Interesting Itemization

I paid for an item at the self checkout at Home Depot tonight. After getting home, I glanced at the receipt before discarding it. And I noticed something odd: there were four tender lines listed, like this:

Sales Tax 0.34
Total 4.55
Cash 1.55
Cash 1.00
Cash 1.00
Cash 1.00

Seems that each dollar coin I deposited forced the computer to add a new cash line. This is particularly strange to me because the receipt is printed at the end of the transaction, not during the transaction.

Sarcasm and Eggs

I thought I had all the ingredients I needed for cookies, but having just returned from a vacation, realized that I didn't have a staple food -- eggs -- in the fridge. Fortunately there's a small grocery store just down the road, and they were open for another 30 minutes. I usually pay with my credit card for groceries, but I knew this would be a small transaction. Grabbing my keys and a few Good Ones, I headed out the door.

The eggs were more expensive than at the supermarket, but at $1.99, it was a perfect purchase amount for paying in coin. Plunking down two shiny golden discs garnered a moment of hesitation from the cashier. Then she offed an, "Oh, smooth." I couldn't quite tell if it was sarcasm, thinking I was "getting rid" of the dollar coins, or maybe it was a genuine response to the collected manner, suave stagger, and coin confidence that I exude.

But she didn't give me my penny in change, so I'll assume it was the former.


Tender: $2,
Response: Sarcasm?
ACI: 0.4

The GAO Knows What's Up

This is nothing new, but yet again, the GAO has put out another report on replacing Bad Ones with Good Ones. And, as expected, they state that their findings point toward cost savings for the government.

It's only 41 pages, but if you don't want to read through it, here are some of the key parts:

1. The estimated savings have been decreasing over time; this is due to the increasing lifespan of Bad Ones. This makes sense.... as the population relies more on plastic and electronic transfer, cash money is used less frequently.
2. In one of their alternate scenarios, the GAO factored in increased demand for $2 bills, estimating that 25% of dollar demand would convert to demand for Jeffies.
3. The Mint's own experiments in various cities showed that public acceptance of Good Ones did increase modestly after their pilot programs completed.
4. Retailers interviewed for the report stated that they would incur higher costs, but couldn't quantify them.
   
5. Other countries have made the switch, followed by a short period of public displeasure, then everyone got on with their life.
   

Will the current push for cutting government spending bring this report to the attention of Congress? Time to start a letter-writing campaign?

Post Office

Ok, I could have used a fiver and two Good Ones, but I happened to have enough with me to pay in all coin. Response from post officers each time I use Good Ones has never been very irksome, so I opted to push it a bit this time.

After handing over my handful of clean, shiny, easy-to-count coins, the post officer let out a sigh: "God, I hope you're almost out of these things!"


I assume she was talking about the quarters.


Tender: $7.75, 7 Good Ones, 3 quarters
Response: Disdainful acceptance
ACI: 0.6

Humiliation!

It was supposed to be simple: all I needed to do was pick up one last Christmas gift, instant lotto tickets. Priced at a buck a piece, it sounds like an ideal dollar coin purchase, doesn't it?

Not so!

After two failed attempts (what convenience store wouldn't carry lotto tickets?!) I headed to a grocery store where I knew I could make my purchase. Walked through the door, spotted the PA Lottery vending machine. Perfect. Only.... this vending machine did not have a coin slot. Inconceivable! It only accepted bills.

Begrudgingly, I skulked over to a register to -- for the first time ever -- exchange a Good One for a Bad One. Of course the manager needed to be called over to make sure it was kosher. Public humiliation ensued. Then, as the cashier dipped into the dregs of the register to fish out a Bad One, she commented at the gleaming Good One, "Oh, do they still make these?".

No winnings came from the instant lotto tickets. This is obviously due to the tender that was used to purchase them; garbage in, garbage out.

Personal realization

So, you may have noticed an absence of posts from me recently. I assure you it's not because of lack of support of The Good One. I knew going into this project that I don't like a bunch of things in my pockets. I have a skinny wallet, I keep my keys to a minimum, and a I usually don't carry change around with me. So a pocket full of dollar coins was always a bit irritating to me. For a while I would carry 2 or 3 around and it wasn't too bad, but it also didn't result in many Good One transsactions. Eventually, I stopped tossing those couple of coins in my pocket in the morning, and here we are.

