The fact that we keep changing the design without really changing it to be more accommodating and really counterfeit-resistant is stupid and expensive.
Australian currency should be a model for the rest of the world. One and two dollar coins, no pennies, and awesome cash.
Their "paper" money is a plastic material, is of different sizes, and has a clear window in it. Try photocopying that!
Yeah, given the advances in polymers and such I really don't get why it hasn't taken over paper in a lot more ways. Plus you can actually recycle it at the end rather than just chop it up and make shittier paper. Where's the negative, Treasurey Department and book publishers? Idjits.
No, fuck coins. Coins blow ass. When I went to Japan I would always end up making a few small purchases and end up with about 40 pounds of yen. Getting about 20 coins back anytime I make a purchase doesn't appeal to me.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Yeah, given the advances in polymers and such I really don't get why it hasn't taken over paper in a lot more ways. Plus you can actually recycle it at the end rather than just chop it up and make shittier paper. Where's the negative, Treasurey Department and book publishers? Idjits.
You are aware that American 'paper' money is more like cloth, right?
No, fuck coins. Coins blow ass. When I went to Japan I would always end up making a few small purchases and end up with about 40 pounds of yen. Getting about 20 coins back anytime I make a purchase doesn't appeal to me.
If you have no pennies and add $1 and $2 coins, you'll end up with fewer overall coins than you had before, as you remove up to 4 coins and add a maximum of 2.
No, fuck coins. Coins blow ass. When I went to Japan I would always end up making a few small purchases and end up with about 40 pounds of yen. Getting about 20 coins back anytime I make a purchase doesn't appeal to me.
This is one spot where I'd wish we'd follow Europe. Apply the sales tax to the invididual items before you even buy them so it's all nice and rounded and not 99 cents or whatever. If that's the case then you don't have to worry about getting too much change back. (and the max would be something like 11 coins for $3.99 if we pushed for dollar coins.)
Yeah, given the advances in polymers and such I really don't get why it hasn't taken over paper in a lot more ways. Plus you can actually recycle it at the end rather than just chop it up and make shittier paper. Where's the negative, Treasurey Department and book publishers? Idjits.
You are aware that American 'paper' money is more like cloth, right?
Yes. You are aware that I also mentioned books in there, right?
2. All current currency (that looks really strange in print) would have to be replaced by the new currency, which seems like a massive opportunity for theft and fraud.
Why? It wouldn't be the first time currency changes were introduced.
Currency has a maximum life of like 18 months of use. You start the transition, and within 18 months it's pretty much everywhere as worn-out old bills drop out of circulation.
All in all the ruling seems stupidly obvious. The US is practically the only nation on earth whose bills have no distinguishing features for the blind, and it isn't like the rest of us are going broke doing it. Plus all your money looks the same, get with the times guys.
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
2. All current currency (that looks really strange in print) would have to be replaced by the new currency, which seems like a massive opportunity for theft and fraud.
Why? It wouldn't be the first time currency changes were introduced.
Currency has a maximum life of like 18 months of use. You start the transition, and within 18 months it's pretty much everywhere as worn-out old bills drop out of circulation.
All in all the ruling seems stupidly obvious. The US is practically the only nation on earth whose bills have no distinguishing features for the blind, and it isn't like the rest of us are going broke doing it. Plus all your money looks the same, get with the times guys.
The real cost would be having to refurbish all of those ATMs and vending machines, I suspect.
American money is ugly, and subsequent interations have only gotten uglier. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
2. All current currency (that looks really strange in print) would have to be replaced by the new currency, which seems like a massive opportunity for theft and fraud.
Why? It wouldn't be the first time currency changes were introduced.
Currency has a maximum life of like 18 months of use. You start the transition, and within 18 months it's pretty much everywhere as worn-out old bills drop out of circulation.
All in all the ruling seems stupidly obvious. The US is practically the only nation on earth whose bills have no distinguishing features for the blind, and it isn't like the rest of us are going broke doing it. Plus all your money looks the same, get with the times guys.
The real cost would be having to refurbish all of those ATMs and vending machines, I suspect.
Do you guys replace all ATMs every-time you revamp a bill? Surely this is a software fix at worst. More than likely you keep whatever features it recognizes on the current bills, and integrate new features on top of them.
