Fun stuff

[guanin]

Today I paid for something. In the paying process, I took some loose change out of my bag and stared at it for five full seconds. I figured out instantly that the big coins were 25 cents, but those little thing ones which I've known my entire life are dimes, which is equivalent to 10 cents? Ha! Now way. I didn't know if they were 5 or 10 cents. The thing is, the British 5 pence coin is about the same size and since that's what I go with I didn't know anymore. *head desk* I just handed it to the teller with this dubious look on my face, like, "Is this correct?" Oh god.

Though it's fun to have four different kinds of currency in your bag. I got US dollars, euros, pounds, Mexican pesos... Fun.

Comments

[visiblemarket.livejournal.com]

So do you want a discussion about dollarization and/or exchange rates, nominal and relative? Because I can provide one. Seriously. I can.

But basically it'll just come down to this. Money is weird.

[guanin.livejournal.com]

Uh, no thank you. That sounds a little intimidating. My problem was reserved to the physical aspect itself of the coin.

Money is weird, though I'm afraid I only know the physical side of this. Why the hell is a nickel bigger than a dime? And in England, too. Why is the 2 pence coin bigger than the 20p one? Is there no sense in the world?

[visiblemarket.livejournal.com]

I know that they are generally speaking different sizes so that blind people will be able to handle change (which is also why in some countries bills are different sizes, depending on denomination, so god knows why they don't do it in the US). Nickel (or more accurately, whatever nickel alloy they use to make nickels) is probably cheaper than whatever silver alloy they use to make dimes. That's presuming they still use silver to make dimes, which I don't think they do. Pennies are especially weird because these day's their basically worthless, cause more than a penny to make, therefore costing the US mint money. But it's got Lincoln on it, so the state of Illinois (among others) tends to put up a fight at the suggestion of eliminating them. True story.

[guanin.livejournal.com]

If they were all the same size, I'd be going nuts. But wouldn't it make more sense for them to increase the size of the coins with the denominations? Wouldn't that make it easier for everyone? And why does the dime say "One dime" versus "ten cents"? What do tourists do when they first come to the US and are figuring out the coins and see that? "What's this dime thing? I thought it was cents! Ah!"

Those darn Illinois people. *shifty eyes*
I wonder how much the two pence coins costs to make. Cause they're really big and hefty.

[drakochi.livejournal.com]

You lost me when you started to talk about "pences"... XD The only kind of money I know is CAN $, but I think US change is similar to the Canadien one. But I don't think that the Americans have Loonies and Toonies (1$ and 2$ coins).

Anyway, I am glad that I have to deal with only one currency.

[guanin.livejournal.com]

Pence is plural, actually. Penny is the singular form. Hence why the 1 cent coin is called a penny. 5 pence (p)=5 cents. The government has been trying for years with $1 coins and $2 bills, but it keeps failing. There is a $1 coin around now, but they are rarely seen and it's such a bother because merchants don't like them, though they have to accept them. US people just don't like loose change, so adding another coin is futile. Euros and pounds do have 1 and 2 in coin form. The smallest bill is 5.

I do find it very cool to have so many different forms of currency. I got a Chinese one in my change once. Speaking of, do you ever get US quarters in your change? Because we get Canadian quarters in ours all the time. They look practically the same.

[drakochi.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I find American quarters, but most of the times it is American pennies that I can not get rid of. We have enough of our Canadien ones, no need more. XD

[guanin.livejournal.com]

I sometimes want to try slipping some in my change anyway and hope the cashier won't notice, but I always chicken out.

[drakochi.livejournal.com]

Really? The cashiers don't accept Canadian change? That's weird. When I was working as a cashier in a super market I always got U.S change. And it bothered no one. And we could accept it. If I had a huge line up I was not about to count every penny and dime that I had.

Though if it was any other change then we did not accept it. No Ma'am, we do not accept roubli or euros.

What I wonder is how Americans can tell if their bills are fake or not! *ponders*

[guanin.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think so. It has to be US currency. That's why everyone gets so annoyed when they get a Canadian quarter in their change. And of course, I never notice until I'm already in the parking lot and can't prove anything.

Uh, we assume? Very few, as in almost no one, checks for watermarks anyway.