An American Loonie and Toonie

[Zor]

Forgive me if this is more of a off topic thread.

Canada, the European Union, England and so forth all have coins worth the rough value area of one and two dollars US. As such, i was wondering, would it make sense for the United States to adopt a one and a two dollar coin as well?

Zor

[Flagg]

Aren't paper dollars cheaper to produce and recycle?

I'm basing my vote of "no" on the presumption that they are. That and the fact that I hate carrying change around.

[Uraniun235]

We already have $1 coins.

I'm not sure why a $2 coin is necessary; we have $2 bills and those simply don't get used much.

[salm]

Aren't paper dollars cheaper to produce and recycle?

I'm basing my vote of "no" on the presumption that they are. That and the fact that I hate carrying change around.

I allways thought that paper money was a lot more expensive than coins because they have to be replaced every couple of years whereas coins last pretty much for ever.

[Sea Skimmer]

Aren't paper dollars cheaper to produce and recycle?

The opposite actually, paper money gets worn out very fast and costs a fair bit to constantly replace. If its constantly circulated the average US dollar bill lasts just 18-22 months, and in fact some last only a few months if they get really heavily used (such as bills which keep getting circulated around at an amusement park or casino). Coins meanwhile can last 10-20 years easily. I’m not sure you even can directly recycle the paper a bill is printed on into new money anymore, because now all US currency has special embedded fibers in it as a security precaution.

The US Treasury Department has tried to get rid of dollar bills more then once, but it’s always faced heavy opposition to it. Perhapes in future in the future when the buying power oaf single dollar is yet further reduced the move will become more popular. I’m not holding my breath though.

[Flagg]

Aren't paper dollars cheaper to produce and recycle?

The opposite actually, paper money gets worn out very fast and costs a fair bit to constantly replace. If its constantly circulated the average US dollar bill lasts just 18-22 months, and in fact some last only a few months if they get really heavily used (such as bills which keep getting circulated around at an amusement park or casino). Coins meanwhile can last 10-20 years easily. I’m not sure you even can directly recycle the paper a bill is printed on into new money anymore, because now all US currency has special embedded fibers in it as a security precaution.

The US Treasury Department has tried to get rid of dollar bills more then once, but it’s always faced heavy opposition to it. Perhapes in future in the future when the buying power oaf single dollar is yet further reduced the move will become more popular. I’m not holding my breath though.

Alot of the problem is that the coins fucking suck. They generally are about the same size and weight of a quarter. Yeah, they don;t have ridged rims, but that just makes them feel like a nickel. So if you're rooting around in your pocket it's hard to tell them apart. Another big issue is the fact that they don't take the dollar bills out of circulation. They just add the coins and hope people will magically start using those.

The first thing they need to do is actually redesign the fucking thing in a way that makes it easily distinguishable from other coins. Some form of hexagon shape or divots rather than ridges along with making it bigger and heavier than a quarter would seem to be a good start. And once you put the fucker into circulation take the dollar bills out. Just like they did with the redesigned larger denominations. People generally don't change things like that unless they are forced to.

[Phantasee]

Loonies have something like 8 sides, and it's noticeably heavier and larger than a quarter (it's thicker too), and the toonie is even heavier and larger, although it's round.

Taking the dollar bills out of circulation would be the best solution to whiny bitches.

[Zed Snardbody]

The biggest problem in the US is that the Treasury will not take the bill out of circulation. They had a good plan with the new dollar coins. They stand out, they're heavy, thick you know what they are, but with the bill in circulation it wont get used.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Ta dah!

[Mayabird]

It's work much better if they'd stop using that horrible easy-tarnish metal for dollar coins. Those Sacajawea coins look horrible after a small amount of handling.

[Stark]

You guys should do what NZ did and change your coin system. Reduce number of denominations, change materials, rationalise the system, etc. NZ has like four coins in common use now, way better than the 7ish AU has (due to dropping the nigh useless lowend coins and changing other denominations).

In other news, holy shit your notes only last 2 years? The AU bills last forever barring scissors: I've got one that's nearly as old as the new note system itself - the orange has faded a bit, but it's still structurally fine.

[Lusankya]

You guys should do what NZ did and change your coin system. Reduce number of denominations, change materials, rationalise the system, etc. NZ has like four coins in common use now, way better than the 7ish AU has (due to dropping the nigh useless lowend coins and changing other denominations).

I don't know why we don't do that. Everyone in the entire country would cheer.

In other news, holy shit your notes only last 2 years? The AU bills last forever barring scissors: I've got one that's nearly as old as the new note system itself - the orange has faded a bit, but it's still structurally fine.