2. All current currency (that looks really strange in print) would have to be replaced by the new currency, which seems like a massive opportunity for theft and fraud.
Why? It wouldn't be the first time currency changes were introduced.
Currency has a maximum life of like 18 months of use. You start the transition, and within 18 months it's pretty much everywhere as worn-out old bills drop out of circulation.
All in all the ruling seems stupidly obvious. The US is practically the only nation on earth whose bills have no distinguishing features for the blind, and it isn't like the rest of us are going broke doing it. Plus all your money looks the same, get with the times guys.
The real cost would be having to refurbish all of those ATMs and vending machines, I suspect.
American money is ugly, and subsequent interations have only gotten uglier. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
Do you guys replace all ATMs every-time you revamp a bill? Surely this is a software fix at worst. More than likely you keep whatever features it recognizes on the current bills, and integrate new features on top of them.
ATMs, no, not generally.
A lot of vending machines require sensor replacements, though.
The real cost would be having to refurbish all of those ATMs and vending machines, I suspect.
Do you guys replace all ATMs every-time you revamp a bill? Surely this is a software fix at worst. More than likely you keep whatever features it recognizes on the current bills, and integrate new features on top of them.
Hmmm...have our bills always all been the same size, though? Because if we start changing the size of the bills, then I could see how hardware changes might be necessary as well.
American money is ugly, and subsequent interations have only gotten uglier. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
Hey, I like our flag.
It's like The Music Man of international flags. 13 stripes and 50 starts is probably enough to induce siezures in sensitive types.
I mean - it's probably better than those African flags with AK-47s on them, but I can't think of any other national flag that's quite so busy.
Hmm, I wonder if the treasury department will really start trying to push those (once again...) "new" dollar coins, with pictures of the presidents on them.
Suppose this ruling does stand. Coins, while cumbersome and heavier, might just be the way to go. Paper money of different sizes would cause undo disasters. If someone took an Xacto knife to a pile of large $1 bills, and trimmed them down to the size of, say, $20 bills, then wouldn't that be just as confusing and difficult for the visually impaired - especially if said bills were kept in circulation? It's much harder to do something like that with a coin; they might be the only viable option, unless the mints figure out a way to print braile on paper bills.
American money is ugly, and subsequent interations have only gotten uglier. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
Hey, I like our flag.
It's like The Music Man of international flags. 13 stripes and 50 starts is probably enough to induce siezures in sensitive types.
I mean - it's probably better than those African flags with AK-47s on them, but I can't think of any other national flag that's quite so busy.
I always thought the Union Flag was a bit busier, since everything is together instead of in two distinct sections.
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Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion.
I can't believe you're worrying about something which has gone on in other countries for many years. You really don't notice it unless you're anally retentive. Another problem I've noticed is that you think to much. Talk about undue worrying, 'oh the bank has to replace its cash machines so they won't make as many billions of money this year boo hoo'.
Hang your capitalist heads in shame, and say sorry to the next blind person you see.
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
I can't believe you're worrying about something which has gone on in other countries for many years. You really don't notice it unless you're anally retentive. Another problem I've noticed is that you think to much. Talk about undue worrying, 'oh the bank has to replace its cash machines so they won't make as many billions of money this year boo hoo'.
Hang your capitalist heads in shame, and say sorry to the next blind person you see.
Right, since the Treasury can't go ahead with any plans to revise the currency until it's won a voice vote in the Penny Arcade Debate and Discourse forum.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited November 2006
Right.
So reading through this, a few things come to mind:
1) Yes, the Treasury department was stupid in not thinking of this ahead of time, as I'm sure this injunction or whatever was in the legal system for a while. Then again, considering how many committees the Treasury department has to answer to, who knows.
2) The "end of the year" part screwed this getting enforced. 30 days for turnaround is not something the gov't can do with said beauracracy, and a court making this decision instead of a lawmaking body also raises issue. The appeals will delay it.
3) The examples given here are all done with the subtext of "it worked for <country>! Well... Until you start mentioning Chineese and Indian currency conventions, you don't really have much room to talk... Why? Because the US population, and the sheer amount of legal tender out there, tends to favor systems that are cheap and easy to widely distribute. Oh.. and getting rid of the penny, despite rounding up or rounding down, will tend to screw people (I forget if it's the high end or the low end) due to calculation errors. It increases the margin of error a decent amount.
