Well said Carleton. You said what I said in much more eloquent terms! It IS the fear of change that is stopping this. But I have lived through this very change in two countries (UK and Canada), and, as so often happens, once the change has been made, you end up asking yourself, "Why did it take so long?" Ask just about anybody in these two countries (which have £2/$2 coins as well) if they would like to go back to paper for these denominations, and you would get looked at as if you were crazy.
Same thing for metric conversion - it is the fear of change, rather than the change itself, that is the problem. Once you go through the conversion and start using metric units as a matter of course, you do NOT want to go back! Ironic really - America, once perceived (and still is in many parts of the world) as the most progressive nation on earth, seems these days to be exactly the opposite. John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Carleton MacDonald To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 4:19 AM Subject: [USMA:50990] Re: Speaking of currency reform.... I hate to say it but this argument sounds much like people who oppose finishing the job of converting to metric in the USA. "We don't want to change. We want to keep using our pounds, feet, miles, and quarts. It's our choice and we should have that choice." The dollar is worth less than a quarter was 50 years ago when I was a kid, but no one thought of ever making at 25 cent bill! People pretty much used coins back then; prices were low enough that most small purchases (ice cream cone, newspaper, streetcar fare, Time magazine, etc.) could be paid with coins. I do remember the Franklin 50 cent coin being widely used; it played the part the dollar coin does now (hell, the QUARTER did, really) and the coins didn't pile up; people spent them. The problem now is really with the $1 bill. With prices being higher it is hard to pay for anything by cash without using $1 bills. So the ice cream cone that was 10 cents 50 years ago is now at least $2. Most people WILL NOT take out BOTH coins AND paper to pay for something; they pay with paper only, drop the coins in their pockets, and at night dump them all in a jar. People like me who actually spend the coins are odd birds indeed. But I like only having to go into my pocket for small purchases as opposed to horsing out my wallet. If the $1 bill were gone and we used the $1 coin, you'd find that you'd take out the coins for small purchases. If something cost $2.66 you'd take out two dollar coins, two quarters and two dimes, or maybe even throw in the odd penny so you'd get one nickel back and not four pennies. The coins wouldn't be wearing holes in your pocket because you'd be spending them. I don't use $1 bills. I don't accept them in change. Every couple of weeks I go to the bank downstairs in Washington Union Station where I work and get a roll of dollar coins, $25 worth. I spend them at the doughnut shop, in parking meters (much more convenient to put in four coins and not 16), at the Costco food court, and everywhere else I spend cash. I don't make a fuss about it; I just use them as if it were perfectly natural to do so, as it should be. Yes, I guess I'm making a point or pushing the issue; it's the same thing we do when we tell the doctor we are 91 kg instead of 200 lb. If getting $1 bills back in change is unavoidable, I will tell the clerk that I'd prefer dollar coins and not bills. At the Amish market nearby, they're always happy to hear that; they get them from time to time and they let the dollar coins pile up because they're too "polite" to give them out as change - especially to women; they don't want the customers complaining. I guess I'm the total opposite of the "throw them in a jar" type. Right now on the dresser are two $1 coins, two quarters, a dime and a penny. Other than a stash of $20 in dollar coins still in the wrapper (I've used some and will use more tomorrow), that's all the coins I own in the WORLD. No jar! They are constantly being spent. Get rid of the $1 bill and the overstock of the $1 coin goes away within months, as the paper bills wear out and are replaced with coins. Congress is wasting time and money trying to make the coins appealing when the obvious solution is completely ignored. No other country has a coin and a bill in the same denomination; we are idiots. How does this relate to the topic of the list? The stubbornness of Congress in refusing to stop printing the $1 bill comes from the exact same mindset that won't convert to metric. All they care about are constituents with money (such as the Crane Paper Company that supplies the stock for the banknotes; the $1 bill is half the output) and the complainers, or whiners, who they are afraid will vote them out of office. They hear the complaining and think those people are representative of everyone (since people who like what they are doing don't write, only those that do not). "You changed something, why did you change something, I don't like change, don't change anything, change is scary, change is hard, I'm going to remember this at the next election." Substitute "metric conversion" for "dollar coins" and it's really the exact same thing. Carleton From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 19:59 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50987] Re: Speaking of currency reform.... Agreed. And if people find them hard to obtain at banks, the Mint offers free shipping and no surcharge on multiples of $250. (Due to abuse on credit card purchases for points, they don't accept credit cards anymore. Pay by check, money order or wire transfer). Get all the coin you want; let those of us who prefer paper bills have them. As the $1 bill lasts longer than $5, $10, and $20 bills, that arguement for coins falls apart unless you replace ALL the short-lived bills. Mint Free Shipping program on $250 orders: (Note they want you to order, they have nearly 10000 t of them in the basement already with more on the way) http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&identifier=8100 --- On Wed, 8/17/11, Stanislav Jakuba <jakub...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Stanislav Jakuba <jakub...@gmail.com> Subject: [USMA:50985] Re: Speaking of currency reform.... To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu> Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 7:30 PM Harry, I'd be darned if I sign. The dollar coin has been about for decades. Anyone who wants to have them has them and can pay with them. I am glad I am in a democracy where the majority preference has still been the rule, at least on this issue. The majority spoke: it loves paper money. The notion that printing the paper is more wasteful vs. melting and coining metal that requires train loads to destribute and produces holes in ones trousers is, apparently, not necessarily true. Think of the extra gasoline the world burns in cars accelerating and braking the extra mass in coins people carry with them. BTW, I love the fact, that unlike anywhere else, in the US I work with just 3 (three!) different coins: quarter, dime and nickel. I need to carry only four or five coins with me. I do not take pennies - leave them in the small jars that just about every cashier has. Often the casheir reciprocally pulls out some when I might need them and "pays" for me. But, let me be clear, I do bend down for a penny when I see one on the ground (it brings luck in the U.S.!); then I drop in into one of those litle jars. Stan J. On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 5:51 PM, Harry Wyeth <hbwy...@earthlink.net> wrote: OK, this is somewhat off topic, but I didn't start it. Here is something I sent to friends, which speaks for itself. Sign on if you wish--I hope you will. I guess I am incorrect on rounding "up" of prices in Australia. I never noticed on way or the other. I have wondered about the practice in China. Anyone know? HARRY WYETH -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Modernize American coinage/currency Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:50:06 -0700 From: Harry Wyeth <hbwy...@earthlink.net> To: undisclosed-recipients:; Friends This is a new project. MoveOn.org asked readers to come up with ideas for progressive change. The one below is mine. I have no idea how this progresses, but if you agree with it, I would appreciate your adding your "signature". This is an idea that comes up from time to time, and would indeed make life a bit simpler for everyone. During our recent trip to Australia, we noticed the lack of pennies and the automatic rounding up or down of prices at stores to the nearest nickel. Same thing happens in Europe, and nowhere are there one dollar bills, which wear out rapidly and have to be continually printed. It will be interesting to see if this can accumulate a real number of signatures. The message below is the "canned" one that is automatically prepared by MoveOn. Thanks. HARRY Hi, American coinage and currency needs to be up to standards of the rest of the developed world. We need to eliminate pennies and one dollar bills, saving millions in mint and printing costs. The United States is almost alone in bothering with such small change, and at great cost to taxpayers. So I created a petition to The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama, which says: "Stop the production of dollar bills and pennies, substituting only five dollar notes and above, and dollar coins and nickels, dimes, and quarters." Will you sign this petition? Click here: http://signon.org/sign/modernize-american-coinagecu?source=c.em.mt&r_by=417290 Thanks!
