Optimum interval between denominations?

In the dollar coin thread, someone speculated that if the dollar bill
were discontinued, people would use two dollar and five dollar bills
and presumably deal with a *ton* of quarters in change rather than
start using the despised dollar coin. Has anyone ever studied from a
psychological point of view the tradeoff between having to keep track
of a lot of denominations vs. receiving a large number of coins or
bills in change?

I know someone did a mathematical proof and came up with a bizzare system
involving a 17-cent coin among other things. That is not practical, as
it would require people to be able to do arithmetic.

It seems that Americans are content with a ratio of five; there haven't
been any two-cent coints for a long time, and neither businesses nor
customers seem interested in using the two dollar bill. Similarly,
four quarters to the dollar seem acceptable with little interest in
using a half-dollar coin. As purely anecdotal evidence, I have noticed
that fast food joints will often give me two or three fives when making
change for a twenty. Have they decided that the ten is inefficient, or
have they just not been getting very many of them?

While we seem to prefer these intervals of five or four in several cases,
dimes and ten dollar bills are still in use. Does anyone know if the
fifty is used more or less than the hundred dollar bill?

It seems to me that eliminating the dime, ten, and fifty would be more
efficient--slightly more objects changing hands, but only seven
denominations total, only six or five for business to stock as change,
and less if we eliminate the penny.

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

On Oct 5, 4:37*pm, (Paul Ciszek) wrote:
In the dollar coin thread, someone speculated that if the dollar bill
were discontinued, people would use two dollar and five dollar bills
and presumably deal with a *ton* of quarters in change rather than
start using the despised dollar coin. *Has anyone ever studied from a
psychological point of view the tradeoff between having to keep track
of a lot of denominations vs. receiving a large number of coins or
bills in change?

I know someone did a mathematical proof and came up with a bizzare system
involving a 17-cent coin among other things. *That is not practical, as
it would require people to be able to do arithmetic.

It seems that Americans are content with a ratio of five; there haven't
been any two-cent coints for a long time, and neither businesses nor
customers seem interested in using the two dollar bill. *Similarly,
four quarters to the dollar seem acceptable with little interest in
using a half-dollar coin. *As purely anecdotal evidence, I have noticed
that fast food joints will often give me two or three fives when making
change for a twenty. Have they decided that the ten is inefficient, or
have they just not been getting very many of them?

While we seem to prefer these intervals of five or four in several cases,
dimes and ten dollar bills are still in use. *Does anyone know if the
fifty is used more or less than the hundred dollar bill?

It seems to me that eliminating the dime, ten, and fifty would be more
efficient--slightly more objects changing hands, but only seven
denominations total, only six or five for business to stock as change,
and less if we eliminate the penny.

I too get a lot of $5 bills rather than $10 bills in change. IMHO
there aren't enough $10 in circulation. That being said, I recently
saw signs at 2 different stores saying that they needed $5 bills. Go
figure! I also think that the $100 bill is used more than the $50.
Nothing scientific, just an observation.

On Oct 7, 11:47*pm, Jud wrote:
On Oct 5, 4:37*pm, (Paul Ciszek) wrote:





In the dollar coin thread, someone speculated that if the dollar bill
were discontinued, people would use two dollar and five dollar bills
and presumably deal with a *ton* of quarters in change rather than
start using the despised dollar coin. *Has anyone ever studied from a
psychological point of view the tradeoff between having to keep track
of a lot of denominations vs. receiving a large number of coins or
bills in change?

I know someone did a mathematical proof and came up with a bizzare system
involving a 17-cent coin among other things. *That is not practical, as
it would require people to be able to do arithmetic.

It seems that Americans are content with a ratio of five; there haven't
been any two-cent coints for a long time, and neither businesses nor
customers seem interested in using the two dollar bill. *Similarly,
four quarters to the dollar seem acceptable with little interest in
using a half-dollar coin. *As purely anecdotal evidence, I have noticed
that fast food joints will often give me two or three fives when making
change for a twenty. Have they decided that the ten is inefficient, or
have they just not been getting very many of them?

While we seem to prefer these intervals of five or four in several cases,
dimes and ten dollar bills are still in use. *Does anyone know if the
fifty is used more or less than the hundred dollar bill?

It seems to me that eliminating the dime, ten, and fifty would be more
efficient--slightly more objects changing hands, but only seven
denominations total, only six or five for business to stock as change,
and less if we eliminate the penny.

I too get a lot of $5 bills rather than $10 bills in change. IMHO
there aren't enough $10 in circulation. That being said, I recently
saw signs at 2 different stores saying that they needed $5 bills. Go
figure! I also think that the $100 bill is used more than the $50.
Nothing scientific, just an observation.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

From my own personal observation. Every payday I cash my check at one
bank. They inevitably ask me how I want it. I tell them big bills
are fine, with $100 in $5 bills. The big bills are usually all $100s,
but sometimes the tellers don't have enough on hand so I get $50s as
well. I then trek down the street and deposit the cash into my
account, except for the 20 fives. Then off to the local Hess station
and pick up a carton of smokes. They're always asking for $5s and
$10s. So I get my smokes and help them out as well. If anyone's
interested, I live in NY, and we have the highest cigarette taxes in
the country, thanks to our recently fired unelected governor. Now if
we can only get Cuomo's son to repeal them (can you say FAT CHANCE?).

Jerry

On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 20:37:10 +0000 (UTC), (Paul
Ciszek) wrote:

In the dollar coin thread, someone speculated that if the dollar bill
were discontinued, people would use two dollar and five dollar bills
and presumably deal with a *ton* of quarters in change rather than
start using the despised dollar coin. Has anyone ever studied from a
psychological point of view the tradeoff between having to keep track
of a lot of denominations vs. receiving a large number of coins or
bills in change?