4) Someone asked how hard it would be to convert over the denominations to different sized bills. Well, to this day I find vending machines that have issues with the current dollar bills. It's a poor excuse, but it is out there. And to be honest, changing the dimensions too much will cause problems without some point of reference. The Braille solution (which should be placed on a corner so that your thumb rubs across it while removing the bill from a wallet or cash roll) is probably the best one, as is embossed numbers.
On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
The nation anthem sucks more than a Vietnamese hooker.
There were one quadrillion nations in the Universe, but the nation Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout belonged to was the only one with a national anthem which was gibberish sprinkled with question marks.
The undippable flag was a beauty, and the anthem and the vacant motto might not have mattered much, if it weren´t for this: a lot of citizens were so ignored and cheated and insulted that they thought they might be in the wrong country, or even on the wrong planet, that some terrible mistake had been made. It might have comforted them some if their anthem and their motto had mentioned fairness or brotherhood or hope or happiness, had somehow welcomed them to the society and its real estate.
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
The nation anthem sucks more than a Vietnamese hooker.
There were one quadrillion nations in the Universe, but the nation Dwayne Hoover and Kilgore Trout belonged to was the only one with a national anthem which was gibberish sprinkled with question marks.
The undippable flag was a beauty, and the anthem and the vacant motto might not have mattered much, if it weren´t for this: a lot of citizens were so ignored and cheated and insulted that they thought they might be in the wrong country, or even on the wrong planet, that some terrible mistake had been made. It might have comforted them some if their anthem and their motto had mentioned fairness or brotherhood or hope or happiness, had somehow welcomed them to the society and its real estate.
Vonnegut.
And yeah, the lyrics are "gogo flag" and the tune is unsingable for almost everyone. Canada has a great anthem, and, so does Russia.
I like the British Union Jack - it's elegant IMO. Both Korean flags are kind of meh - the North Korean flag looks like it should be a superhero costume instead. Imperial Japan had a kick-ass flag, and their current flag is pretty cool as well.
All in all, if America's "national branding" had been done by a design firm, I'd fire their asses.
Back on topic: why different-sized currency if embossing or braille serves the same purpose? It seems like differently-sized notes would make wallets kind of a pain.
No, fuck coins. Coins blow ass. When I went to Japan I would always end up making a few small purchases and end up with about 40 pounds of yen. Getting about 20 coins back anytime I make a purchase doesn't appeal to me.
This is one spot where I'd wish we'd follow Europe. Apply the sales tax to the invididual items before you even buy them so it's all nice and rounded and not 99 cents or whatever. If that's the case then you don't have to worry about getting too much change back. (and the max would be something like 11 coins for $3.99 if we pushed for dollar coins.)
That's a different matter than just switching to coinage. That would be fine in my book, but then why make things into coins. Just have bills. Coins are expensive to produce, heavy to carry and difficult to sort through when carrying large amounts. I fail to see why coins are used at all. I'd be down with different sized bills, plastic windows, braille, whatever you want.
I like how people have used this thread to make fun of Americans, again. Wow. Good show. You guys are so morally superior. Yeah, of course your own national anthem is going to sound better, because your national anthem always sounds better than others.
Anyway.
They already tried dollar coins here in the US. They failed. Also, by law, all of our dollar coins must have famous women on them, so no presidents.
When I went up to Canada in 2003, I had to resist the urge to take the little gold stick off the money. And yes, it does look like monopoly money. The best thing though, is that since the US Quarter looks so much like the Canadian dollar coin, you can save a lot of money.
[spoiler:34d1a8e8d4]Don't look at me, my Canadian buddy did it all the time with his own US money and British money[/spoiler:34d1a8e8d4]
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Irond WillWARNING: NO HURTFUL COMMENTS, PLEASE!!!!!Cambridge. MAModeratormod
I like how people have used this thread to make fun of Americans, again. Wow. Good show. You guys are so morally superior. Yeah, of course your own national anthem is going to sound better, because your national anthem always sounds better than others.
How does having a crappy anthem or flag make us morally inferior? I'm an American and I like neither our flag nor anthem. But it doesn't reflect poorly on our morals.
I don't have much opinion on Canadian money except that putting the Queen on everything is kind of silly. I like the fact that one of their coins has a beaver on it.
