11 Jan
1999
11 Jan
'99
1:42 a.m.
There are still a lot of Suzy B dollars in circulation. Among other
things, if you put a $5 bill into a turnstile machine for the trains
that go between New York and New Jersey (PATH), you'll get your
change in dollar coins. The same applies to bus/train ticket
machines for New Jersey Transit. I know that was also the case with
the light rail ticket machines in San Jose back in 90-91, but I have
no idea whether that's still the case. And if the ticket machine
runs out of Suzy Bs, you wind up with a major load of quarters.
Ward Griffiths
"the timid die just like the daring; and if you don't take the plunge then
you'll just take the fall" Michael Longcor
On Mon, 11 Jan 1999, Joe wrote:
At 06:56 PM 1/10/99 -0600, you wrote:
At 12:53 PM 1/9/99 +1030, you wrote:
The biggest reason that the US government was considering switching to a
dollar coin was the satisify the vending machine owners. They were losing
sales because many items sold for more than a dollar and people didn't
carry enough change to make the purchases. The owners claimed they couldn't
make a machine that would take bills but soon another company started
marketing a change machine and when they did it killed the demand for a
dollar coin. The public never liked the dollar coins and the banks seldom
gave them out unless you asked for them.
Are they polymer rather than paper like all ours
are now?
Still paper, but with a few more security features.
To save money, the govt withdrew all coins below
5c, we now have $1 & $2
coins,
The US could have hundreds of millions of dollars by doing that (at least
$1 coins) but it has been demonstrated around the world that the only way
to do that *successfully* is to pull the bills out of circulation
immediately as the coins are released.
Our "Susie B" dollar was a failed attempt -- becuase the bill was not
pulled.
FORCING the public to use it is not my idea of success!
People claim silly things like it was too close in size to the
quarter (BS - try it sometime) or it was too
heavy.
It is too heavy compared to a bill. Try putting ten or twenty of them in
your pocket and carry them around for a day!
Joe