Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am Posts: 91597 Location: Sector 7-G
loralei wrote:
We have automated ticket machines for the T now (our subway). If you put in a 20 dollar bill for 5 dollars worth of tickets, you get 15 one dollar coins back. Great.
I see you're from Boston. I fucking hate the new charlie card system and that is one of the main reasons. The other reason is that the new gates are much harder to jump.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:54 pm Posts: 12287 Location: Manguetown Gender: Male
punkdavid wrote:
We should get rid of dollar bills while we're at it. Dollar coins are more cost effective, and with all the space in your pocket from the missing pennies, people won't mind a couple more dollar coins.
The problem that coins tend to get heavy, i had this problem whine on Canada.
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:56 pm Posts: 19957 Location: Jenny Lewis' funbags
cutuphalfdead wrote:
loralei wrote:
We have automated ticket machines for the T now (our subway). If you put in a 20 dollar bill for 5 dollars worth of tickets, you get 15 one dollar coins back. Great.
I see you're from Boston. I fucking hate the new charlie card system and that is one of the main reasons. The other reason is that the new gates are much harder to jump.
we ran into these on our last trip to Boston. It kinda threw us for loop since we weren't expecting it. My buddy got stuck with about $17 worth of dollar coins too
We have automated ticket machines for the T now (our subway). If you put in a 20 dollar bill for 5 dollars worth of tickets, you get 15 one dollar coins back. Great.
I see you're from Boston. I fucking hate the new charlie card system and that is one of the main reasons. The other reason is that the new gates are much harder to jump.
I'd like the new system if it actually saved money. My T-pass is going up to $189 per month from $149 (mine covers the commuter rail and all services). wtf? There is NO way the commuter rail is losing money, they should have just raised the regular subway rates.
And they now closed the Arlington St. stop for renovations. Now I have to walk all the way over to another ancient entrance. The long and dark hallway screams rape me.
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Thu Dec 14, 12:26 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Given rising metal prices, the pennies and nickels in your pocket are worth more melted down than their face value — and that has the government worried.
U.S. Mint officials said Wednesday they were putting into place rules prohibiting the melting down of 1-cent and 5-cent coins. The rules also limit the number of coins that can be shipped out of the country.
"We are taking this action because the nation needs its coinage for commerce. We don't want to see our pennies and nickels melted down so a few individuals can take advantage of the American taxpayer," Mint Director Edmund Moy said in a statement.
Officials said they had received a number of inquiries from the public in recent months concerning the value of the metal in the coins and whether it was legal to melt them.
The new regulations prohibit the melting of 1-cent and 5-cent coins, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for people convicted of violating the rule.
The rules also require that shipments of the coins out of the country be for legitimate coinage and numismatic purposes and cap the size of any one shipment to $100 worth of the coins.
Because of the prevailing prices of copper, zinc and nickel, the cost of producing pennies and nickels exceeds the face value of the coins.
A nickel is 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper. The metal in one coin costs 6.99 cents for each 5-cent coin. When the Mint's cost of producing the coins is added, the total cost for each nickel is 8.34 cents.
Modern pennies have 2.5 percent copper content with zinc making up the rest of the coin. The current copper and zinc in a penny are worth 1.12 cents. The cost of production drives the cost of each penny up to 1.73 cents.
Pennies made before 1982, which are still in circulation, would be even more lucrative to melt down because they contain 95 percent copper and only 5 percent zinc. The metal value in those coins is 2.13 cents per coin, Mint officials said.
The new regulations are being published in the Federal Register and will go into effect as interim rules which will not become final until the government has a chance to consider possible modifications based on public comments.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:14 am Posts: 37778 Location: OmaGOD!!! Gender: Male
Buggy wrote:
punkdavid wrote:
Interesting trivia question:
Do you know why quarters and dimes have milled (ridged) edges while pennies and nickels do not?
It makes it harder to shave off the metal?
Easier actually, but more obvious.
When coins were made out of gold and silver, people used to shave the edges of coins and melt the shavings, but since it was a pressed coin, the coin didn't lose value. Milling on the edges was designed to prevent that.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:44 pm Posts: 8910 Location: Santa Cruz Gender: Male
Makes sense.
