Those stinking dollar coins

[Howard]

A customer came in the other day to pay for $87 dollars of wash and fold. She handed over four twenty dollar bills and clank clank clank, seven of those "sack of jawea" metal dollar coins. She apologized but said she had been carrying them around for a couple of weeks and no one else would accept them. Now I have to remember to go to a bank to get rid of them, as none of my customers will accept them as change - they want "real money"

[epic02]

Come on Howard are you just trying to get at Larry? What neck of the woods is your Mat in? I find it hard to believe the customer when she said no one was excepting them, You did. Money is money it all spends the same way. You should take those coins next time you go shopping and see if they except them.

[Howard]

Come on Howard are you just trying to get at Larry? What neck of the woods is your Mat in? I find it hard to believe the customer when she said no one was excepting them, You did. Money is money it all spends the same way. You should take those coins next time you go shopping and see if they except them.


She said everyone kept asking her don't you have something else - they really did not want them. They will probably sit in the ash tray of my are for a good long time till I remember to take them in to the bank with me.

[Super Clean]

Silly Americans, Dollar Coins are good...

[Laundry_Mike]

Silly Americans, Dollar Coins are good...

Spot on. Another nomination for quote of the year!!

[Adamski]

Howard,

Dollar coins have plenty of practical uses for you too: Golden dollar coins under the pillow will produce a surprised grin on that grandchild who just lost a tooth. Use a trail of golden dollar coins for him to follow to find that hidden "special" Christmas gift. Use 2 dollar coins and 2 Christmas ornament hooks to make a set of unique golden dollar coin earings that your wife will really appreciate. Glue 10 dollar coins into a stack and use them as a paper weight. Entertain your friend by pulling a golden dollar coin out from behind his ear. Mix excess dollar coins with roof coating and use to fill potholes in your driveway. Embrace the possibilities and be happy!

Remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer wants to pay for some pastries with a pocket full of coins and the clerk tells him to get out? Maybe that's the same guy who asked, "Don't you have anything else?" when presented with a few dollar coins. It makes great TV but it's a very dumb way to conduct a real business.

[Self_Suds_WV]

I took my bag of quarters to the bank yesterday and the clerk came back with several Canadian quarters and told me the bank would not accept them as part of my deposit.

Just Curious - If Canadian quarters are worth "less", do Candian banks treat American quarters as more than 25c?

Do laundry owners closer to the border have trouble like this or do Canadian and American laundry owners meet on tuesdays at the pub and trade quarters?

My ADC coin drops jam anytime a Canadian quarter is dropped into them so i just put them in a jar for my nephews. The Set-O-Matic coin drops on my Wascomats don't mind them at all.

[BCW]

I took my bag of quarters to the bank yesterday and the clerk came back with several Canadian quarters and told me the bank would not accept them as part of my deposit.

Just Curious - If Canadian quarters are worth "less", do Candian banks treat American quarters as more than 25c?

Do laundry owners closer to the border have trouble like this or do Canadian and American laundry owners meet on tuesdays at the pub and trade quarters?

My ADC coin drops jam anytime a Canadian quarter is dropped into them so i just put them in a jar for my nephews. The Set-O-Matic coin drops on my Wascomats don't mind them at all.

No American bank will accept CANADIAN quarters. This is the USA and we have our own currency. There is an exchange rate on foreign currency. Take them to a Currency Exchange.

Tom

[BCW]

A customer came in the other day to pay for $87 dollars of wash and fold. She handed over four twenty dollar bills and clank clank clank, seven of those "sack of jawea" metal dollar coins. She apologized but said she had been carrying them around for a couple of weeks and no one else would accept them. Now I have to remember to go to a bank to get rid of them, as none of my customers will accept them as change - they want "real money"


"ZING!"

Tom

[Super Clean]

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for my "Quote of the Year" nomination, these means a lot to me.

Second, if you roll your quarters and place the Canadian Quarters into the roll, the bank would never know. A Canadian Twenty Five Cent piece is worth slightly less then an American coin. Our dollar flirts with parity quite often now with the American Dollar so depending on the day of the week it could be worth the same, more or less. I always sort out the American Quarters, roll them and when my parents head south, they bring my rolls into their bank and I get back the bills. We receive usually a dollars worth of American quarters on average per day.

The Canadian quarter is magnetic also, so if there are any magnets in the coin drops they will grab the Canadian quarter, American quarters are not magnetic. I had some older coin drops that would not accept American quarters and would jam. All my new coin drops now accept both currencies.

