Foreign Vending Machine Query...

Every time, here in the U.S, when there is talk about a change in metal composition, the vending machine lobbyists get their pants on fire. With all of the composition changes I have seen in non U.S. coins over the years, how does your country deal with this and the vending industry? Big uproar? Or just change the machines over? Thanks for your input.

 

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https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/212...-as-vending-machines-are-unable-to-take-them/

 

Sounds like a "Royal" Headache! And it doesn't sound like there was much input accepted either. It's going to give the machine techs a "Royal" workout. Thanks for the link.

 

Weeell, the Sun is the Sun. The last paragraphs of this article for example sound a little different.

Around here (euro area) the introduction of the second generation notes initially caused some problems. Many vending machines were apparently not ready for them. As far as I know, that has not been an issue with the other (€10, €20) denominations that were introduced later ...

Christian

 

Those optical readers can cost thousands of dollars to be replaced. All it takes is one idiot with a jackknife to permanently render one useless. I would wonder weather or not the government sent out sample notes prior to the installations. Five years, at least according to this article, should have been plenty of time to have worked the bugs out.

 

I can remember when the first of the new $5 and $10s came out that supermarket self checkouts couldn't accept them.

Canada has changed the composition of their coinage so much it is not even funny, the cent started out heavier than the US cent, then went reduced weight and 12 sided, then to a similar copper plated zinc like the US cent, then to copper plated steel. Then back to copper plated zinc. I wonder what their vending machine owners thought of all that? Well now they don't even have the cent. There are millions more of them circulating in the US than Canada now that the RCM stopped minting and shipping them in 2012.

 

I read somewhere recently that Canada has been re-claiming their cents by the billions in the last couple of years. Very soon to be like the wheat cent.

 

Not only the cent, but also the pure nickel 5 cent coins.

 

It's their alloy recovery program. Pulling all non steel coins out of circulation.

 

I recently read an article that our government is going to start doing the same with the older coins. I can say the last vending machine I ran into either accepted dollars or credit card. But I will say in my travels across country I did run into some old vending machines that did except good old American change. I hate to say it but I look at it this way. It seems currency is in the early change of being phased out. You see it every time you go to the supermarket. People paying their bills with their credit card or debit card. That's one thing I find hard to accept. You go into the grocery store you buy one item. You put that item on a debit card not only do you have to pay for that item but you have to pay for the surcharge of using the debit card. It seems people are getting in the habit of spending more money and getting less. The future does not look that bright for currency. Our lives are going to be based on a debit card.USMC60

 

Not that I am a rabid advocate of plastic or cellphone payments but dealing with coins and bills is certainly not "free" either. Cash logistics can be quite expensive ...

Christian

 

I guess the good old days are far gone. At least in the big city. I can remember a time when I'd say I'd trade you my goat which still gives milk. For a rooster and a couple of egg layers. I guess up north in the country there's still a lot of bartering that goes on. But down in the big city. It's cash or take a hike. And some of them have even got the credit card attachment for their phones. I guess the next phase will be embedding a microchip in your hand or arm. So all you have to do is wave your hand in front of the sensor. My understanding this technology has been available for a long time. Just look at the people who own animals. You have a microchip implanted under the skin. That makes it easily to identify that animal and who it belongs to. It's already being used but not on people yet.But the general public is not ready for its use yet. They say we have the technology. But the people are not ready for it. It has to slowly be released into the public. Just look at the advances over the last hundred years. And I am fortunate to know a man that's 107 years old. And for someone who is actually lived the changes. All he has to say is what's next. He says he's no longer surprised at what can be accomplished.USMC60

 

As a consumer, when I buy something for $1.50 it's $1.50 in cash, or debit or credit card. It's the vendor/ bank/ processor, etc that pays the fee associated with debit/credit cards. The Consumer's doesn't know any different. At least with my various Debit/Credit cards.

 

Don't be fooled, all business costs are passed on to the end consumer.

 

I'll have to agree with you on the dollar 50 for cash. And if your bank doesn't charge you for credit card use or debit card you're lucky. I shouldn't say lucky I should say fortunate. But a lot of people are not that fortunate. I know my credit cards I do not get charged a fee unless I've failed to pay the full amount. And most people nowadays only makes payments. So you're getting that interest charged every month. And I'm sure your credit cards are no different.And at least down here in South Florida. A lot of banks charge you for that debit card use. Couple of friends of mine tell me they get a service charge for using a debit card. It's only $.50 or $.75 a usage. They make sure you pay for the convenience. And you're right about most people, do not even realize it at $.50 or $.75 is taken out of their account. That's one reason you should look at your bill real close. But I avoid all that I pay cash when possible. And I am down to one credit card and I pay it off when the bill comes. But that's a whole different story less move on.

 

But like in the US, by the time this was happening the cent had so low a value that there probably weren't any vending machines (except maybe the occasional gumball machine) that took cents. I'm over fifty and other than the gumball machines I can't recall ever running into a vending machine that took cents. And I don't think I've seen a penny gumball machine in over 20 years.

 

I guess it's been about 20 years. When you could actually buy a piece of gum for a penny. My travels across the United States I've only ran into a couple of them. In the owners tell me it cost them more to put gum into the machine. They say now it's about three cents a gumball. They say they have it in the store because it looks good.

 

Boy no fooling around in GB when the govt. wants to change "change/coins" they just tell big business...get with the program and live with it! No Buffalo Nickel debacle across the pond ey.

 

They had to. The proportion of 1# coins in circulation that were counterfeit is quite high. The Sun said 1 in 30.

At some point it becomes a problem, i.e. Greshams Law: Bad Money drives out good.

 

It has been just about 20 years now since penny candy went bye, bye. I was helping a dear friend run his video store while he was battling cancer and introduced penny candy to the store to try and help drive traffic to the children's section. Worked out for about a year and the distributer raised it to 2 cents. This was around 1995.