Another interesting fact. I've actually done this myself, and it's worked every time...if you come across a parking meter that accepts dimes, take a penny and rub down the edge of it on the sidewalk until it will fit into the dime slot. Usually it will give you a whole bunch of time. Sometimes, it even fills the meter to the max.
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 2:29 pm Posts: 6217 Location: Evil Bunny Land
Buggy wrote:
Makes sense.
Another interesting fact. I've actually done this myself, and it's worked every time...if you come across a parking meter that accepts dimes, take a penny and rub down the edge of it on the sidewalk until it will fit into the dime slot. Usually it will give you a whole bunch of time. Sometimes, it even fills the meter to the max.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 7:44 pm Posts: 8910 Location: Santa Cruz Gender: Male
Gimme Some Skin wrote:
Plus, I have no sympathy for providing the city with my parking funds. I once lived in an apartment that only had street parking. On one side of the street, you were not allowed to park from 2pm-4pm and on the other side of the street you were not allowed to park from 5pm to 7pm. For one, there was absolutely no reason for this (low traffic area, not street cleaned). And two, after getting ticketed several times myself, and seeing lots of others getting ticked I approached one of the officers giving people tickets and asked him about it. He said what were supposed to do it park on one side, then when the time comes, you must move the car across the street, and when that is done, you can then move your car back across the street. I was dumbfounded at the stupidity.
Alright, and then to go above and beyond that, there was another time that I woke up and went outside on a saturday morning, only to find that the entire street was blocked off and my car (and others) had been towed. Apparently, sometime early in the morning, like 1am, the city people cam by and posted signs saying that if you didnt move your car by 10am, it will be towed because they were blocking off the street for some kind of race.
Post subject: Re: Penny Costs 1.23 Cents to Make; Nickel, 5.73
Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:25 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
This seems to be the "Introducing New Money" thread.
Here's you're new five dollar bill, America!
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
Court says money discriminates against blind people
WASHINGTON - The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills' varying values, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings.
The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years.
"I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is," said Mitch Pomerantz, the council's president.
The U.S. acknowledges the design hinders blind people but it argued that blind people have adapted. Some relied on store clerks to help them, some used credit cards and others folded certain corners to help distinguish between bills.
The court ruled 2-1 that such adaptations were insufficient. The government might as well argue that, since handicapped people can crawl on all fours or ask for help from strangers, there's no need to make buildings wheelchair accessible, the court said.
Courts can't decide how to design the currency, since that's up to the Treasury Department. But the ruling forces the department to address what the court called a discriminatory problem.
Pomerantz says it could take years to change the look of money and until then, he expects that similar-looking money will continue to get printed and spent. But since blindness becomes more common with age, people in the 30s and 40s should know that, when they get older, "they will be able to identify their $1 bills from their fives, tens and twenties," he said.
Officials at the Treasury Department and the department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which prints the nation's currency, had no immediate comment on the ruling. The government could appeal to the Supreme Court.
While the government has been fighting to overturn the lower court ruling, it has been taking some steps toward modifying U.S. currency for the visually impaired.
The most recent currency redesign of the $5 bill introduced in March features a giant "5" printed in purple on one side of the bill to help those with vision problems distinguish the bill.
The appeals court also ruled that the U.S. failed to explain why changing the money would be an undue burden. The Treasury Department has redesigned its currency several times in recent years, and adding features to aid the blind would come at a relatively small cost, the court said.
Other countries have added such features, the court said, and the U.S. never explained what made its situation so unique.
Post subject: Re: Penny Costs 1.23 Cents to Make; Nickel, 5.73
Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 11:21 pm
too drunk to moderate properly
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 7:19 pm Posts: 39068 Location: Chapel Hill, NC, USA Gender: Male
given2trade wrote:
wow - the cost to fix this would be massive.
the article says the treasury failed to prove that it would be anything more than a minuscule cost.
The keep redesigning bills for security, and they keep redesigning quarters and dollars no one wants to make the "cool."
They'll pay for the cost by making little plastic encased collectible bills.
_________________ "Though some may think there should be a separation between art/music and politics, it should be reinforced that art can be a form of nonviolent protest." - e.v.
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