[CanCanCase]

No American bank will accept CANADIAN quarters. This is the USA and we have our own currency. There is an exchange rate on foreign currency. Take them to a Currency Exchange.

TomTom- Not true... see below.

I took my bag of quarters to the bank yesterday and the clerk came back with several Canadian quarters and told me the bank would not accept them as part of my deposit.

Just Curious - If Canadian quarters are worth "less", do Candian banks treat American quarters as more than 25c?

Do laundry owners closer to the border have trouble like this or do Canadian and American laundry owners meet on tuesdays at the pub and trade quarters?

My ADC coin drops jam anytime a Canadian quarter is dropped into them so i just put them in a jar for my nephews. The Set-O-Matic coin drops on my Wascomats don't mind them at all.
Skagway, Alaska shares a border with Yukon Territories, Canada. Juneau, AK (where I grew up) is 63 miles south of Skagway and actually shares the same border - except that you can't drive to/from Juneau (big glacial ice field in the way!) Over a million tourists come to Juneau each year, and at least half of them have just recently been in Skagway and Whitehorse, Yukon. Physically, the towns are a few hours apart (not like Tijuana and SanDiego) but culturally, people living in Juneau play a BUNCH of hockey, and Skagway bar patrons drink an awful lot of Molson, eh?

For 30+ years I can remember, banks have always accepted the odd Canadian coin as part of a deposit. The paper currency has always been subject to exchange fees and had to be separated from the deposit, but all coins - well, at least penny, nickel, dime and quarter - have flowed freely in and out of both countries. When the loonies and toonies came on scene, we had to start declining those, but as I recall the exchange rate was MUCH more in the US favor at the time, so we could always explain that the Canadian coins were worth less and not accepted.

All of my coin-op pool tables and pinball machines would reject Canadian quarters, but the pool hall up the street had Valley tables which were known in the day for accepting either quarter. If a guy just happened to be over in Whitehorse for the weekend, it was always worth a beer or two to buy a sack of canadian quarters to play pool with... assuming he wasn't any good and actually NEEDED quarters to keep playing pool! Not ever MY problem! ;-)

Anyway, sorry to ramble... Just me trying to expand y'all's world view a bit and remind folks never to speak in absolutes... SOME American banks, under SOME circumstances will accept Canadian quarters mixed in with a deposit.

-Case

[Howard]

Went to the local veggie store today to buy some stuff, it came to $12 and change. So I took out the change and a five dollar bill and those seven "sack of gaweas" and plunked them down on the counter. The hispanic girl wanted to know what they were - I told them they were dollar coins. She called for the manager to see if she could accept them. He asked me if I had anything else, to which I responded no. He reluctanly took them and gave the girl seven real dollars for her till and dumped them into his pocket. Not my problem any more, although I did feel like I was passing conterfeit money :)

[BCW]

Went to the local veggie store today to buy some stuff, it came to $12 and change. So I took out the change and a five dollar bill and those seven "sack of gaweas" and plunked them down on the counter. The hispanic girl wanted to know what they were - I told them they were dollar coins. She called for the manager to see if she could accept them. He asked me if I had anything else, to which I responded no. He reluctanly took them and gave the girl seven real dollars for her till and dumped them into his pocket. Not my problem any more, although I did feel like I was passing conterfeit money :)

That's just a case of ignorance. It's as real as your sarcasm. :D

Tom

[Super Clean]

Skagway is nice, I was there once and yes, I crossed back over into the Yukon.

I think the biggest problem, well there are two, one being paper still in circulation but the one main problem is education. Not living in the States but my general perception is the public as well as business are not properly educated on the Dollar Coin. I was in Vegas, received dollar coins from the machines but the dealers had no clue what they were, even though their own place of work gave them to me.

In order for the dollar coin to become accepted by both the public and business, you need to take the paper bills out of circulation and educate the masses to what the dollar coin is.

Howard, Just think, if you had a 2 - 5's or a 10 dollar bill and a Toonie you could of paid with that as well ;)

[BCW]

Tom- Not true... see below.


Skagway, Alaska shares a border with Yukon Territories, Canada. Juneau, AK (where I grew up) is 63 miles south of Skagway and actually shares the same border - except that you can't drive to/from Juneau (big glacial ice field in the way!) Over a million tourists come to Juneau each year, and at least half of them have just recently been in Skagway and Whitehorse, Yukon. Physically, the towns are a few hours apart (not like Tijuana and SanDiego) but culturally, people living in Juneau play a BUNCH of hockey, and Skagway bar patrons drink an awful lot of Molson, eh?

