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I was in Las Vegas last week. Las Vegas is the only place I've seen the 50c piece. On this trip, I also saw a $2 bill. I hadn't seen one of these for a few y

I was in Las Vegas last week. Las Vegas is the only place I've seen the 50c piece. On this trip, I also saw a $2 bill. I hadn't seen one of these for a few years. Going to coins for the $1 is an interesting idea that the US hasn't really got behind. I used to live in the UK when the 1 and 2 pound coins were first introduced. One of the hidden costs of these coins is that trouser (pants) pockets wear out much, much faster with the big and heavy coins. I've never had holes in my pockets in the US, and I always had them in the UK

Muncher 14y ago
I'm working on a project to collect this loose change before it burns a hole in your pocket so you accumulate spedable bucks. Or, worse yet, you lose it which happens. There is over $10 billion in loose change scattered out in people's homes. Coinstar processed over $3 billion last year. I'm working on a different solution.
jandrewrogers 14y ago
My biggest objection is what you noted above: coins are big and heavy. This is not so much an issue when coins have relatively little value, like in the US, because there are tip jars everywhere and the value of the change is small. I round up tip jar deposits to the amount of change I want to discard. In many other countries I find myself carrying an annoying amount of metal. Not only does the coinage add up to real money such that I would be more reluctant to discard it but in many other cultures there is not the equivalent of the ubiquitous change jars. Of course, there is always plastic.
- cmelbye 14y ago
  See, I actually like that. Here in the US, I'm annoyed when I have change because it's essentially of no use to me. Furthermore, if I can't find something like a tip jar nearby, I'm stuck with it. When I'm in Canada, I don't mind having change in my pocket because there's a fairly good chance that the change will add up to a substantial sum of money that I can use when you consider how often you get loonies and toonies. My feelings on the subject seem sort of irrational to me though so YMMV :p

Muncher 14y ago

I'm working on a project to collect this loose change before it burns a hole in your pocket so you accumulate spedable bucks. Or, worse yet, you lose it which happens. There is over $10 billion in loose change scattered out in people's homes. Coinstar processed over $3 billion last year. I'm working on a different solution.

jandrewrogers 14y ago

My biggest objection is what you noted above: coins are big and heavy. This is not so much an issue when coins have relatively little value, like in the US, because there are tip jars everywhere and the value of the change is small. I round up tip jar deposits to the amount of change I want to discard. In many other countries I find myself carrying an annoying amount of metal. Not only does the coinage add up to real money such that I would be more reluctant to discard it but in many other cultures there is not the equivalent of the ubiquitous change jars. Of course, there is always plastic.

cmelbye 14y ago
See, I actually like that. Here in the US, I'm annoyed when I have change because it's essentially of no use to me. Furthermore, if I can't find something like a tip jar nearby, I'm stuck with it. When I'm in Canada, I don't mind having change in my pocket because there's a fairly good chance that the change will add up to a substantial sum of money that I can use when you consider how often you get loonies and toonies. My feelings on the subject seem sort of irrational to me though so YMMV :p