Getting the Public to Use Half Dollars and Dollars

"Malanutt 4 Life" wrote in message
...
How about we add at least a $500 bill to our current denominations if we
eliminated a few other denominations?

Tom


Most stores cannot make change of a $500 bill, and I believe it was
eliminated in the first place because it made cash transactions easier for
drug dealers.

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 03:06:41 GMT, "DyzeeGF3"
wrote:

I don't see any particular
reason to use halves, as it would be much easier to obtain sufficient
quarters; but neither is there a really logical reason to not use them
either. Except for the supply question. On the plus side, you'd get
people talking about your place of business. Perhaps if the change due
were 50c even, it might be suitable to use halves. I'm not sure if
your business could get enough to last long.

Is there a supply question? Federal Reserve banks have ample supplies of
half dollars, don't they? Couldn't the bank that my theatre uses order as
many boxes as needed?

There certainly seem to be plenty of stories here on RCC of people who
want to get such denominations but are blocked by availability and
refusal of the bank to work with them. You'll want to research how
much your bank is willing to work with you on this venture.

Padraic.

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 01:48:46 -0600 (CST), (Ami .)
wrote:

John Q. public doesn't look at the designs on his coins when he
receives or spends them. Who or what is depicted on a particular coin
has no effect on whether the public will find that coin comfortable to
use.

If the design doesn't matter, why is the state of Virginia kicking up
such a fuss over the design of nickels?

Because both sides are Virginia natives! No one else in the rest of
the country gives a fiddler's fart who's on the nickel. This is a
prime example of "all politics is local".

I wonder of the Honorables from Virginia had something to do with
retaining Washington on the state quarters. He was a Virginian as
well.

Padraic.

la cieurgeourea provoer mal trasfu
ast meiyoer ke 'l andrext ben trasfu.

"Padraic Brown" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 03:06:41 GMT, "DyzeeGF3"
wrote:

I don't see any particular
reason to use halves, as it would be much easier to obtain sufficient
quarters; but neither is there a really logical reason to not use them
either. Except for the supply question. On the plus side, you'd get
people talking about your place of business. Perhaps if the change due
were 50c even, it might be suitable to use halves. I'm not sure if
your business could get enough to last long.

Is there a supply question? Federal Reserve banks have ample supplies of
half dollars, don't they? Couldn't the bank that my theatre uses order
as
many boxes as needed?

There certainly seem to be plenty of stories here on RCC of people who
want to get such denominations but are blocked by availability and
refusal of the bank to work with them. You'll want to research how
much your bank is willing to work with you on this venture.


The banks seem to argue that in order to supply halves for customers, they
have to order a $500 box. Our business would likely order at least two
boxes per week.

Anyhow, I guess I'll omit the halves part in the proposal, but still bring
my own rolls of halves from home to use in MY register.

Vector wrote in message . ..
I feel that the only way a dollar coin will succeed is if the dollar
bill is discontinued. Design is irrelevant, except that a new design
would most probably encourage hoarding.

hoarding? I doubt that. but a lot of people will save a few of the
new ones.

I agree the design is really irrelevant. you could take a big $1 and
put it on the front of the coin and it would not make things any
worse, or use the wlaking liberty design and it would not help any.
there is just no desire on the part of the public at large to use a $1
coin. and there is no good reason for retail interests to use it
either. without some overriding good reason for a substantial part of
population wanting it, it is doomed to a small niche of being used to
make change in stamp machines.


I suspect vending machine people would like to see it used more
frequently, as it is probably slightly easier to use for them for
change purposes than quarters as prices rise on many vended items.
but most vending machine now take $1 bills, and where there are
machines with prices over $1 that might benefit from the $1 coin,
there are usually change machines available to change $5 bills into
quarters. They might benefit from giving out 4 $1 coins and 4
quarters.

I remain unconvinced there is any overriding good reason for general
use of the $1 coin.



The half dollar is too large in its present form, relative to it's
value.

Plus it really has no utility in making change. most people would
greatly prefer 2 quarters to one half and most retail businesses want
nothing to do with them. as best I can tell, its only real use is for
slot machines in casinos where they are basically just recycled over
and over again. thats why many years they mint very few of them for
circulation, some years they have made none for circulation.


BTW, I favor discontinuing the cent.

DyzeeGF3 wrote:
"Malanutt 4 Life" wrote in message
...

How about we add at least a $500 bill to our current denominations if we
eliminated a few other denominations?

Tom



Most stores cannot make change of a $500 bill, and I believe it was
eliminated in the first place because it made cash transactions easier for
drug dealers.



And why would anyone want to carry such a large denomination with them
on a shopping trip? As it is now, most clerks give a customer the once
over if they offer to pay for something with a couple hundreds. Plastic
and checks will always be preferred for large purchases, and they give
you a paper trail for your records.

Bruce

"DyzeeGF3" wrote in
et:

I'm in the middle of drafting a proposition to eliminate all coin
denominations less than a quarter at the movie theatre I work at.
This would entail altering the prices such that the final price with
tax rounds to a multiple of a quarter. Included in the draft would be
a suggestion for using a half dollar in all registers as a
denomination of regular transactions requiring exactly 50 cents in
change.