For 30+ years I can remember, banks have always accepted the odd Canadian coin as part of a deposit. The paper currency has always been subject to exchange fees and had to be separated from the deposit, but all coins - well, at least penny, nickel, dime and quarter - have flowed freely in and out of both countries. When the loonies and toonies came on scene, we had to start declining those, but as I recall the exchange rate was MUCH more in the US favor at the time, so we could always explain that the Canadian coins were worth less and not accepted.

All of my coin-op pool tables and pinball machines would reject Canadian quarters, but the pool hall up the street had Valley tables which were known in the day for accepting either quarter. If a guy just happened to be over in Whitehorse for the weekend, it was always worth a beer or two to buy a sack of canadian quarters to play pool with... assuming he wasn't any good and actually NEEDED quarters to keep playing pool! Not ever MY problem! ;-)

Anyway, sorry to ramble... Just me trying to expand y'all's world view a bit and remind folks never to speak in absolutes... SOME American banks, under SOME circumstances will accept Canadian quarters mixed in with a deposit.

-Case

Ok, maybe around the border. Try that in the heartland areas of the country and they won't take any other currency than our own. It's amazing to me how ignorant and uninformed some Americans are. It's like everyone has drunk too much of the Koolaid our Gov't has been passing around. People have become like sheep!

Tom

[mjwalsh]

A customer came in the other day to pay for $87 dollars of wash and fold. She handed over four twenty dollar bills and clank clank clank, seven of those "sack of jawea" metal dollar coins. She apologized but said she had been carrying them around for a couple of weeks and no one else would accept them. Now I have to remember to go to a bank to get rid of them, as none of my customers will accept them as change - they want "real money"

Howard & others,

Really --- we have to learn how to smile & suggest to those specific people ---- based on their statement ---- they really should be willing & more than happy then --- to make up the difference to our taxpayer cost. Say it like you really mean that there may be a way to make that happen --- with just the right kind of "happy dog" drama! Be sure to have a brand new shiny gold "Lincoln Dollar" with & hopefully give them a worthwhile short history lesson about properly sharing the responsibility for the "deficit" while reflecting on "Lincoln's Image"

http://www.cagw.org/newsroom/gov-waste-watch/2010/spring/watch-dogs-time-to-revisit-the-benefits-of-1-coins.html

Mike Walsh of King Koin of Bismarck

[Howard]

I find it funny that some suggest we have to educate people to use these heavy coins. Don't we small business people always say that markets should decide things and the government should stay out of it. Isn't this a perfect case of the market deciding - they have both products out there (paper and metal) and the public by and large has decided that it likes the paper better. This to me seems the way things should be rather than the government mandating no more paper for you.

[Adamski]

Howard,

Our government makes decisions on our behalf all the time. That's why they're called "Representatives". Our monetary system is not now and never was controlled by citizens. All decisions with reference to our monetary system are made by our elected representatives or by the Treasury Dept or by the Federal Reserve Bank. It is well within the government's realm of responsibility to decide what value and appearance our coins and bills should take.

The dollar coin is not unusually heavy considering its value. It's far more durable than a bill and it's much easier to pull a dollar coin from one's pocket than to pull a bill from one's wallet. Frankly, I don't see what all the drama is about.

[BCW]

Howard,

Our government makes decisions on our behalf all the time. That's why they're called "Representatives". Our monetary system is not now and never was controlled by citizens. All decisions with reference to our monetary system are made by our elected representatives or by the Treasury Dept or by the Federal Reserve Bank. It is well within the government's realm of responsibility to decide what value and appearance our coins and bills should take.

The dollar coin is not unusually heavy considering its value. It's far more durable than a bill and it's much easier to pull a dollar coin from one's pocket than to pull a bill from one's wallet. Frankly, I don't see what all the drama is about.

Our Gov't is actually being irresponsible in their policy on the Dollar coin. Considering the huge deficit that they have incurred. They should save the 100's of millions that they could, by eliminating the paper dollar.

After all, what do you do with singles in your wallet now? You leave them as tips and try to get rid of them asap. They make your wallet too cluttered up and fat. Plus the fives and singles are the most ratty looking worn out bills in circulation.

I suppose if you are against real currency by not accepting cash in your stores you would be against coins.