I like how people have used this thread to make fun of Americans, again. Wow. Good show. You guys are so morally superior. Yeah, of course your own national anthem is going to sound better, because your national anthem always sounds better than others.
How does having a crappy anthem or flag make us morally inferior? I'm an American and I like neither our flag nor anthem. But it doesn't reflect poorly on our morals.
Well, at least God Bless the USA isn't our anthem.
And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
I like how people have used this thread to make fun of Americans, again. Wow. Good show. You guys are so morally superior. Yeah, of course your own national anthem is going to sound better, because your national anthem always sounds better than others.
Back on topic: why different-sized currency if embossing or braille serves the same purpose? It seems like differently-sized notes would make wallets kind of a pain.
Embossing or braille would wear down quickly on our current cloth-like currency. Switching to a plastic base would make the braille last much longer.
Coins are expensive to produce, heavy to carry and difficult to sort through when carrying large amounts. I fail to see why coins are used at all. I'd be down with different sized bills, plastic windows, braille, whatever you want.
One dollar bills have a life span of 22 months. I just checked my pocket. I have a penny from 1962.
Seriously, half the problem with coins comes from the penny. They are much more trouble than they are worth. If we had one and two dollar coins and no pennies, I think people would have a lot less trouble "sorting through them when carrying large amounts," since they would tend to spend them more often rather than just hand the clerk two dollars and pile the rest of the change from that soda into their pocket along with the rest of it.
You say you had trouble with the conventions of a foreign country while travelling abroad?
How unique.
Unique? Not at all. There aren't any significant differences between U.S. money and Canadian money, aside from the colours. Far easier to get used to than anything else I've used (British Pounds, E.U. Euros, Malawian Qwacha).
It just leaves me wondering how a person with poor eyesight would fare, even if they used the currency all of the time.
To FyreWolf - American quarters and Canadian loonies don't look anything alike.
Posts
I'm not a big fan of dollar coins. They're kind of a pain. And I'm 50/50 on the no penny idea.
Other than that, I'm down with it.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
It works well with two dollar coins as well. Instead of toting around a maximum of four coins, you have two.
Before I got used to it (near the end of my stay there), I'd clean out my pockets and find lile $16, though.
Hear Hear!
Yeah, given the advances in polymers and such I really don't get why it hasn't taken over paper in a lot more ways. Plus you can actually recycle it at the end rather than just chop it up and make shittier paper. Where's the negative, Treasurey Department and book publishers? Idjits.
You are aware that American 'paper' money is more like cloth, right?
If you have no pennies and add $1 and $2 coins, you'll end up with fewer overall coins than you had before, as you remove up to 4 coins and add a maximum of 2.
This is one spot where I'd wish we'd follow Europe. Apply the sales tax to the invididual items before you even buy them so it's all nice and rounded and not 99 cents or whatever. If that's the case then you don't have to worry about getting too much change back. (and the max would be something like 11 coins for $3.99 if we pushed for dollar coins.)
Yes. You are aware that I also mentioned books in there, right?
Currency has a maximum life of like 18 months of use. You start the transition, and within 18 months it's pretty much everywhere as worn-out old bills drop out of circulation.
All in all the ruling seems stupidly obvious. The US is practically the only nation on earth whose bills have no distinguishing features for the blind, and it isn't like the rest of us are going broke doing it. Plus all your money looks the same, get with the times guys.
The real cost would be having to refurbish all of those ATMs and vending machines, I suspect.
American money is ugly, and subsequent interations have only gotten uglier. On the other hand, it's nowhere near as ugly as our gaudy flag or national anthem.
I miss the days when the dollar had dignity.
Hey, I like our flag.
ATMs, no, not generally.
A lot of vending machines require sensor replacements, though.
They just need to hire better designers.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
- John Stuart Mill
I mean - it's probably better than those African flags with AK-47s on them, but I can't think of any other national flag that's quite so busy.
Suppose this ruling does stand. Coins, while cumbersome and heavier, might just be the way to go. Paper money of different sizes would cause undo disasters. If someone took an Xacto knife to a pile of large $1 bills, and trimmed them down to the size of, say, $20 bills, then wouldn't that be just as confusing and difficult for the visually impaired - especially if said bills were kept in circulation? It's much harder to do something like that with a coin; they might be the only viable option, unless the mints figure out a way to print braile on paper bills.
