7 ms·

The thing I cannot fathom is why quarters are so huge, considering they’re nearly valueless. Then you need whole stacks of $1 bills to pay anything relevant. I

by Aeolun 2y ago

The thing I cannot fathom is why quarters are so huge, considering they’re nearly valueless. Then you need whole stacks of $1 bills to pay anything relevant. I find both constantly cluttering up my wallet.

bmitc 2y ago
They weren't always valueless. That's the reason.
encomiast 2y ago
I think I’ve had the same $23 in my wallet for four years. Can’t remember the last time I carried a coin around.
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
Nah, you need a credit card to pay anything relevant, and have done so for decades.
scarface_74 2y ago
The question is why are you using cash? Even my 82 year old dad is now using Apple Pay and both of my parents mostly use credit cards/debit cards. The only time I keep cash is for tipping, my wife and I travel a lot.
- inetknght 2y ago
  > The question is why are you using cash? I use cash because it contributes to the local neighborhood economy more than not using cash. I use cash because I do not want to risk a banking app being broken by a non-banking app. I use cash because I do not trust banking apps to keep to themselves instead of infecting the whole device with spyware to "verify who you are". I use cash because not using cash charges extra (often-hidden) fees while using cash often comes with extra discounts. I use cash because the modern economy is a give-business-money-for-nothing-because-fuck-you economy and I don't want to contribute to that. There are many reasons to use cash. Pick one or many but stop thinking that cash is worse than a tech solution.
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    > I use cash because it contributes to the local neighborhood economy more than not using cash. The merchant gets all except for a 2% fee when you don’t use cash. Cash handling also has cost - theft both from employees and outside actors - too. > I use cash because I do not want to risk a banking app being broken by a non-banking app. When has Apple Pay or Google pay ever been “broken”? Do you not use a bank at all or not use any banking apps or websites? > I use cash because not using cash charges extra (often-hidden) fees while using cash often comes with extra discounts. There are very few places in the US that up charge for credit card transactions. Mostly gas stations and then mostly only for gas. > I use cash because the modern economy is a give-business-money-for-nothing-because-fuck-you economy and I don't want to contribute to that. You don’t think the merchant network does anything? Even if you are opposed to credit card transaction fees are you also opposed to debit transaction fees which are much lower and where there is a legsl cap?
    - coldpie 2y ago
      > There are very few places in the US that up charge for credit card transactions I actually see it quite often here in the Twin Cities at small stores, bars, restaurants. A 1~3% discount for cash. > The merchant gets all except for a 2% fee when you don’t use cash. Cash handling also has cost - theft both from employees and outside actors - too. I've asked quite a few merchants that take both whether they have a preference for cash vs card. Most (~90%) say they don't care either way. The remainder all say they prefer cash. I've never had one reply they prefer a card to cash. Also, when making large (like four- or five-figure) transactions with people like home contractors, they all request payment via personal check, to avoid the card fees eating a huge chunk of the transaction. I also dislike the idea of all transactions being trackable/identifiable. I think there's value in being able to perform anonymous transactions.
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        > I actually see it quite often here in the Twin Cities at small stores, bars, restaurants. A 1~3% discount for cash. For reference, I have a card that gives me 3 points back for all restaurants and another card that gives me 2 points back for all other purchases. Doing the simplest thing possible and transferring those points to Delta for flights nets me 1.3% for each point meaning I will at least get 2.6% back on general purchases or almost 4% back worse case on restaurants. If they have to accept cash or credit cards, yes they will prefer cash. But there are reasons that some places don’t accept cash at all. It’s because of employee theft. But it’s harder to steal cash at restaurants and bars because everyone gets receipts. The usual theft from bars come from bartenders pouring more expensive liquors and charging for cheaper liquor and then accepting larger tips.
- furyofantares 2y ago
  Because you get to do promiscuous arithmetic with strangers.
Edman274 2y ago
Quarters and dimes used to be made out of silver so a quarter had to be 2.5x the volume of a quarter so their metal values matched their face values ratios. > I find both constantly cluttering up my wallet. The majority of Americans do not have an ongoing problem of having too much cash in their wallet, even if you consider single dollars to be practically irrelevant. Most people would rather have their money in aggregate take up an inconvenient amount of space rather than having there be a risk of losing it because it's so physically small.
- meatmanek 2y ago
  My favorite fun fact about dimes/quarters is that they both have a monetary density of $20/lb.
mindslight 2y ago
I'm guessing you've never experienced a New York train ticket machine giving change for a $20 bill in $1 coins.
- Symbiote 2y ago
  Annoying (a $2 coin would help) but at least feeding those coins back into the machine for tomorrow's ticket is reliable, unlike with paper bills.
bityard 2y ago
I mean, feel free to send me all your worthless dollars and quarters if they bother you that much.
ahazred8ta 2y ago
$20 of quarters, and $20 of dimes, both weigh exactly one pound.
bombcar 2y ago
This is one of those logic puzzles, about how many bills you can end up with in your wallet (you dump the coins in a dish at home each night, of course). Because if you start with $1000 in fifties, say, the first time you buy something (not using hundreds because many places don't like them), you'll get smaller bills back in change, but the next thing you buy you can probably use some of the smaller bills, so you'll never end up with 50 ones. I like to keep a balance of $5-10 in ones, and the rest in twenties, with $5/10 sometimes appearing.

