1 cent coins are useless and everybody knows it. Except for throwing in those change machines and getting nice paper money for them
I rather liked the loonies when I was in Canada. Of course, I didn't carry a whole lot of them around. They looked cool!
And yes, the vending machines have some sort of scanner in them. Half the time though, at frequently used vending machines, the scanner doesn't work. Actually, more often than not, the coin slot fails first.
With the worth of the metal in a one cent coin almost at one cent, and production costs making it a loss for the mint, the government will eventually be forced to either change the coin to another material (like what?), or stop making them, public perceptions be damned. Right now, the nickel is worth almost exactly what the half cent was worth when it was first minted. If there had been a point to a tenth cent coin, they would have made that. As it stands, the penny is a nuisance, but it would be a bit of a pain to convert everything to nearest-nickel. A change to dimes as smallest would be much easier, and I can't think of anything that would really be a practical problem with that.
Further, I agree with FSTargetDrone. Change that affects the public in a way that is perceived as negative for the short term will never be volunteered, regardless of long term benefits.
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Lusankya wrote:But aren't all American notes the same size? I imagine that you just have some kind of scanner in there that reads the markings on it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like a stupid concept.
It's so our wallets aren't gigantic.
And how Americans can complain that $1 coins are too bulky when you still use 1 cent coins is beyond me.
No one carries around pockets full of pennies. Usually, people will carry a few around to make exact change if needed. People can, however, carry around a lot of singles. Having singles that fit nicely into your wallet without jingling around in your pockets is much nicer. I'd rather not be a pick-pocket magnet.
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I think Oz is in the right direction as far as currency is concerned: funky colourful cash notes made out of idiot-proof plastic, and getting rid of the 1 cent coin. The latter confused the shit out of me the first time I bought something in Oz though.
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I would express concern over the introduction of a $1 coin, I hate the £1 and other coins we have over here, I'd love a £1 note and when I visit the USA I love having wads of $1 bills instead of crappy change. When I come home from European countries and I find piles of euro coins at the bottom of my bag they are worthless as dung.
How much money does the production of $1 coins save in the long run compared to $1 notes?
Get busy living or get busy dying... unless there’s cake.
I would express concern over the introduction of a $1 coin, I hate the £1 and other coins we have over here, I'd love a £1 note and when I visit the USA I love having wads of $1 bills instead of crappy change. When I come home from European countries and I find piles of euro coins at the bottom of my bag they are worthless as dung.
How much money does the production of $1 coins save in the long run compared to $1 notes?
A lot.
The changeover to coins could save the Treasury an estimated $500m (£260m) a year because they last up to 40 years, compared with just 18 months for notes.
"Prodesse Non Nocere." "It's all about popularity really, if your invisible friend that tells you to invade places is called Napoleon, you're a loony, if he's called Jesus then you're the president." "I'd drive more people insane, but I'd have to double back and pick them up first..." "All it takes for bullshit to thrive is for rational men to do nothing." - Kevin Farrell, B.A. Journalism. BOTM - EBC - Horseman - G&C - Vampire
I guess it's different for Americans, since US$1 can actually buy something. AU$1 won't buy you shit, it's worth a bit more than a US$0.50. Nothing in vending machines here costs less than AU$2.
But US money looks so fake and playmoney-ish. UK money is HUUUUUGE. AU money rules all with it's resistance to everything but fire and knives, denominations being idiot proof (duh, 5 is pink 20 is orange duuuh) and being similar in size to US notes.
Well I suppose £260,000,000 is enough of a saving to compensate for unpopularity, but we should still get plastic notes double quick.
UK money is HUUUUUGE
We have too many old biddies with arthritis who would lose smaller notes.
But seriously when we redeisgn our notes into magic plastic we should make them much smaller, getting notes into a wallet is hard enough when you buy the wallet in the UK, buy a wallet when on holiday in the US and you've got an expensive shopping list holder.
Get busy living or get busy dying... unless there’s cake.
Lusankya wrote:But aren't all American notes the same size? I imagine that you just have some kind of scanner in there that reads the markings on it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like a stupid concept.
I'll believe it when I see an official press release from treasury.
Funny that Fox Nazi News hasn't gotten up on their hind legs and yapped about it yet.
Turns out that a five way cross over between It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the Ali G Show, Fargo, Idiocracy and Veep is a lot less funny when you're actually living in it.
That's a good question; I'd imagine tradition weighs heavily in that.
I would express concern over the introduction of a $1 coin, I hate the £1 and other coins we have over here, I'd love a £1 note and when I visit the USA I love having wads of $1 bills instead of crappy change. When I come home from European countries and I find piles of euro coins at the bottom of my bag they are worthless as dung.
I like our $1 and $2 Canadian coins. I don't really know anybody here who is unhappy with them.
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General Zod wrote:I like it. Now if we could just get the same done to the rest of the currency. Though I am amused at the title "faith under fire". It's just slightly pathetic.
Well, this is a website that has articles like "Tick off the ACLU! New edition of 100-year-old book proves America's Christian heritage" and another article that claims changing the motto will require us to rename Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Lusankya wrote:But aren't all American notes the same size? I imagine that you just have some kind of scanner in there that reads the markings on it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like a stupid concept.
US dollars are magnetically encoded.
Isn't the $1 bill the sole exception?
I don't see that 'USA (denomination)' strip in the $1 bill that's present in all of the others.
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Lusankya wrote:But aren't all American notes the same size? I imagine that you just have some kind of scanner in there that reads the markings on it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like a stupid concept.
US dollars are magnetically encoded.
Isn't the $1 bill the sole exception?
I don't see that 'USA (denomination)' strip in the $1 bill that's present in all of the others.
The $1.00 bill is also the only bill that hasn't gotten any kind of face lift in the last ten years afaik. Everything else has at least gotten some kind of cosmetic overhaul, and the magnetic strips aren't -too- old.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
How long 'till cash itself is obsolete. Seems to me we could get by fine without it now.
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Infidel7 wrote:How long 'till cash itself is obsolete. Seems to me we could get by fine without it now.
You've clearly never had to get all your ID cards from scratch. Knowing a few people that've had to go through that trouble, being in a completely cashless society would be a tremendous pain in the ass if someone were forced to get their IDs in order AND their electronics accounts reactivated from nothing, unless new regulations were put in place to accomodate for this. Fingerprint ID systems, for example.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
Pelranius wrote:I'll believe it when I see an official press release from treasury.
Funny that Fox Nazi News hasn't gotten up on their hind legs and yapped about it yet.
So the BBC isnt a good enough source for you?
"Prodesse Non Nocere." "It's all about popularity really, if your invisible friend that tells you to invade places is called Napoleon, you're a loony, if he's called Jesus then you're the president." "I'd drive more people insane, but I'd have to double back and pick them up first..." "All it takes for bullshit to thrive is for rational men to do nothing." - Kevin Farrell, B.A. Journalism. BOTM - EBC - Horseman - G&C - Vampire
Darth Tanner wrote:I hate the £1 and other coins we have over here, I'd love a £1 note
Really? We still have £1 notes in Scotland, and they seem less popular other than as presents to kids in cards (that's the only reason I've had a customer request one, while I often get requests of £1 coins rather than £1 notes).
Lusankya wrote:But aren't all American notes the same size? I imagine that you just have some kind of scanner in there that reads the markings on it, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like a stupid concept.
US dollars are magnetically encoded.
Isn't the $1 bill the sole exception?
I don't see that 'USA (denomination)' strip in the $1 bill that's present in all of the others.
There's the magnetic ink component as well, though after some quick Googling it looks like optical-scan variants also exist and are probably most commonly used for $1-dollar bills.
