ngl we need like 5 dollar coins

• carrie

like cents are so worthless i feel like you can basically get rid of anything up to the quarter and be ok and then like introduce a 5 dollar coin

i mean with most ppl going to cards it doesn’t matter as much i guess but i think itd help shift our perspective a bit idk

• carrie

@aperture i think $5 coins might be a bit much but we definitely should drop the $1 bill and start using $1 and $2 coins

@ielenia true, i just don’t see a reason not to have a 5 dollar coin, like the dollar coin was first made in 1794 when a dollar was worth like. a fair bit
i think a fiver coin would just be handy

• carrie

@ielenia @aperture the $1 coin was already tried and was a massive flop

@charlotte @aperture yeah, because they never removed the $1 bill…

@charlotte @ielenia the trains were tried and were a massive flop [they ran once a week]

• carrie

@ielenia @aperture sure if you don’t give a choice which one to use

but pretty much the only thing $1 coins were ever used for is get cashback on credit card orders

@aperture @ielenia plenty were minted and there was a coin distribution program

but given the choice between a heavy $1 coin and just a standard $1 bill people preferred the latter. especially since everything accepted the latter

@charlotte @aperture that…. doesn’t sound accurate? i use them quite frequently (although i am an outlier…) and they do still seem to get used for vending machines

@charlotte @aperture well yeah, you’re not going to get people to switch off something unless you actively make them….

and they did make sure that things like vending machines take them - iirc they required that anything on government property has to accept them

@ielenia @aperture tbf we have only been using euro which does have 1 and 2€ coins and we have mostly switched to card payments

@ielenia @aperture …they are actively being made though from what i can tell

@charlotte @ielenia it was. not very good i have never seen one in my life and didn’t even know it was happening when it first started

like if you are gonna do something like that and you want it to succeed you have to put the effort in to make it known

• carrie

@charlotte @aperture sorry im a little confused about this statement

@charlotte @ielenia like i feel like most ppls knowledge of dollar coins starts and ends at “they exist” but maybe I’m just projecting jbgnmbxbbchbx

• carrie

@charlotte @ielenia i mean yeah it’s kinda moot as card becomes more common but honestly how annoying the currency is doesn’t help

• carrie

@ielenia @aperture from what i can tell both the 1oz silver dollar and the much smaller $1 coin that is golden are still actively being minted

@charlotte @aperture yeah

the silver dollar i don’t think really is meant for active circulation though

@aperture @ielenia and i think a redesign of the dollar bill would help more than minting more coins tbh

@charlotte @ielenia also i mean this /gen and not trying to be mean but like, if you live in Europe why,.? this conversation?? bnngjbchbc itd be like if i stepped into a convo about euros knvjmnvbb

• carrie

@charlotte @aperture from what i remember it’d be cheaper to just switch to $1 coins, mostly on account of storage

@charlotte @ielenia not really the issue I’m trying to solve but true

• carrie

@aperture @ielenia idk you showed up on my tl

@charlotte @ielenia fair enough

• carrie

@ielenia @aperture i thought it’s because it’s more durable and didn’t need to be removed from circulation as often

which given that we are also decreasing the amount of circulating cash i feel like it is becoming less of an issue over time. the highest denomination pays for less and less and europe even removed the highest denomination bill from circulation entirely

@charlotte @ielenia the issue i have is that dollars are just not worth a lot and i feel they’d be better off as coins and 5 dollars is approaching a point where like i could justify starting to make them for the future

• carrie

@charlotte @aperture oh, it might have been that

idk, i feel like it’s important to have cash around still, even if it’s not used as much as it used to be

@aperture @ielenia i almost feel like high denomination precious metal coins are more useful

like the 1oz silver dollar has about 100 bucks worth of silver in it

@ielenia @aperture yeah but since it changes hands less often i think it’s also less important to have coins? imo

@charlotte @ielenia i mean coins are entirely detached from their value of the material i don’t see any reason we necessarily need to make it out of precious metal, as long as the metal doesn’t oxidize easily then it’s alright

• carrie

@charlotte @ielenia the benefits to me are ease of transfer/storage and also longevity is a nice bonus

• carrie

@aperture @ielenia paper/plastic cash is imo easier to transfer and store since it’s shaped just like paper

but yeah they are a lot less durable (but plastic currency is already a lot better apparently?)

@charlotte @ielenia i find it more of a nuisance, it gets crumpled up and is floppy and just a general pain for me, not to mention counting coins is easier to me
like maybe I’m in the minority but that’s just my opinion

plastic currency is cool but [this is without research] id have environmental concerns about them

• carrie

@charlotte @ielenia also, and this is dumb, but when i drop a paper bill it doesn’t make a noise, meaning I’m more likely to lose them which is annoying when i have butterfingers and get flustered easy

• carrie

@aperture @ielenia plastic currency can be made from plants and are designed to be a lot more durable so you need to make less of it in total

the hard part is the disposal of old banknotes i suppose

@charlotte @ielenia yeah that’s what i mean like, idk maybe I’m wrong feel free to tell me but like, i can’t imagine plastic current degrading as readily as paper

• carrie

@aperture @ielenia yeah but it goes both ways you know

it also degrades less during use

@aperture @ielenia and currency is usually made from irrigation-heavy crops like cotton

@charlotte @ielenia right but by the point a paper bill is that biodegraded it’s almost certainly ready to be taken out of circulation for other reasons yknow?

• carrie

@charlotte @ielenia true! but plastic production can use quite a lot of water as well iirc?

• cause

@aperture @ielenia the question is how intensive plastic bill disposal is going to be vs the more frequent production of paper bills

@aperture @ielenia cuz i got no answer to that

@charlotte @ielenia right right, but also needs to factor in the loss of bills because ppl do lose them

that’s something id wanna see addressed if the us ever did change to plastic bills is my biggest thing

• carrie

@40796c19 @ielenia PUT HOLES IN COINS AGAIN PLEASE THATD BE SO COOL

CARRIE

@aperture @ielenia apparently in canada some eco impact assessment has taken place for it

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Life-Cycle-Assessment-of-Polymer-and-Cotton-Paper-Bank-Notes_opt.pdf

seems like it has lower production and end of life climate indicators which seems to imply it’s probably better? idk

@charlotte @ielenia wonderful, the question would be if the us follows this or does their own science

• carrie

@aperture @ielenia the us right now would not touch us bills regardless of how much better they would make it

@aperture @ielenia they would have if the currency used calibri