My latest letter to the U.S. Mint on redesigning the Kennedy Half for the 50th Year

Couldn't fit "Anniversary in the topic line, so I just put "year" instead. Love it, like it, hate it, despise it, here it is.

Hi,

I just had an idea for a coin proposal, having to do with the half dollar coin. As you may already know, 2014 is the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Half, so I think that a major redesign should be considered. A redesign should include reducing the half's size to in between the size of the nickel, and the quarter dollar coin, making it a polygon-shape similar to Canada's penny and dollar coins, but of a more extreme nonagon shape, as opposed to an octagon shape for example since odd-sided coins work better in vending machines than even-sided coins, and thicker than all other U.S. coins, yet thin enough to work in vending machines, and possibly copper in color to distinguish a new half from any other U.S. coin denomination by looks and feel. I believe that seniors, and many other people who claim that change is "too heavy" would like the idea of a new, smaller half that weighs less than one quarter, let alone two quarters. Plus, this idea, if these halves were accepted, and dispensed as needed by vending machines and self checkout lanes in stores, it would also save the stores and vendors time and money, by eliminating some of the trips to the machines, to empty the quarter tubes. Furthermore, a widely circulating half could cut the minting of quarters by half or so, and save the government millions of dollars each year, just as I have told the Bureau of Engraving & Printing that redesigning and circulating the $2 Federal Reserve note would save millions of dollars a year, in cutting printing costs in half or so of $1 Federal Reserve notes.

As for the half dollar coin redesign idea, I have always read that, the time it normally takes for a redesigned coin to come out is at least two years, and since 2012 is nearing its conclusion, I urge the U.S. Mint to talk with Congress as soon as possible, and the earliest time I could think of the new smaller Kennedy Halves to start being minted, would be mid to late 2013, and a release date would be mid to late 2014 at earliest, if I had to guess, or you could even do a small, four-design series, similar to the cent and the nickel.

So, would you please consider doing a half dollar redesign for a half that could be programmed by weight, size and magnetic signature to be accepted in vending and self checkout machines? (The vending industry tells me that, to accept current the size halves, they would need to redesign and replace their coin mechs, which would be very expensive, where, if the half were smaller, and could fit into a vending machines coin mech, a more simple retooling addition of a coin tube and reprogramming could be done, even though this cost would not be cheap either, but NAMA has told me that retooling for a smaller half would be a lot cheaper, versus redesigning their machines to accept the large half we have now)

If being overstocked at the Mint's storage vaults of a ten year supply of large Kennedy Halves (as I heard the Mint is) is an issue, please consider melting down those old, heavy, unwanted halves, and recycle the metal into the new, smaller halves.

So, once again, please consider talking to Congress, Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner, and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors about this idea.

Thank You for your time.


I CAN"T WAIT TO HEAR FROM "rickmp"! :devil:

 

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I dont know what really to say, I think they should keep it the way it is. Half dollars have been the same size since they first came out, and I dont see how seniors complain about them being to heavy when the dont even weigh an ounce, I could see if they weighed in at a pound or two. Its a great attempt at starting something new, but I dont think its plausable...


And also cost would be cut making quarters, but that money would go right back into making these halves. and also the money saved would go to making vending machines accept this new shsped and sized coin, let alone the man houts it would take to replace every existing machine. And working at a gas station, I NEVER see half dollars being used unless little timmy robbed his parents or grand parents and needs cigarettes or a cigar...

I give you credit for following through on your thoughts and gathering info, but I like halves the way they are. I am no expert but this is my opinion

 

I love the idea, goes great with my post on another forum about a week ago, I'll re-post it here:

US to move to only Dimes and Halves?

Our politicians keep talking about eliminating the penny, but I think to effectively do it we need to move the US coin decimal point: The dime needs to be the smallest denomination. This would require eliminating the penny, the nickel, and the quarter. But it would also require a better half dollar, something most people would be comfortable carrying in quantity. So what if we also replaced the Kennedy with a Sacagawea-colored coin a fraction larger than the current nickel?

I know this has been discussed here to death, but it dawned on me the other day that the problem getting rid of the penny is that both the nickel and the quarter still use fractions less than the next significant digit. If we moved all the way to the dime being the smallest, we would need a terrific half dollar that was smaller so it could be carried in bulk. You should be able to get at least 50 in a handful, something you can't really do with the Kennedy (which is why nobody carries them).

Posted 08/17/2012 at CoinCommunity.com
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Yep. And one, five, and maybe ten-dollar coins.

But it won't happen before the death of physical cash.

 

You know, I don't feel sorry for the vending machine industry one bit. The half dollar has been 30.6mm since 1839. It isn't because the coin doesn't circulate well, NOW, that is the problem. It circulated well enough for more than 125 years. No, it is because the vending industry was (and still is) greedy, and they could save money by not designing a mechanism that would accept the half dollar. When I think back 60 years to the days of my childhood, I don't ever recall most vending machines ever accepting the half dollar. If you look at the cash registers that are made, today, the configuration has not changed for many, many decades. It still has a cash drawer with five change slots - cent, nickel, dime, quarter and half. If the manufacturers of the vending machines had designed them to accept the half dollar, who knows(!), the half dollar might still be a circulating coin, today.

By the way, a redesign taking two years or more is nothing but bureaucratic hogwash and an excuse for ways to waste the taxpayers' money. While the Mint may not rely on taxpayers' funding, the Congress sure does! In case you forgot, the Kennedy half dollar wasn't even planned until the death of JFK in November, 1963, and the Mint was still able to produce more than 477 million of them in 1964.

I'm all for a special 50th Anniversary issue, maybe something on the order of the matte finish that was used for the 1998-S, but let's put the blame for the lack of circulation of the half dollar where it really belongs.

Chris

 

Of course the Mint has no authority to make any of the changes you have suggested. Pressure along these lines need to be applied to the elected representatives and I don't believe the mint can do that. The ten year supply of halves in stock will not be melted because of the reverse seigniorage that would result.

 

I wish the mint would due commerative state halfs and change the Kennedy all together. You'd think with the interest and business the state quarters drummed up this would be a no brainer; would probably also add some interest to the older commerative half market also.

 

The problem is changing the designs on the half dollar as they have on the quarter would be just as effective as the President dollars were. The state quarters were so successful because people USE quarters. So they saw the changes, were intrigued, and looked for and hoarded them. Changing the design on a coin that no one ever sees doesn't do much for increasing use.