I know someone did a mathematical proof and came up with a bizzare system
involving a 17-cent coin among other things. That is not practical, as
it would require people to be able to do arithmetic.

It seems that Americans are content with a ratio of five; there haven't
been any two-cent coints for a long time, and neither businesses nor
customers seem interested in using the two dollar bill. Similarly,
four quarters to the dollar seem acceptable with little interest in
using a half-dollar coin. As purely anecdotal evidence, I have noticed
that fast food joints will often give me two or three fives when making
change for a twenty. Have they decided that the ten is inefficient, or
have they just not been getting very many of them?

While we seem to prefer these intervals of five or four in several cases,
dimes and ten dollar bills are still in use. Does anyone know if the
fifty is used more or less than the hundred dollar bill?

It seems to me that eliminating the dime, ten, and fifty would be more
efficient--slightly more objects changing hands, but only seven
denominations total, only six or five for business to stock as change,
and less if we eliminate the penny.

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the
rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

beekeep

In article ,
beekeep wrote:

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the

"Twenty five cents please."
"I don't have a quarter, but here's three dimes."
"Ummm, that's not going to work..."

rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Or the $0.25 coin with a $.20 coin?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

"Paul Ciszek" wrote in message
...

In article ,
beekeep wrote:

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the

"Twenty five cents please."
"I don't have a quarter, but here's three dimes."
"Ummm, that's not going to work..."

rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Or the $0.25 coin with a $.20 coin?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?



Easy. For situations like that, we can just mint a 65¢ coin so the
customer could get two 20¢ coins in change. It's so obvious even the
government could do the math.

I agree with the premise that the $.20 coin makes sense instead of the
quarter as we use the 1, 2, 5 monetary system:

$.01, $.02, $.05, $.10, $.20, $.50

However in light of the expense of the penny I could not see
resurrecting the $.02 coin.

On 10/10/2011 2:15 PM, Bremick wrote:
"Paul wrote in message
...

In ,
wrote:

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the

"Twenty five cents please."
"I don't have a quarter, but here's three dimes."
"Ummm, that's not going to work..."

rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Or the $0.25 coin with a $.20 coin?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?



Easy. For situations like that, we can just mint a 65¢ coin so the
customer could get two 20¢ coins in change. It's so obvious even the
government could do the math.

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:47:02 +0000 (UTC), (Paul
Ciszek) wrote:


In article ,
beekeep wrote:

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the

"Twenty five cents please."
"I don't have a quarter, but here's three dimes."
"Ummm, that's not going to work..."

If the cash registers rounded everything to one place, why would the
cashier ask for 25 cents? It would either be 20 cents or 30 cents.


rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Or the $0.25 coin with a $.20 coin?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?

They would only be used in pairs for 50 cents. It ain'r rocket
science, there are only ten possible situations.

no change
10 cent change - 1 dime
20 cent change - 2 dimes
30 cent change - 3 dimes
40 cent change - 4 dimes
60 cent change - 2 quarters & 1 dime
70 cent change - 2 quarters & 2 dimes
80 cent change - 2 quarters & 3 dimes
90 cent change - 2 quarters & 4 dimes

Hell, you might even be able to go into a fast food place and get a
cashier that can count change!


--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

I agree with the 1-2-5 concept but I don't see the need for the cent, two
cent or the nickel. My lowest monetary unit would be the dime, then a 20
cent coin and a 50 cent coin. The latter reduced in size from its current
30.6 mm to slightly larger than a quarter (24.6 mm), maybe 26 mm. The dime
can remain at 17.9 mm. and the 20c at its old 22 mm diameter.

Most prices would be rounded up to its nearest dime--about the same thing
that would happen if the cent were eliminated.. Go to your local grocery
store and you'll find that about 95% or so of the prices end in a 9. At
least that's true where I buy my groceries. And the same is true in most
other types of stores. The cent and the nickel are needed only when tax is
added on although something like 34 states don't charge sales tax on food
purchases at a grocery store.


--
Richard
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we were at when we created them. (Albert Einstein)





""Roßert G. Schaffrath"" wrote in message
...
I agree with the premise that the $.20 coin makes sense instead of the
quarter as we use the 1, 2, 5 monetary system:

$.01, $.02, $.05, $.10, $.20, $.50

However in light of the expense of the penny I could not see resurrecting
the $.02 coin.

On 10/10/2011 2:15 PM, Bremick wrote:
"Paul wrote in message
...

In ,
wrote:

Personaly I would like to see the cent, nickle, and 1/2 dollar
eliminated. Just mint the dime, quarter, and dollar coins. Cut the

"Twenty five cents please."
"I don't have a quarter, but here's three dimes."
"Ummm, that's not going to work..."

rag dollar and print the 5,10, 20, 50, 100. Add a 500 to the
circulating bills. Perhaps even replace the $20 with a $25 bill?

Or the $0.25 coin with a $.20 coin?

Reprogram the cash registers to only one place after the decimal
point.

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?



Easy. For situations like that, we can just mint a 65¢ coin so the
customer could get two 20¢ coins in change. It's so obvious even the
government could do the math.

In article ,
beekeep wrote:

Then how are you going to deal with all of those coins worth $0.25?

They would only be used in pairs for 50 cents. It ain'r rocket
science, there are only ten possible situations.

A coin that is only used in pairs is inefficient, not to mention
bizzare. You might as well permanently join the pairs together--
i.e., issue a single coin that replaces them--since single coins
of that denomination will be a nuisance.

--
"Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS
crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in
TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in
bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."