Tom

[DaveLevenson]

I used to own a couple-hundred pay phones, most of them in northern NJ. I used to find Canadian quarters (and nickels and dimes) in the coinboxes, and Commerce Bank (now called TD Bank -- a Canadian company!) would always reject them when they turned up in my coin deposits. I installed a magnet on my coin-counter so as to separate them from the U.S. coins, and I started putting them aside. Whenever I accumulated about $100 worth, I'd give them to a Canadian friend and neighbor. She travels home to Ottawa every couple of months, and was always happy to haul a box of quarters. She used a few of them for highway tolls along the way, and then deposited them (at TD Bank in Ottawa!) and gave me U.S. Dollars when she returned. I sold the pay phone business earlier this year, and have by now exchanged all of the remaining Canadian coins.

At the laundromat, Keltner and Set-O-Matic coin drops reject ferrous coins. Slides (on the soap vendor), Munzpruffer drops and Greenwald dryer timers accept them. I find very few of them, so it will probably be a long time before I need to send them north.

I have received Dollar coins in change, mostly when visiting the Southwestern region of the US. I have never had any difficulty spending them in the NYC metro area. Last week, I handed one to a waitress as a tip -- her reaction: a big smile, and "Hey, thanks, I like those big shiny ones!"

[STOUT]

Went to the local veggie store today to buy some stuff, it came to $12 and change. So I took out the change and a five dollar bill and those seven "sack of gaweas" and plunked them down on the counter. The hispanic girl wanted to know what they were - I told them they were dollar coins. She called for the manager to see if she could accept them. He asked me if I had anything else, to which I responded no. He reluctanly took them and gave the girl seven real dollars for her till and dumped them into his pocket. Not my problem any more, although I did feel like I was passing conterfeit money :)

So here is one for you. Take a 2 $ bill to these places and watch the reaction of everyone. Even some of our bill machines will not accept them!
You talk about naive and uneducated people and businesses in our own United of States.

[Howard]

Howard,

Our government makes decisions on our behalf all the time. That's why they're called "Representatives". Our monetary system is not now and never was controlled by citizens. All decisions with reference to our monetary system are made by our elected representatives or by the Treasury Dept or by the Federal Reserve Bank. It is well within the government's realm of responsibility to decide what value and appearance our coins and bills should take.

The dollar coin is not unusually heavy considering its value. It's far more durable than a bill and it's much easier to pull a dollar coin from one's pocket than to pull a bill from one's wallet. Frankly, I don't see what all the drama is about.


WOW this is a first, Larry supporting our government crooks, oh I am sorry I meant to say representatives. All polititians should be stricktly limitted to two terms - the fist in office the second in jail. Do you really believe more than a handful of these folks do what is best for us rather than what is best for them.

[CanCanCase]

...The dollar coin is not unusually heavy considering its value. It's far more durable than a bill and it's much easier to pull a dollar coin from one's pocket than to pull a bill from one's wallet. Frankly, I don't see what all the drama is about.

Larry-

Now I know why you wanted that cage in your mat... When you slide a dollar bill in the lady's waistband or garter, it stays put. When you tip a dancer with a dollar coin, it always falls out of the elastic... Combine a few of Larry's dollar coins with the in-house dancing cage, and now all Larry has to do is sweep up the dancefloor in the mornings to add to his collections! You smart guy, you!

-Case

[Adamski]

Case,

Your post about cage dancing reminds me of back when I was about 10 years old (1960). We had a pet monkey named Rosco who lived in a large cage that my dad made for him. I remember that we waited forever for him to arrive at the local Sears store where my dad bought him. Anyway, my dad was a new car dealer at the time so Rosco's cage was in the showroom of the dealership. We lived right above the dealership.

Rosco loved to interact with browsing customers so we had unshelled peanuts available for customers to put in their pocket. Then the customer would just stand close to the cage so Rosco could reach in and pull out the peanut. Well, I cannot tell you how many times a customer stood near the cage expecting Rosco to pull out the peanut when, instead, he'd reach into a different pocket and pull out a pen or a handful of money or a wallet. Rosco was always fun to be around. Ahhh ... the good ole days ... when we had pets instead of iphones.

[BCW]

Case,

Your post about cage dancing reminds me of back when I was about 10 years old (1960). We had a pet monkey named Rosco who lived in a large cage that my dad made for him. I remember that we waited forever for him to arrive at the local Sears store where my dad bought him. Anyway, my dad was a new car dealer at the time so Rosco's cage was in the showroom of the dealership. We lived right above the dealership.

Rosco loved to interact with browsing customers so we had unshelled peanuts available for customers to put in their pocket. Then the customer would just stand close to the cage so Rosco could reach in and pull out the peanut. Well, I cannot tell you how many times a customer stood near the cage expecting Rosco to pull out the peanut when, instead, he'd reach into a different pocket and pull out a pen or a handful of money or a wallet. Rosco was always fun to be around. Ahhh ... the good ole days ... when we had pets instead of iphones.


