to me, that's kind of squirrely.  "I'd like my money now, please."  "OK, here's a check."

Better than a prepaid debit card, I suppose.

[Scott5114]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

I assume they print you a cashier check and it's your problem at that point. (Note that the problem would actually be if your balance didn't end in a multiple of $20, since they dispense nothing below that!) I'm not exactly thrilled with the lack of cash access at this credit union, but the customer service has been fantastic. So I kind of don't really feel like I have a good reason to move all of my money elsewhere, especially since my wife doesn't use cash at all. (I suppose I could look around for some bank or CU to open a small savings account with and do any cash-based stuff through them. There's another CU around here that I didn't use because I think their name is stupid, so I was like "Aw, man, I really don't want THAT on my debit card." But if they were my "cash bank" that wouldn't matter so much.)

Another funny thing about this credit union is that they have a little vestibule that contains just an ATM, which is accessible from outside when the branch itself is closed. To get into the vestibule, you have to insert your debit card, which it then reads to see if it's issued by that CU or not. So that makes it feel a little more secure when you're pulling money out of the ATM after dark.

[GaryV]

Another funny thing about this credit union is that they have a little vestibule that contains just an ATM, which is accessible from outside when the branch itself is closed. To get into the vestibule, you have to insert your debit card

My BoA has a storefront like this, around the corner from where a branch used to be. Use your card to get in the door, and then there's just enough room for 2 ATM's and a small counter. I presume the business next door to it in the strip mall has the space behind it.

[kalvado]

Another funny thing about this credit union is that they have a little vestibule that contains just an ATM, which is accessible from outside when the branch itself is closed. To get into the vestibule, you have to insert your debit card, which it then reads to see if it's issued by that CU or not. So that makes it feel a little more secure when you're pulling money out of the ATM after dark.

Did you try any other bank card?
I dealt with similar situation before - and that door just wants a (debit?) card. You may use ATM with other banks' card after all.

[Scott5114]

Did you try any other bank card?

I didn't think to because the sign on the door implies that it will only accept cards from that CU. Next time I'm over there, I'll try it though.

It wouldn't be too much of a downside for customers of other banks if it did lock them out, because there is also a drive-up ATM just feet away.

[MikeTheActuary]

(This year's print order includes a request for 307,200,000 $2 bills.)

I wish some of those would make it to one of my banks.

For a few years, pre-pandemic, whenever I physically went into a bank (maybe a couple times a year) to get a supply of cash, I'd ask whether they had any $2's available.   No joy.

[kkt]

Maybe they give you a cashier's check instead of actual cash.

Or have Corporate cut a check and mail it to you in a couple of weeks.

[Scott5114]

I wish some of those would make it to one of my banks.

For a few years, pre-pandemic, whenever I physically went into a bank (maybe a couple times a year) to get a supply of cash, I'd ask whether they had any $2's available.  No joy.

Try calling ahead, especially if your bank is the type that services a lot of businesses. The head teller is usually able to request $2s be added to their FRB order if they know there's a customer wanting them.

Note that you are likely to be required to buy them a strap ($200) at a time if you go this route. This is a lot of fun though, because about half the time you'll get a strap of brand new uncirculated bills in sequential serial order, or otherwise you'll get a strap someone at the FRB hastily slapped together from whatever was on hand, which often includes lots of bills from Series 1976 (sometimes with things written on them like "Happy Birthday Timmy! July 1981"). I've even pulled red-seal $2s out of straps like that.

[oscar]

For a few years, pre-pandemic, whenever I physically went into a bank (maybe a couple times a year) to get a supply of cash, I'd ask whether they had any $2's available.  No joy.

Try calling ahead, especially if your bank is the type that services a lot of businesses. The head teller is usually able to request $2s be added to their FRB order if they know there's a customer wanting them.

Post-pandemic, I usually had little trouble getting a few $2 bills from one of the larger branches of my urban-area bank. But I don't do that often, usually when I had to spend my "lucky" $2 bill on the road, and wanted to get a replacement when I got back home.

[1995hoo]

So, if you want to close your account and cash it out, then how do they give you the cash if your balance doesn't end in .00?

If I remember correctly, currently banks are required to work with 0.1 cent increments internally, rounding things to 1 cent for external use.
I think that's the reason some of my paychecks are 1 cent more than others - tax deduction %% cannot be a full cent every time, for example. Probably there is a balance of few $0.001 floating somewhere.

That's a very interesting thought because my take-home pay experiences the same phenomenon, and I haven't been able to discern a predictable pattern for when it's going to happen. I get paid every two weeks. Sometimes the take-home varies up or down three paychecks in a row (e.g., one check ends in a 10¢ increment, the next ends with 11¢, and the one after that is back to 10¢); other times, it'll remain the same as many as four times in a row. I can see my pay stub for this coming Friday shows the same take-home amount as my previous paycheck. Your suggestion makes me wonder whether that has something to do with aggregating the mills to round properly.