Idea I had for the nickel and half that I posted in the "Canada's last cent" thread

Guys,

I know that many people have said that halves were too big for vending machines, and people also agree that the U.S. cent should join the Canadian cent in the "Coin Graveyard" (or woud that be, the scrapyard ) and then there is the problem with the U.S. nickel costing too much to mint. Well, I do not think that changing the metal composition in the nickel (or the cent for that matter) will help too overly much, so I have proposed an idea. Three ideas actually.

Idea #1 Get rid of the U.S. One Cent coin completely, EXCEPT, still mint them for collectors, including mint sewn bags to be sold at a premium that is so high, that it makes "cents" to still mint them, for people who might want to collect or goof around and spend a few cents around town, having a cashier thinking "Where am I going to put these things in my till?" :too-funny: :devil:

Idea #2 Redesign, and resize the nickel to be the size of, or maybe even, a little small than the cent used to be, but still noticibly bigger than our current dime, and make it out of a cheaper metal. Maybe even reverse the dime-sized coin to be the new nickel, and have the new cent-sized nickel be the cent-sized dime, in order for these coins to be worth less than their face value in melt value.

Idea #3 Redesign and resize the half dollar to be the size and weight of the nickel to save on minting quarters, and the amount of metals used in minting halves.

Sure, this would be a big cost to vendors, so we might as well throw in a $1 bill redesign into the mix, just to update ole George's dang look, as long as these companies will be tearing their machines apart, to make adjustments for the new coinage to be accepted and dispensed.

Also, I know it would take a while for people to get used to these changes, but, maybe the cent should be done away with, and the nickel should be made the size of the dime, the dime, the size of the cent, the quarter the size of the nickel the half the size of the quarter, and the dollar could remain as it is. Or maybe, space the sizes of ALL U.S. coins out a bit so that, with this new system, we KNOW what denomination we are dealing with.

Well, thats about all I have to say on the matter for now.

 

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That would mean that anyone (like me) who has horded nickels will suddenly find their coins worth a half a buck in a vending machine.

You'll be back.

 

Ya, they couldn't keep the same size and weight unless they altered the exchange rate of the old change. I suppose we could wake up one morning and the fed would say, "all pennies are worth 5 cents, all nickels are worth 50 cents". Then it would take a couple of years to get most of the old change taken out of circulation and converted into newly minted, correctly marked coinage. Something like this wouldn't be unheard of, when mexico moved the decimal point one place in their peso everyone's coinage increased in value by 10x overnight (coin hoarders got lucky).

Problem is, the penny sized nickel wouldn't be of use in vending machines, as most currently are not capable of taking pennies. There would also be a transition period for vending machines to be recalibrated for the new exchange rates. In the end though, it may make economic sense to do something like this, it's not a horrible idea.

 

So to make these changes workable, do you propose we have two coins the same size but different denominations circulating the the same time(impossible) or remove all change one day and replace with the new coins the next day(even more impossible).
I think you need to rethink your proposals.

 

I would say its cleaner just to redesign all coins at once. Make the vending machines change just one time. Eliminate the cent, make a small copper colored 5 cent piece, make the dime a little larger than 5 cent piece, quarter a touch larger than current nickel, half dollar about the size of a current quarter, then have the dollar coin and spec out a $2 coin for future minting. This way all of our coins now and in the future can go into vending machines, we would use 50 cent pieces again, and eliminate the dollar bill, and eliminate the $2 when we make a coin.

Sorry, but having our old oddball sizes based upon what metal used to be in the denominations makes no sense. Looking around the world we have the worst coinage system in terms of anyone trying to learn it from a foreign country. Might as well update the whole shebang in one fell swoop. Who else has their 2 smallest denominations LARGER than a bigger denomination? Why do we refuse to put numerals on our coins? Someone should tell the mint the whole world does not speak English, or know what a "dime" is.

 

I think that 5c, 10c, 25c, and $1 coins would be sufficient (50c coin doesn't help much). The only way that people will switch to $1 coins, however, is if they remove $1 bills from circulation.

 

I'm not sure to what you're referring of as when Mexico debased their currency in 1993, they moved the decimal point three places to the left. This meant that the $1000 peso coins were now only $1 Nuevo Peso. The old coins were legal at their debased rate for a while while they issued new coins.
The only thing hoarders would've gotten was melt from their obsolete, debased coins one the goverment demonetized them (if they ever did).

 

Yes Coin Geezer! I'm back. Just like the Terminator.

Anyway, I forgot to think of how the coins could not have the same weight and magnetic signature as the coins they would replace, or the government and vendors would get ripped off. So how about, same size, different weight, different magnetic signature?

 

I say we go back to trading cows and jackasses.......

And I do believe I may be over my nitely ration o' bourbon........never mind.

 

4 ideas that are definitely not as radical:

1. Limit production of cents and nickels to 75 million each
2. Mint half dollars for general circulation (they aren't THAT big)
3. Get rid of the $1 bill
4. Make the dime 25% larger and thicker

 

It's quite possible that I'm talking of my rear end with this, I'm basing it on what I was told by a Mexican girl that I dated a couple of years ago. She said that they retained the same coinage when shifting to the new Peso, so the coinage increased in value overnight. Suppose I should research these things a bit before assuming that they are true.

 

They could eliminate the cent and nickel, or they could make cuts that make sense like reducing the management. Used to be the mint had a director and a supervisor who managed operations. Today there is three times as many managers as actual employees making coins. Talk about ineficient waste.
Guy

 

Just eliminate the cent, except a few for collectors, (they would make a mint selling those, so to speak) and the dollar bill. Make vending machines accept dollar coins. And please, redesign all US coins.

 

I like that Guy. Lets prune a bit o' dead wood.......

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you've had enough bourbon for the rest of the night

 

Oh, this coming from the guy that's facing the wrong way.........