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Uncut Currency

usmint.gov

141–150 of 421 posts

Re: Uncut Currency

#141
post #45

Why is the US one of the few countries that can't keep a consistent design across their bills and still does not have a way for blind people to identify which note they have. They are all the same size and have no embossed markings.

The thing I cannot fathom is why quarters are so huge, considering they’re nearly valueless. Then you need whole stacks of $1 bills to pay anything relevant. I find both constantly cluttering up my wallet.

The question is why are you using cash? Even my 82 year old dad is now using Apple Pay and both of my parents mostly use credit cards/debit cards.

The only time I keep cash is for tipping, my wife and I travel a lot.

Re: Uncut Currency

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please cite some examples of how the U.S. treats disabilities as personal failings, compared to specific other countries.

Pre-existing conditions, which as far as I'm aware, is a US-only concept. I'm happy to be corrected for that, though.

What about pre-existing conditions? Like, for buying health insurance? That stopped being a thing like 15 years ago.

Re: Uncut Currency

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

But the US has some of the best disability friendly infrastructure. The whole ADA compliance is taken very seriously here.

I work in accessibility. The ADA is barely acknowledged. Every automatic door, curb cut, and accommodation is still a tough fight.

Re: Uncut Currency

#144
post #91

TIL there are $100,000 bills and they are illegal to possess https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-hundred-th...

Similarly, the Bank of England uses £100,000,000 notes internally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_England_%C2%A3100,000,...

Somewhat vaguely related to this, not all bank notes in the UK are made equal. Good luck getting someone in England to accept an Ulster Bank, Danske bank, or Bank of Ireland note, despite them all being pound sterling notes issued in the UK worth the exact same amount.

Re: Uncut Currency

#145
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Printing money costs money too.

But these notes stop the printing process early—the purchaser is on the hook to cut them out. So these should cost less than the fully printed and cut bills if we're going by pure cost of creation. Do banks pay upwards of $1.50 on the dollar for new bills?

No, but the US mint pays 3c to make each 1c coin, so there's that!

Re: Uncut Currency

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is so weird about its currency. The repeated attempts to get rid of the dollar bill (dollar coins, two-dollar bill, etc.) have all "failed". I put "failed" in quotes, because all it requires is for the government to do it. Take the one-dollar bills out of circulation, no discussion, done. At this point, take the two-dollar bills (no one will notice) and the penny as well.

A lot of people rely on the bills. You are completely out of touch with the people with your attempt to sabotage the printed currency.

That’s more of an issue with the US financial infrastructure. There are plenty of poorer countries where mobile payments are more the norm than in the US.

Re: Uncut Currency

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The insistence on cotton paper money is part of the problem. Canada’s banknotes are all the same size but because they’re polymer, have a brail punch in them. Edit: not braille but a system of raised dots nonetheless: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/audience-specific-reso...

I personally far prefer the cotton paper money over any polymer notes or coins and hope we keep using it despite any other potential changes to the sizes or designs or whatever.

Why?

Re: Uncut Currency

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people rely on the bills. You are completely out of touch with the people with your attempt to sabotage the printed currency.

That’s more of an issue with the US financial infrastructure. There are plenty of poorer countries where mobile payments are more the norm than in the US.

Great idea. We should endeavor to be a poorer country with even less ability to escape corporate surveillance.

Re: Uncut Currency

#150

TIL there are $100,000 bills and they are illegal to possess https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-hundred-th...

Wikipedia claims that they are illegal to possess, but their source for that claim is an Investopedia article that doesn’t cite any law or other source. I’m skeptical.

(Professional coin & currency nerd here)

They’re illegal not because of a law but because they were never issued for public use. They were used (briefly) for internal treasury / fed transfers. (Sort of like the mythical trillion-dollar coin that gets talked about every time the debt ceiling conversation comes up).

Because they were never issued privately or meant for use outside of the treasury system, if an individual were to own one it’s because it was stolen or otherwise improperly taken from the treasury.

There are rumors that a few exist in private collections (and I’ve heard of one a single degree away from me), but I’ve never seen it or confirmed that it’s anything more than a rumor.

There is one in the Smithsonian national collection however, and if you get an appointment to view the collection you can see and hold it. Pretty cool.

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