Mint requests return of coins to circulation

You get my 2nd best answer

 

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We’ll fish your change. That what we do. I’m still hooked on cents. Your a great American

 

The wheaties Are like finding silver for me. I chase cents and nickels. And that @JCro57 stuff

 

Just blame us @charley lol

 

Lol

 

I always spend my change as soon as possible.

I am blameless.

 

The reality is there is still a underground economy that deals in cash. Working under the table for cash is still a thing. Of course drug dealing and other crime activities still use cash. Here in California we have many undocumented people from Mexico and Central America and cash is what they mostly deal in

 

I use cash a lot. It can’t be tracked like a credit card can.

 

Thank you for explaining all that Jeff!

I sure hope we don't see hyperinflation in the US any time soon.

I also hope you are right about cash declining predictably and not abruptly. The decline in the past year has felt kind of abrupt. I thought we dodged an inflation bullet after 2020 ended. So much for that.

But world events can happen abruptly and can also affect the dollar. I'm just hopeful that nothing will cause any more inflation in the U.S. I think we've all had enough!

 

Thankfully our Dollar is strong vs the Euro. As I'm writing this, the Dollar is equal in value to the Euro. I remember not too many years ago when the Dollar was much weaker than the Euro. I buy coins on Italian eBay where they use the Euro. Before if the coin was valued at 100 Euro's I would have to pay $150. USA for that coin. Now it's the same price for USA buyers. I'm enjoying the level playing field when I bid on Italian coin auctions.

 

Is it level, though? There are many variables that cause me to pause as to the definition of equal and/or level, between international value, when purchasing any commodity. It is without a doubt that the commodity price was/is reset, on the Exchange Market.

 

I've been hoarding nickels and dimes forever. I use cash for nearly every purchase I do so have quite a load of them after 20 plus years. Too much work to haul them all to the bank. If they want to come and get them and give me paper money for them I'll let them go.

 

There's a very good case to be made for returning coins into the economy and for using cash in general. Obviously the rate of inflation reduces the stored value over time, but also important is the prevalent use of credit and debit cards. It doesn't matter what the currency is, but if you spend 100 whatevers on an item and pay cash, the recipient has 100 to spend. Pay on a card and the bank/card processor will skim off 1-3%.

Extrapolating forward, within half a dozen transactions the system has extracted 20% of the original 100s value, whereas with cash transactions, the sixth person in line still has 100 to play with. i.e the banking system is in itself inflationary, as the various recipients will need to generate a certain income. To make that income, the options are either to increase prices to allow for costs, or sell a larger number of items at the same price. Usually the former is applied. So, it is in everyone's interest to use cash wherever possible. The banks do not need to be involved in face to face transactions, only remote payments.

Collectors holding onto pots of cash are a red herring, as they only account for a small percentage of the population.

 

Collectors are not the problem. Many of us could care less about the clad stuff, nickels, cents made of zinc and the stuff they use to make “little brown dollars.” It’s the spending patterns and inflation that has changed coin usesge patterns. Unfortunately the quarter is fast becoming “the new penny.”

 

This. If They want us to start spending more coins, They need to start making coins that carry non-trivial value.

When was the last time you could pay for a meal or a movie or a fill-up with change? Without ticking off the cashier and the people waiting in line behind you? It's been a long, long time.

 

On the other hand, pay with a card, and a bunch of bank and credit-card employees and shareholders get a tiny boost. And with nearly everybody paying with cards, all those boosts together put food on the table for... well, I don't know how many people in total, but banks alone in the US employ upwards of 2.5 million people, according to official figures.

And if enough people pay cash, the merchants have to pay more to armored-car companies and maybe more in-store security.

When you're talking about an economy, almost nothing is really "just that simple".

 

a small USPS flat rate box full of cents weighs 13 lbs. My mail carrier lady has finally forgiven me.

 

Two days ago!
I save my quarters until I get $10 of them, then bring a tube of them with me to my favorite lunch spot, then I pay an even $10 that gives them change that they need, and I get rid of my extra quarters. They are delighted to get the change and it doesn't really take longer than just using a $10 note. The key is I am not counting anything out at the cash register, so no time wasted.

 

Sure, there'll always be special circumstances.

But a roll of quarters weighs... almost exactly 20 ounces, one and a quarter pounds. How many pounds of change do you want to carry around on a regular basis? In your pocket, or do you have a change backpack?