I completely support the replacement of the dollar bill with coins, but my application will be a bit different. To me, the dollar becomes change. I will toss it in the change can at night. My wallet will be populated with $5 bills and up and things will go on just fine. I'll fill that change can a bit faster and it will be more valuable, so I'll end up taking that to the bank a bit more often. I think it's a personal cost that's worth it for the overall savings that can be realized with the switch to the coin.

I hope there are others out there who this might be helpful to. You don't have to carry a sack of gold coins around like a character in a Tolkien story to support the cause.

Another Use for Dollar Coins

I had the good fortune of seeing Stevie Starr, The Regurgitator, live this weekend. For those that don't know, he's a Scotsman who has the unique ability to swallow objects and then recall them (intentionally). It's very entertaining, and not disgusting at all. Really!

The first part of his act entails swallowing coins and then bringing them back as requested by the audience. This required a volunteer to feed him the coins individually. Being both eager -- and in the front row -- I was soon on stage to do my part. And the coins that were used? 10 Good Ones. Some were presidentials, a few were Sacajaweas. I fed him all ten, which he returned at various times during the rest of the hour.

I can honestly say that this is one case where using dollar bills would not work.

$2 Coins

Checking out at the craft store, just buying some black dye for a project. The total was small, so I paid the whole thing in coins. Upon receiving the good ones, the (young) cashier asked curiously, "What are these, two dollars each?" She wasn't annoyed; actually she was very cheerful. But also n00bish.

Tender: Two good ones, a quarter, a nickel
Response: Bubbly bewilderment
ACI: 0.0

Insert No Bills

Hungry for Pop Tarts, I approached the lone vending machine at the train station. It was a modern, high-end one (I could tell by the blue LEDs) and naturally I was planning on paying with Good Ones. However, I did not realize it would be my only choice: flashing on the display was "insert no bills". Perhaps the machine was full of Bad Ones, or maybe the machine detected that its bill reader was busted. Regardless, it was a good day to be carrying Good Ones.

"Coins... Finally!"

I was hosting a Canadian CouchSurfer last night, and we went to a restaurant for dinner. He was paying with a card, so I handed him cash for my part of the bill... and naturally, my cash included some Good Ones. His response? "Coins... finally!" After spending five days in the US, he was so glad to have dollar coins again, as is common in Canada. "People here," he lamented, "cling to paper dollars like they're worth something."

Tender: a tenner and 4 Good Ones
Response: Joy!
ACI: -0.3

Golf

Paying for golf would ideally be a credit card payment situation, if it weren't for their 1991-era dial-up authorization. So cash it is. And this time I had sufficient coinage to do the transaction the correct way.

Upon slapping down three Good Ones at the register, the white-haired, wizened woman exclaimed, "I don't even know what these are!" I then distracted her with a Big-Head Jackson to complete the sale.

Tender: $20, 3 Good Ones, 4 quarters
Response: Wonderment
ACI: 0.2

Haircut Tipping

If there's one place where I expected problems paying with Good Ones, it's tipping. I tipped a bathroom attendant last week, but that wasn't a big deal, since he took tips in a container which was full of coins anyway. It's a different matter altogether if you are required to hand someone a tip.

And so it was at Supercuts. I'd paid for the haircut with a credit card, and handed over two Good Ones as a tip. No sooner had I turned to leave than I heard two coins being plunked into the cash drawer and exchanged for Bad Ones.

Tender: $2
Response: Nonverbal disapproval
ACI: 0.8

Jeffy Sighting ... in Prague!

In the touristy parts of Prague, there are quite a few casinos, mostly catering to tourists looking to get rid of their Czech currency before returning home. I walked by one casino this morning that had one of those big spinning money wheels, but loaded with US dollars instead. And they even acquired some Jeffies to stock it with:

Slick

I walked to the post office today, intent on paying the postage on my Norway-bound envelope in all coins. As I handed over five Good Ones, the Post Officer exclaimed, "Oh, think you're slick, getting rid of them by giving them to me now!" I replied that dollar coins aren't so bad, and she eased up a little, noting, "Well, they sure are shiny."

People like the shiny. Shiny accounts for a 0.4 point reduction in ACI.

Tender: $5.64
Response: Playful regret
ACI: 4.6 0.4

Good Ones are the Key

Paying for a key duplication at the local giant blue home store. Self checkout with another heartless automaton, so you know it went well. These mechanical money takers just love them some Goodies.

Tender: 2 Good Ones
Response: Gleefully dispensed change
ACI: 0.0

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.