Ha ha, Larry!

Was that how your Dad was able to get the "down Payment" on his first mat? Good Rosco.

Tom

[MrMachine]

Case,

Your post about cage dancing reminds me of back when I was about 10 years old (1960). We had a pet monkey named Rosco who lived in a large cage that my dad made for him. I remember that we waited forever for him to arrive at the local Sears store where my dad bought him. Anyway, my dad was a new car dealer at the time so Rosco's cage was in the showroom of the dealership. We lived right above the dealership.

Rosco loved to interact with browsing customers so we had unshelled peanuts available for customers to put in their pocket. Then the customer would just stand close to the cage so Rosco could reach in and pull out the peanut. Well, I cannot tell you how many times a customer stood near the cage expecting Rosco to pull out the peanut when, instead, he'd reach into a different pocket and pull out a pen or a handful of money or a wallet. Rosco was always fun to be around. Ahhh ... the good ole days ... when we had pets instead of iphones.

Larry,

I hope Rosco was documented. There he was coming to this country and working his fingers to the bone picking pockets while you rich, upper class people exploited him without free healthcare or food stamps. I hope Rosco's children were able to take advantage of our schools and get in state rates for college tuition.

[Adamski]

Ha ha, Larry! Was that how your Dad was able to get the "down Payment" on his first mat? Good Rosco.

Tom,

My dad actually installed his first laundromat in the showroom of the car dealership. The garage area was used for repairs. My dad even made a hydraulic hoist with a 3' x 3' steel platform so that toploaders could be put on it and lifted to a convenient level for working on them. My dad loved to make things, especially if the thing involved hydraulics.

The equipment was bought used out of a laundromat in Chicago and hauled up to Manistee, Michigan for installation in the former car dealership building. It consisted of 24 nine pound Speed Queen top loaders and 8 fifty pound Small Equipment Co. (Huebsch) dryers along with a Standard 25 cent/50 cent coin changer, a Bruner water softner and a couple of water heaters. All the copper manifolds and anything of value was also brought up from Chicago.

Even with this fairly complete package, my dad still had to hire an electrician to prepare the showroom for the machines. I remember how my dad used to complain about how costly that guy was. Obviously, my dad was not expecting it to cost so much to install this laundromat when he had already bought so much of it. We did the plumbing ourselves (not sure how legal that was) including each leaded joint in the sewer lines.

[ldm]

I think I saw that Monkey stuff 3 $2.00 bills and a dollar coin back in one customers pocket. Apparently Monkey's have opinions too.

[STOUT]

Yes they do; However look how much farther Rosco would be in his retirement package if he would have kept them instead of rejecting them.

[n175h]

Wow,

My customers beg us for those dollar coins in our mat. We have them trade us quarters for dollars for machines. I love those golden dollar coins but hate the SBA's

[surfflite]

Consider us lucky we aren't in Zimbabwe where they have Trillion dollar bills. Interesting fact, in 1985 Zimbabwe's dollar was 1:1 to the US dollar. Today it is 50 trillion:1.


http://www.impactlab.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/zimbabwe-money.jpg

[mjwalsh]

Wow,

My customers beg us for those dollar coins in our mat. We have them trade us quarters for dollars for machines. I love those golden dollar coins but hate the SBA's

n175h & others,

This also seems to be our evolving experience even though we have not made the transition 100% complete yet. There is no question in my mind that eventually the customers who are still resistant will start feeling sheepish about their initial less logical reaction. I honestly believe it would be tougher ---- if we went to only dollar coins & eliminated the quarter option &/or in the case of our car n dog wash ---- eliminated our dollar bill acceptors.

A few subtle bonuses for choosing to use the dollar coin here & there --- seems to be helping also.

MJ

[STOUT]

She said everyone kept asking her don't you have something else - they really did not want them. They will probably sit in the ash tray of my are for a good long time till I remember to take them in to the bank with me.

Howard;

I'll tell you what. You send them to me and I will give you face value in real dollars and I will not even charge an exchange fee!!!

[ldm]

Stout: As best I can tell on this account, Roscoe would be $7.00 ahead in his efforts to retire. But I understand the implication, and I am in the USA "money is money" camp. We have buckets of old $1.00 coins from the Tahoe casino's that Mom left us from her younger days, long before they started using slugs. I suspect the Monkey would keep those.

[Adamski]

Guys,

Roscoe hasn't had this much attention since he had a cameo appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (along with a group of beautiful dancing girls).