I can beat that. Towards the end of last year, I managed to get one of the old $5 notes - you know the pinky ones that they only released for a year as a trial before they brought out the purple ones with the better plastic? One of those. I was most impressed.


Why is there so much resistance to changing the notes in America anyway? Is it some kind of weird tradition thing? Or is it some kind of inability to admit that the system isn't "the best"?

[Stark]

The new NZ coins are plated steel I think, so they're smaller and lighter than the old ones (and AU's current ones, which were basically the same). They're all smaller than our $1 coin.

[Ma Deuce]

You guys should do what NZ did and change your coin system. Reduce number of denominations, change materials, rationalise the system, etc. NZ has like four coins in common use now, way better than the 7ish AU has (due to dropping the nigh useless lowend coins and changing other denominations).

We've got 7 in Canada as well (1-cent, 5-cent, 10-cent, 25-cent, 5-cent 1-dollar, 2-dollar), though nobody here seems to have a problem with that. Actually, it might as well be six coins, since though the 50-cent piece is still in regular production and is legal currency (a fact many don't realize), it is very rare, and most vending machines do not accept them.

[Stark]

I think a 25c instead of a 20 and 50 would be good, paticularly given the quite small size of the new NZ coins (which go the old 10/20/50 route).

[Alex Moon]

Why is there so much resistance to changing the notes in America anyway? Is it some kind of weird tradition thing? Or is it some kind of inability to admit that the system isn't "the best"?

Vending machines. Seriously. If you make the new coins too different, then vendors have to alter all their machines to handle the new money. That gets very expensive very fast.

[Lusankya]

Why is there so much resistance to changing the notes in America anyway? Is it some kind of weird tradition thing? Or is it some kind of inability to admit that the system isn't "the best"?

Vending machines. Seriously. If you make the new coins too different, then vendors have to alter all their machines to handle the new money. That gets very expensive very fast.

That argument is one of the biggest loads of bullshit that I have ever heard. Australia, which is not as wealthy on a per capita basis as the US managed to do it in the 80s when we introduced $1 and $2 coins. New Zealand did the same in the early 90s. Europe did it recently when they introduced the Euro. Are you seriously telling me that the world's largest economy cannot do the same thing?

If the vending machine companies are so worried, then the government can subsidise the new vending machines. They'll make so much money back from the new currency, that it will easily offset the cost within a few years.

[Stark]

Given the money cycle, the most of the old coins will be reclaimed relatively quickly and in a few years you can depreciate the old ones. People with them can still use them as cash or change them at banks, but there is no reason at all to continue to support old coins in vending machines.

Fucking New Zealand did it 2 years ago, none of their current coins are the same as their older coins used since decimalisation. It's not hard. It's not free, but it just needs a will to be done.

[Lusankya]

But it's so much easier to whine about the cost and say that it's impossible than it is to notice that half of Europe has done the same thing within the last ten years.

I remember there being a similar argument not that long ago regarding fixing America's notes so that they weren't quite so, you know, crap. Vending machines was the main argument used then against making the notes blind-friendly as well. The only conclusion that I can draw from all of this is that America's full of retards who can't look at the experiences of other countries and notice that implementing change can actually work.

[Darth Wong]

America is an unusually hidebound country when it comes to society rather than technology. They can't change their bills, they can't switch to Metric, they can't deal with the existence of gays, and they can't even get over the Civil War which happened a century and a half ago.

[Sea Skimmer]

In other news, holy shit your notes only last 2 years? The AU bills last forever barring scissors: I've got one that's nearly as old as the new note system itself - the orange has faded a bit, but it's still structurally fine.

The whole point is that’s how long the bill lasts if it’s constantly being used. Obviously a bill will last much longer if you simply save it in a box or something.

[Stark]

You think I kept it in a box? What am I, a money collector? I just checked my wallet for the earliest date. Turns out plastic lasts longer.

[Uraniun235]

Why is there so much resistance to changing the notes in America anyway? Is it some kind of weird tradition thing? Or is it some kind of inability to admit that the system isn't "the best"?

We don't cotton to change around these parts.

[Stark]

According to the Reserve Bank, the average $5 note here (the smallest, thinnest and most-traded) lasts for more than 40 months in circulation, or double the American design. They can't fail due to normal tearing or crushing, and require abrasion or cutting to ruin (the old note I have right here has lost much of it's colour and the print is quite faded, for instance).

[Stark]

GHETTO - Amusingly, they apparently recycle the old notes into plumbing supplies. So THAT'S where all those water flow limiters came from!