by Aeolun 2y ago

bmitc 2y ago

They weren't always valueless. That's the reason.

encomiast 2y ago

I think I’ve had the same $23 in my wallet for four years. Can’t remember the last time I carried a coin around.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago

Nah, you need a credit card to pay anything relevant, and have done so for decades.

scarface_74 2y ago

The question is why are you using cash? Even my 82 year old dad is now using Apple Pay and both of my parents mostly use credit cards/debit cards. The only time I keep cash is for tipping, my wife and I travel a lot.

inetknght 2y ago
> The question is why are you using cash? I use cash because it contributes to the local neighborhood economy more than not using cash. I use cash because I do not want to risk a banking app being broken by a non-banking app. I use cash because I do not trust banking apps to keep to themselves instead of infecting the whole device with spyware to "verify who you are". I use cash because not using cash charges extra (often-hidden) fees while using cash often comes with extra discounts. I use cash because the modern economy is a give-business-money-for-nothing-because-fuck-you economy and I don't want to contribute to that. There are many reasons to use cash. Pick one or many but stop thinking that cash is worse than a tech solution.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  > I use cash because it contributes to the local neighborhood economy more than not using cash. The merchant gets all except for a 2% fee when you don’t use cash. Cash handling also has cost - theft both from employees and outside actors - too. > I use cash because I do not want to risk a banking app being broken by a non-banking app. When has Apple Pay or Google pay ever been “broken”? Do you not use a bank at all or not use any banking apps or websites? > I use cash because not using cash charges extra (often-hidden) fees while using cash often comes with extra discounts. There are very few places in the US that up charge for credit card transactions. Mostly gas stations and then mostly only for gas. > I use cash because the modern economy is a give-business-money-for-nothing-because-fuck-you economy and I don't want to contribute to that. You don’t think the merchant network does anything? Even if you are opposed to credit card transaction fees are you also opposed to debit transaction fees which are much lower and where there is a legsl cap?
  - coldpie 2y ago
    > There are very few places in the US that up charge for credit card transactions I actually see it quite often here in the Twin Cities at small stores, bars, restaurants. A 1~3% discount for cash. > The merchant gets all except for a 2% fee when you don’t use cash. Cash handling also has cost - theft both from employees and outside actors - too. I've asked quite a few merchants that take both whether they have a preference for cash vs card. Most (~90%) say they don't care either way. The remainder all say they prefer cash. I've never had one reply they prefer a card to cash. Also, when making large (like four- or five-figure) transactions with people like home contractors, they all request payment via personal check, to avoid the card fees eating a huge chunk of the transaction. I also dislike the idea of all transactions being trackable/identifiable. I think there's value in being able to perform anonymous transactions.
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      > I actually see it quite often here in the Twin Cities at small stores, bars, restaurants. A 1~3% discount for cash. For reference, I have a card that gives me 3 points back for all restaurants and another card that gives me 2 points back for all other purchases. Doing the simplest thing possible and transferring those points to Delta for flights nets me 1.3% for each point meaning I will at least get 2.6% back on general purchases or almost 4% back worse case on restaurants. If they have to accept cash or credit cards, yes they will prefer cash. But there are reasons that some places don’t accept cash at all. It’s because of employee theft. But it’s harder to steal cash at restaurants and bars because everyone gets receipts. The usual theft from bars come from bartenders pouring more expensive liquors and charging for cheaper liquor and then accepting larger tips.
furyofantares 2y ago
Because you get to do promiscuous arithmetic with strangers.

Edman274 2y ago

Quarters and dimes used to be made out of silver so a quarter had to be 2.5x the volume of a quarter so their metal values matched their face values ratios. > I find both constantly cluttering up my wallet. The majority of Americans do not have an ongoing problem of having too much cash in their wallet, even if you consider single dollars to be practically irrelevant. Most people would rather have their money in aggregate take up an inconvenient amount of space rather than having there be a risk of losing it because it's so physically small.

meatmanek 2y ago
My favorite fun fact about dimes/quarters is that they both have a monetary density of $20/lb.

mindslight 2y ago

I'm guessing you've never experienced a New York train ticket machine giving change for a $20 bill in $1 coins.

Symbiote 2y ago
Annoying (a $2 coin would help) but at least feeding those coins back into the machine for tomorrow's ticket is reliable, unlike with paper bills.

bityard 2y ago

I mean, feel free to send me all your worthless dollars and quarters if they bother you that much.

ahazred8ta 2y ago

$20 of quarters, and $20 of dimes, both weigh exactly one pound.

bombcar 2y ago

This is one of those logic puzzles, about how many bills you can end up with in your wallet (you dump the coins in a dish at home each night, of course). Because if you start with $1000 in fifties, say, the first time you buy something (not using hundreds because many places don't like them), you'll get smaller bills back in change, but the next thing you buy you can probably use some of the smaller bills, so you'll never end up with 50 ones. I like to keep a balance of $5-10 in ones, and the rest in twenties, with $5/10 sometimes appearing.