Cheap Movie

Went to see Hot Tub Time Machine at the local discount movie theater, not a bad film for its genre. Since the movies are $2 ($1 on Tuesdays!) A couple of shiny AJs seemed just the trick. Cashier accepted them without breaking her teenage angst one bit. Looked around the cash drawer for a few moments and then put them in with the dimes. The dimes?!? Not sure why AJ goes in with the FDRs, but who am I to tell her how to run her drawer?

Tender: 2 Good Ones
Response: Emo
ACI: 0.0

Toll Booth

The unsuspecting toll booth worker thought it was an ordinary night. Low traffic, little communication, lots of limp dollar bills. Then at 3:30am, I rolled up. I dropped a Good One in to her hand, and gave it a quick tap, to let her know that it should be carefully inspected. Her eyes widened as the florescent lights of the toll booth lit up AJ's shining face. She was clearly dazzled. The weight of 8.1g of maganese-brass-clad copper in her hand. Old Hickory staring her in the face. The coin itself instilled with the accomplishments of the seventh president: elimination of the natoinal debt, surviving an assassination attempt, and generally being a badass.

Best night of her life? I think so.

Tender:1 Good One
Response: Dazzled.
ACI: Zip

The Copy Cat

I decided to take a cue from Mike and drop my first Good Ones into the vending machine.

Tender: 2 Good Ones

Response: The machine didn't care, but the guy in line behind me was annoyed that I was using coins. Until he noticed that I was only using 2 coins.

ACI: 0.1

Starting off with a clank

Traded in some folding greenies for my share of the latest batch of Good Ones this morning. Spent my first of Phase 2 in the vending machine just now.

Tender:1 Good One
Response: Resounding clank as it landed in the empty dollar coin bin
ACI: 0.0 from the soulless machine

Kicking off VBE Phase Two

Our box of Denver-minted Andrew Jackson dollar coins arrived today, and Mike has already bought his share. We will be running The Experiment the same as before, which requires participants to:

1. Relinquish all Bad Ones to a Bad One Containment Recepticle until the end of The Experiment
2. Exchange any Bad Ones obtained for a Good One from the personal stash
   
3. Use Good Ones in all circumstances just the same as using a Bad One

The goal of all of this? To get dollar coins into the local economy (part of The Plan) and to document the reactions of the recipients (making special note of Anti-Coin Ire). We aim to be both informative and entertaining.

I will admit that after Phase 1 wrapped up, it was a little underwhelming; there just wasn't as much Anti-Coin Ire out there as we expected. Perhaps this time around we'll try to get ourselves into more interesting situations.

Taco Bell On-Board with Twos

Longtime readers will know that our plan to revamp the US hard currency system is contingent on three things: dollar coins, $2 bills, and eliminating Bad Ones. I'm happy to announce that we have a new ally: Taco Bell.

In a press release, the company calls on the Fed to increase circulation of the two, as it is expecting rampant demand for it's $2 combo meal offerings. A publicity stunt? Perhaps. Or maybe the Taco Bell Cashier Efficiency Council has concluded, after extensive research, that cashier productivity increases dramatically upon receipt of a single bill for purchase. No counting required. More clients are served in a shorter amount of time. Everyone is happy: Taco Bell, the cashier, the customers, the cows making the sour cream.....everyone.

Don't you want to be happy too?

MVB Update

It's been a long while since Phase One of the Experiment ended. We had planned on starting Phase Two shortly thereafter, but Martin Van Buren dollars never made it into the Direct Ship program. We all returned to using Bad Ones to pay for things.

It's been dark times.

But now the dust covers are coming off, and we will soon have a new set of Good Ones to stimulate the economy with. We've decided that Andrew Jackson dollars will be suitable for Phase Two, although we remain vigilant in our search for MVB dollars.

Stay tuned.