See my stuff at: http://cain.bombsheltercomics.com
- John Stuart Mill
No, which is why it's probably the smartest route to take. Only indent the numbers rather than raise them I'd assume. Less wear and tear that way.
If they are indented on one side, they would be raised on the other; our bills aren't that thick.
- John Stuart Mill
Hang your capitalist heads in shame, and say sorry to the next blind person you see.
Right, since the Treasury can't go ahead with any plans to revise the currency until it's won a voice vote in the Penny Arcade Debate and Discourse forum.
So reading through this, a few things come to mind:
1) Yes, the Treasury department was stupid in not thinking of this ahead of time, as I'm sure this injunction or whatever was in the legal system for a while. Then again, considering how many committees the Treasury department has to answer to, who knows.
2) The "end of the year" part screwed this getting enforced. 30 days for turnaround is not something the gov't can do with said beauracracy, and a court making this decision instead of a lawmaking body also raises issue. The appeals will delay it.
3) The examples given here are all done with the subtext of "it worked for <country>! Well... Until you start mentioning Chineese and Indian currency conventions, you don't really have much room to talk... Why? Because the US population, and the sheer amount of legal tender out there, tends to favor systems that are cheap and easy to widely distribute. Oh.. and getting rid of the penny, despite rounding up or rounding down, will tend to screw people (I forget if it's the high end or the low end) due to calculation errors. It increases the margin of error a decent amount.
4) Someone asked how hard it would be to convert over the denominations to different sized bills. Well, to this day I find vending machines that have issues with the current dollar bills. It's a poor excuse, but it is out there. And to be honest, changing the dimensions too much will cause problems without some point of reference. The Braille solution (which should be placed on a corner so that your thumb rubs across it while removing the bill from a wallet or cash roll) is probably the best one, as is embossed numbers.
And yeah, the lyrics are "gogo flag" and the tune is unsingable for almost everyone. Canada has a great anthem, and, so does Russia.
I like the British Union Jack - it's elegant IMO. Both Korean flags are kind of meh - the North Korean flag looks like it should be a superhero costume instead. Imperial Japan had a kick-ass flag, and their current flag is pretty cool as well.
All in all, if America's "national branding" had been done by a design firm, I'd fire their asses.
Back on topic: why different-sized currency if embossing or braille serves the same purpose? It seems like differently-sized notes would make wallets kind of a pain.
That's a different matter than just switching to coinage. That would be fine in my book, but then why make things into coins. Just have bills. Coins are expensive to produce, heavy to carry and difficult to sort through when carrying large amounts. I fail to see why coins are used at all. I'd be down with different sized bills, plastic windows, braille, whatever you want.
Anyway.
They already tried dollar coins here in the US. They failed. Also, by law, all of our dollar coins must have famous women on them, so no presidents.
When I went up to Canada in 2003, I had to resist the urge to take the little gold stick off the money. And yes, it does look like monopoly money. The best thing though, is that since the US Quarter looks so much like the Canadian dollar coin, you can save a lot of money.
[spoiler:34d1a8e8d4]Don't look at me, my Canadian buddy did it all the time with his own US money and British money[/spoiler:34d1a8e8d4]
I don't have much opinion on Canadian money except that putting the Queen on everything is kind of silly. I like the fact that one of their coins has a beaver on it.
It does pratically rank second to the national anthem in the state.
And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.
"Really? Second chance, asshole. Here's your gun, the plane leaves from over there."
"And I gladly stand up... well not me. My neighbor's kid. What? He wanted to go to college."
I love David Cross.
Bashing America is D&D's favorite sport
There are points.
I'm sure it's first on Saturday's.
One dollar bills have a life span of 22 months. I just checked my pocket. I have a penny from 1962.
Seriously, half the problem with coins comes from the penny. They are much more trouble than they are worth. If we had one and two dollar coins and no pennies, I think people would have a lot less trouble "sorting through them when carrying large amounts," since they would tend to spend them more often rather than just hand the clerk two dollars and pile the rest of the change from that soda into their pocket along with the rest of it.
It just leaves me wondering how a person with poor eyesight would fare, even if they used the currency all of the time.
To FyreWolf - American quarters and Canadian loonies don't look anything alike.