I will post the draft once I have finished revising it, and ask for
input before I present it. I should have the draft posted within a
week or two.

Don't forget about SUGGESTING the use of dollar coins and coin dispencers.


Barney

bob peterson wrote:

Vector wrote in message . ..

I feel that the only way a dollar coin will succeed is if the dollar
bill is discontinued. Design is irrelevant, except that a new design
would most probably encourage hoarding.


hoarding? I doubt that. but a lot of people will save a few of the
new ones.

And then they would probably end up spending them once they saw tons of
them in circulation.


I agree the design is really irrelevant. you could take a big $1 and
put it on the front of the coin and it would not make things any
worse, or use the wlaking liberty design and it would not help any.
there is just no desire on the part of the public at large to use a $1
coin. and there is no good reason for retail interests to use it
either. without some overriding good reason for a substantial part of
population wanting it, it is doomed to a small niche of being used to
make change in stamp machines.

Agreed. People haven't felt a need to switch to the dollar coin. They
already had a handy dollar to use. Of course if the coin was intended
to *replace* a discontinued dollar bill, people would be more apt to
grow accustomed to using it-- especially if they began receiving them in
change.



I suspect vending machine people would like to see it used more
frequently, as it is probably slightly easier to use for them for
change purposes than quarters as prices rise on many vended items.
but most vending machine now take $1 bills, and where there are
machines with prices over $1 that might benefit from the $1 coin,
there are usually change machines available to change $5 bills into
quarters. They might benefit from giving out 4 $1 coins and 4
quarters.

I remain unconvinced there is any overriding good reason for general
use of the $1 coin.

Agreed again. There are a few cases, mostly in coin-op machines, where
use of a dollar coin might offer a slight advantage, not over a dollar
bill but over multiple smaller denomination coins.




The half dollar is too large in its present form, relative to it's
value.


Plus it really has no utility in making change. most people would
greatly prefer 2 quarters to one half and most retail businesses want
nothing to do with them. as best I can tell, its only real use is for
slot machines in casinos where they are basically just recycled over
and over again. thats why many years they mint very few of them for
circulation, some years they have made none for circulation.

And the half isn't usually accepted in vending machines. Too bad. I
used to like carrying and receiving half dollars.

Bruce

Jerry Dennis wrote:

Getting to the original subject, I suggested this a while ago and did it myself
this past Veteran's Day. While shopping for electrical supplies, my supplier
had a note on the counter, "We need $1s and $5s." Promptly, I went to my truck
and took a roll of Sacs inside. With no FBI-RDs to disburse, they were kind of
"forced" to use the Sacs. I came to learn that most of their other customers
didn't bat an eye when they received them as change.

I, again, offer that all of us should keep a roll or two of Sacs in our cars
for situations as I've just described. When banks are closed we could be their
only salvation,

Why not just keep a stack of dollar bills in the car for such a (rare)
situation? I don't doubt that most people would accept dollar coins in
change, but I suspect they would be more comfortable with bills in their
wallet than "unusual" coins in their pocket. But since most people
don't expect to ever get enough of these coins in change to make up a
full roll to cash in (our coin mentality), maybe they *will* try to get
rid of them. That would recirculate the dollar coins, but that
inclination to "get rid of them" doesn't bode well for future general
acceptance.


From my own experience, the novelty for the Sac has worn off, and people would
use and accept them if they received them in their daily transactions.


I believe you're right there.

Bruce

(Ami .) wrote in message ...
What are your ideas on getting the public to widely use half dollar and
dollar coins in everyday transactions?

I think the following would work:

1. End production of Kennedy halves in 2004. The last year should have a
special date, 1964-2004. Starting in 2005, the half dollar would have a
portrait of Martin Luther King on the obverse. The words "United States
of America" would be in big letters above the portrait. The word
"Liberty" would be in smaller letters positioned on the obverse. On the
reverse, there would be the rendering of the Liberty Bell that was on
the reverse of the Franklin halves. Above the Liberty Bell would be the
words "Let Freedom Ring."

2. Starting in 2005, remove the portrait of Sacagawea from the dollar
coin. Replace it with a portrait of John F. Kennedy. The design of the
Kennedy dollar coin would have a new portrait. The reverse would remain
the same as the current Kennedy half.

We would then have MLK Halves and Kennedy Golden Dollars.

I don't know if anything would work, short of eliminating the paper
dollar. We're fighting against a situation where 99% of the population
thinks that dollar coins are not for spending, and most stores and
banks are not distributing them regularly. The latter has to change
for anything to happen, since that will put the coins into the
public's hands and get rid of the impression that there's something
unusual and taboo about spending such coins.

Anyway, it would be fun to change the designs regardlesss. I would let
the Kennedy half go on to 2013, for the 50th anniversary of his death.
In the same year, we could start making MLK halves to commemorate the
50th anniversary of his "I have a dream" speech. The reverse could
have a view of the Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

I don't know if I'd keep Kennedy going on some other denomination. 50
years is long enough for him. I would like to see Teddy Roosevelt make
an appearance. I think he's probably the greatest President not to
have been on a circulating coin. 2008 would be the sesquicentennial of
his birth.