Ticket Machines and Dollar coins.

[DutchRailnut]

Will MTA need to change all ticket vending machines ? Dollar coins being abolished by treasury.
http://news.yahoo.com/presidential-doll ... 10623.html

[Reese]

Billions of Dollar coins will still be in circulation, including the Susan B's and Sacagawea's. Mint is just stopping program which produced huge quantity of new dollar coins for every dead president in history. No "change" should be needed by MNR/LIRR or NYCT

[Lincoln78]

I meant to write my congressman last month- I saw an article that said the company (in Massachusetts) that produces bills was lobbying to keep doing so. Connection?

Dollar coins are much more economical that bills (last..forever, vs 18 months). Most other civilized countries manage with coins of dollar value or even higher. Too bad Americans aren't going to use them unless they're forced.

We also lose money minting pennies and nickels. Probably need to drop them, since they aren't worth much any more. The administration wasted this opportunity to show some leadership and reduce our taxes.

DG

[DutchRailnut]

I rather have 20 single dollar bills in my pocket then 20 Dollar coins and my pants down my ankles.

[N4J]

I thought they were getting rid of the dollar bill , and replacing it with the coin and also getting rid of the 2$ bill which serves no purpose...

[RearOfSignal]

While I am a numismatic, I think TP will make us get back on topic, we're really stretching this to a railroad related topic.

I don't think Americans will move away from bills. Heck, less and less people carry cash nowadays. Or at least most of the people who want me to sell them a ticket on the train. No one will want to carry a bunch of coins. I wouldn't!

[Noel Weaver]

Some dollar coins in my pocket got me out of a jam a couple of years ago in New York City. I went to a subway booth to buy a two trip ticket which I was going to use to go from Penn Station to Grand Central Terminal and back. Got to GCT just fine but the ticket turned out to be good for only one trip although I paid for two. Fortunately a bad order turnstile at GCT (two of them in fact) would take dollar coins although nothing else. This saved the day for me there because there was no booth open at that location at the time. These coins could be very useful, Canada went to dollar and two dollar coins and I don't think anybody there really misses the paper money. Coins are much easier to use in a vending machine too.
Noel Weaver

[umtrr-author]

Trying hard to stay on topic... No worries for the few coins that find their way into these machines. The directive is for no more new dollar coins for circulation. There are over one billion dollar coins still in storage for eventual disposition (actually, 1.4 billion dollar coins).

Veering hopelessly off topic, I've been saying this since the days of the Eisenhower Dollar: dollar coins will not be in common use until the dollar bill is taken out of circulation and made non-legal-tender. This is how Canada, Australia, the UK and the Euro Zone did it: coins in, paper money out.

[Noel Weaver]

Paper money in Canada and elsewhere was legal tender and I doubt if that status was removed, they simply got rid of it, you pay with paper and will not get paper back unless a $5.00 bill or more is involved. I think it is an excellent idea and I favor it here.
Noel Weaver

[Tommy Meehan]

Will MTA need to change all ticket vending machines ? Dollar coins being abolished by treasury.
http://news.yahoo.com/presidential-doll ... 10623.html

To get back to what was Dutch's original point (or at least what I think it was), you know this is something that has bugged me from the start. I have news for MTA, there are machines available that give change in paper dollars.

You ever use the self-checkout lines at supermarkets? They give change in dollar bills not dollar coins. And not all singles either.

[MACTRAXX]

Everyone: I noticed this topic about the use of US Dollar coins and I understand that temporarily ending production of them is being done...

The US Dollar Bill should be eliminated in favor of a dollar coin like Canada did back in 1989...On June 30th of that year Canada last issued
their $1 bill...In 1987 Canada began issuing the "Loonie" Dollar coin and when enough of them were in circulation the $1 bill was discontinued...
They were gone totally from circulation over the course of 1990...Canada learned from our mistake with the Susan B. Anthony $1 coin and made
theirs with a brass-like metal which would stand out from other coins in circulation...and in 2000 the US Mint when it resumed production decided
on a similar-colored coin to stand out just the same...

L78 mentions the Massachusetts company that makes bank-note paper is lobbying for continuance-that was the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's
connection to this debate-he vouched for that company in the past...

Canada also issued a $2 bill that was widely used unlike the US $2 bill...That was eliminated in favor of a $2 coin back in February of 1997...
The lowest bill they have issued since then is the $5 bill...

Links: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/banknotes/bank-note-series
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawn_ ... _banknotes

I feel that unless the US Treasury eliminates the $1 Bill similar to how Canada accomplished their changeover that the US will probably stay with
the dollar bill...This proposed change to $1 coins will probably save literally millions of dollars to the US Treasury in printing costs alone...

Since this topic is about $1 coins and TVMs I know that TVMs are well-suited for coins...I use $1 coins for transit fares and I have found that it
pays to carry some when I use mass transit...

Opinions and observations from MACTRAXX

[Tommy Meehan]

As long as we're ramblin'....

What they should do is eliminate pennies --which now cost the Mint more than one cent to produce!

[Ridgefielder]

Given the symbolism of the US $1 bill-- which unlike any other banknote has not been significantly changed in appearance in over 60 years, i.e. the lifetimes of most Americans-- I highly doubt we're going to go to $1 coins any time soon. Abolishing the $1 bill is one of those things that while economically sensible is likely politically impossible: would you want go down as the President/Senator/Treasury Secretary who "killed the dollar?" After all, when you think of it, with price inflation it would make a lot more sense for the mint to strike half-dollars than nickels-- but the 50 cent piece hasn't been made since I think the mid 1960's. Also, having lived in the UK, I can say that I find one-pound coins annoying. Your change soon literally weighs a pound!

Back on topic-- why, technically, can't ticket machines dispense dollar bills in change? Is there some difficulty in stocking them with paper currency? It seems like the technology is readily available, after all.

[Tommy Meehan]

Back on topic-- why, technically, can't ticket machines dispense dollar bills in change? Is there some difficulty in stocking them with paper currency? It seems like the technology is readily available, after all.

Readily available technology? How many people would use ATMs if you could only get dollar coins?

I think some TVMs DO dispense paper money. Maybe Metra?

Originally I thought MTA restricted change to dollar coins in order to discourage people from using cash, only debit or credit cards. It sure works.

[Tadman]

Tommy, I love your point.

MTA could call up the bosses at CVS and Walmart and ask them how they implemented self-checkout, and who makes the most durable and easy-to-use vending methods. But instead, they hired a consultant, paid him millions, got some cockamamie math that showed that dollar coin-only machines were the way to go, and it's off to the races. Because a consultant doesn't prove his value if he says "yeah, go ahead and use what CVS uses, they do things really well". He'll never get hired again. He proves his value by saying "whoa! CVS is a drugstore, we are a railroad, never use what they use, I need to do some research" and six months later comes back with a report detailing all 1,000 reasons why the machines CVS uses are crap.

I've been in consulting roles quite a lot, I'm not bashing consultants, but that's what happens when you get some cockamamie deal like dollar-coin-only vending machines.

Dutch hit it on the head. I'm absolutely not walking around with $20 in coins, because my pants will be dragging on the ground. And anybody with any sense feels the same way, it appears.

Also, I don't recall if Metra vending machines dispense change in paper or coins. I have a monthly pass for the L, and when I ride Metra, the vending machines are usually broken anyway so I visit a ticket agent or deal with the conductor.