the latest issue coins when they use them. I live in a place where we have many foreign tourists and when they spend change it seems to me that they often have the latest issue coins. Last year it was the LP's 1-3, not so much in way of 4's as the traffic slows considerably in Oct, and this year they seem to have many of the shield pennies. Oddly they had many of the 09 quarters as well, this year I haven't seen the hot springs quarter yet, but I'm sure I will soon enough. Anybody care to venture a guess as to how or why they have the latest issues of the US coins?
Tourists get first dibs on new mint issues? That's the ticket. We've all got to start posing as tourists to get the new mint products.....:goofer: Ps: What's a tourist look like?
Pretty much everybody else, just talk a little funny compared to most.... Seriously, I'm curious if maybe they exchange money in Europe, as this is where most are from that have the new money, or it is just coincidence? PS, the Japanese seem to have new bills, 50's and 100's especially, for some odd reason as well.
I'm guessing it has to do with where they exchange their currency. Perhaps those places get new shipments in.
My bank uses an armored car service, Dunbar. Dunbar has a processing plat in the area that serves a large city on the east coast. They only order money from the FED when they run out, so as long as money is flowing from the banks to Dunbar, and then back out to the banks, we dont' see new currency at the bank. I can imagine if they are exchanging currency somewhere, that place does not have a lot of circulated coins/bills coming in. So when they run out of money, they order more.
Many years ago I used to buy US error currency from a guy that worked at a currency exchange company in Europe. It was a sweet deal for me for a while. He would find an occasional error in the packs of new bills his company got from the US. He only sold me his bills. I don't know if his company also received new coins from the USA.
There is a good reason why overseas people get fresh banknotes. Main reason is simply because they just prefer to be so or there is a paranoia fear of counterfeits with the older bills especially with the ex-Soviet nations.
That may indeed explain why people from outside the country tend to have new notes. But coins? Hmm, I hardly ever buy dollar notes before traveling here (I'm from Europe but currently am in the US), and I certainly never get coins in advance. So the coins I carry with me are the ones that I get here ... Wait. A few days ago I visited the mint in Philadelphia and used the quarter machine in the lobby. You enter a $1 bill and get four Hot Springs quarters. Did that more than one time, picked and kept two, and am now "busy" releasing the others into circulation. There you go. Christian
I was mostly curious if they went somewhere, traditionally, once they landed in the states. Most of them I speak with tell me they land in NY, then fly to San Fran or Vegas. Just not sure why so many of them have new US coinage.
