Is a "cash-less" society pushing us toward lower mintage coins?

when I'm buying something - i like to remain anonymous so its mostly cash for me plus i sleep better at night that my debit card number is not floating around.

one guy at my work last month was in sheer panic when someone stole his debit card number and was on shopping spree. luckily he caught it in time before the transactions cleared and ran down to his bank. I think the stores got stiffed because most of his money was not taken from his account but the crooks got the merchandise. its so easy for crooks to steal from you without you even seeing them.

 

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Huh??? Had I wanted to ask a rhetorical question, I would not have posted it to the forum.

 

No arguments here, I hate checkbooks as bad as credit cards:smile When a person has paid for everything in cash all their lives everything else just isn't right. When I pay my bills I write a check. When I want something I PAY CASH. No bills rolling in, no late fees, no worries. I owe nobody nothing and I done it w/o ever having a piece of plastic... :hail:

 

The why this response?

"Back to the OP, I said "Will it drive down the mintages in the immediate future?" not "Will we eliminate coins altogether?"

The elimination of working coinage is part and parcel of your question. The elimination of minting of working coinage could come at any time.

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I realize that the theory is that we will evenyually be a completely paperless society, however there will for a long long time be a need for cash in transactions between private individuals. I am talking about garage sales, small road side stands, etc.

 

We already have it here! It's called "Tigo cash" (tigo is the mobile company). Basically you made electronic transactions sending SMS.

 

Back to the plastic, when I was in Denmark the Hotel charged me an extra fee for paying in cash instead of credit card.
I must clarify that I had DKK, not EUR or USD.

 

Extra for cash!
wow what has this world come too!

 

Cost x-tra not to be monitored. Thats what its all about...

 

I learned about this or something like this in school...

The plan was/is to implant it in newborns' hands. Then to pay, they swipe their hand over a scanner similar to a credit card. It keeps track of all their finances. Never a need for cash or even a bank account ever again. Theft would be virtually impossible. At least this was the theory. I learned about it around a decade ago, and they were talking about implementing it in our lifetimes.

 

The response was due to the fact that neither I nor a couple of other people I asked could figure out what the heck you were saying.

I am talking about working coinage and the mintages of them. I never mentioned collectors. Now, I admit that the issues in places are a bit intertwined. The minting of Kennedy halves, Sac dollars and Presidential dollars, commemorative Lincoln cents in 2009, and Jefferson nickels in 2004 and 2005 sold directly to collectors from the Mint has largely been done with the collecting community (and a nice profit) in mind. Save for the Jeffersons and Lincolns, these coins might have no mintage at all if not for the direct to collector sales. I think that these coins fit more into the category of Mint Set satin finish coins; they are largely made with collectors in mind, a "special" coin if you will, and the government could make them until the cows come home.

The mintages I refer to in the OP are for circulating coins.

People used to be satisfied with collecting from their pocket change and the coins they collected were the ones intended for commerce. No extra mintages for collectors, coins were minted strictly with bank orders in mind. You couldn't find a 1916-D Merc dime because they just didn't make many, but it was possible that you could find it in your next change of a dollar.

This is the roots of coin collecting. The old fashioned doesn't cost you anything over face type of collecting that seems to be long lost on much of the coin community. Too much focus on value and investment. Although condition was always the thing that collectors prized in their coins, the idea of value was that you were proud to have found a coin at face and that if someone wanted it from you that you could make a profit. It was a badge of honor.

Today's collecting focuses much more on value, price paid, price sold for and thanks to the internet, being able to find just about any coin in very high grade to assemble dream sets of the very finest coins known for a particular type.

I am always trying to re-kindle the idea that coins can still be collected from your change. that it can be done for fun and not profit. that you can enjoy this hobby without having to spend 1 dime, you merely have to save one.

 

OK then. I think we're on the same page now. I dread the day that working coinage will disappear and I fear it is coming soon. I too am partial to the working coinage and have little use for coins minted entirely for the collectors. It's like ordering 'collectibles' from the Franklin Mint. They're just trinkets.

 

Another thing to consider. Right now the FEDs are considering doing away with sending out Social Security checks to anyone who recieves them now, instead of having them direct deposited, and issueing these people a debit card, in which they would deposit the money each month. Not sure how they are going to work it if you don't have a bank account, but that is the latest talk.

Dave USNR and Disabled Vet

 

I believe it is hard for some to count change. I've seen a few cashiers struggle when counting out change. It's quite sad actually.

 

having been a retail store manager for some years one of the very first things that I taught a cashier to do was to count change. It amazed me how many experienced cashiers were completely lost if the register didn't tell them how much change to give. Quite sad, actually. It doesn't really qualify as a skill and yet, it's something that most needed to be taught.

 

As stated previously, there will always be a need for hand to hand transaction,, i.e. garage sale, flea market, giving your buddy the 10 bucks you owe him etc. The most difficult system for the government to track would be a barter system of exchange,,, gold, silver, cigarettes what ever, so in my opinion it will be a very long time before they create a nightmare (such as a barter society to make small exchanges) and will leave the currency system in effect for well passed our lifetimes IMHO!

 

where did the elimination of coins come to mean a barter system?

More and more transactions are handled virtually or electronically. Debit cards, credit cards and smart cards all eliminate the need for coin. Does your state toll road system now have an electronic pass system instead of paying at a booth?

These are all things that are eliminating the need for coin in our society. This is not to say that they will completely eliminate it, but lessen the amount necessary for commerce.

As I had previously stated, it behooves the government to eliminate cash transactions as electronic transactions are easier to track and document thus make collecting sales taxes, etc. much easier. As government starts to fully realize the potential fiscal repercussions of electronic transactions, look for them to prefer these types of payment. When government (who mints the coins anyway) decides to take a specific direction there is very little to get in their way.

 

This is my point, it does not behoove the government to eliminate cash transaction, when in fact that as soon as the government ever did eliminate cash transactions, we the people will fill that void with a barter system which the government would be very hard pressed to track in any form. The government would absolutely never wish us to create our own barter system, in fact they would rather allow us a small insignificant amount of breathing room off their radar (but in essence still within the confines of their own financial system) than for us to create our own in the absence of the perfectly traceable system that they already have in place.

 

the government has no wish to corner the people in any aspect of control, for if you corner a person they will defend themselves all the more fiercely, if you create a path how ever small for them to use than chances are they will flee instead of fight and they will still be moving in the direction of the governments choosing. The Cash system is created, maintained, and solely regulated by the government. How would it be easier for them to eliminate this and allow us the choosing by which to replace it, where as they will have not created it, nor will they be capable of regulating it?