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Greenbacks No More
Chacham writes "The Financial Times has an article about the US adding colors to some denominations of US currency. Apparently, with both size and color the same, foreigners have a hard time differenciating between the bills.I still haven't gotten used to the larger pictures. And now this? As Kermit the frog sang, It's not easy being green." The Federal Reserve has a press release. At least there's no mention of RFID tags.
Different sizes helps the sight impaired.
In the UK, paper notes all have a brightly coloured square/triangle/circle etc. which help people who are partially sighted identify them. They're also slightly different sizes to help completely blind people identify the differences.
Apparently, up until now people in the US are patriotic to the extreme and can't stand to see their precious 'greenbacks' changed.. so it's about time this happened.. Let's hope they don't encounter too much resistance eh?
The Treasury and Federal Reserve now changes the design of the currency every seven to 10 years to try to deter counterfeiters.
I would think that a number of different designs circulating for a single denomination of currency would infact make it easier to get away with counterfeiting. People would be less familiar with the design of the bill and be more likely to discount inconsistencies in the design by the fact that it is a different circulation.
I stole this Sig
Although I'm English, I've lived in the USA for a few years, on and off, and *still* find the homogeneity of the bank notes to be irritating. One shouldn't have to check twice that one isn't handing over a twenty instead of a dollar bill; besides which, it's just a *token* -- it doesn't *mean* anything, really. I say this simply because people get way too caught up on the perceived importance of things like this - the obvious example being those Europeans whose principal argument against the Euro has nothing to do with financial stability, but is instead concerned with such ridiculous notions as "tradition" and "national pride".
But I digress. Different American bank notes *are* difficult to distinguish between, and I'm not surprised that this is a concern when it comes to the ease of counterfeiting, either.
And if I'm rambling incoherently, it's because of staying up all night only to watch England lose. Bah.
Remember, most people from other countries can tell the denominations of bills apart by just a quick glance at their color.
Imagine growing up, always having color as an identifying mark for currency. Suddenly, you're somewhere else, you pull out your money, and it's all the same color! Sure, they can look at it, but it's more effort than they're used to. Sure, not that much effort overall, but when you're used to one thing, and you have to do a little more, that can really throw you off.
Go try dialing a rotary phone, and see if you don't find it annoying just because of the time difference.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
on the other hand, bartenders should be weeping like babies right now.
i'm the jedidiahmarkfoster your parents warned you about
It's interesting that most of the Americans posting seem to find it incredible that anyone might find their currency even a little confusing -- whilst many of the non-Americans have agreed that the money could be improved.
I suppose this suggests two alternative interpretations: first, that Americans are more intelligent and sophisticated than the rest of the world. Second, that Americans have become so accustomed to the process of having to look closely at their bills that they have come to believe that there is no alternative, and that no other circumstance could *possibly* be more convenient, more useful to those less fortunate (such as the sight-impaired) - in short, that America leads the world and that everyone else in the world is doing things wrongly.
Which view is accurate? I suppose that depends upon the country you're living in. (Yes, there *are* other countries..)
In other monetary systems (and I'm thinking idly of the Italian currency before the Euro totally took over), the various denominations were also slightly different in size. It was easy to tell the difference between a 5000 lira note and a 50000 lira note by touch. Color was also varied, of course.
Thinking outside of being nice to those from out-of-town, I have a blind friend who has to have a trusted acquantance sort out her money visually, then order the money neatly into groups of 1s, 5s, 10s, 20s, etc, and then remember exactly how many of each bill she has so she can finger-count through the list to find the right bill. Any change that she receives that includes bills get shoved into a corner of her purse until she can have someone she trusts sort it out again.
In terms of being nice to our own citizens, maybe we could just print the denomination in Braille right under the SecTreas's signature. Being nice to fully sighted foreigners seems a much weaker argument than doing something of minimal cost to help out the blind.
Well, with about 100 posts so far, I see about half from non-Americans, with legit reasons why the US should use this system, and about half from Americans, basically saying fsck the foreigners...they need to learn to read the numbers...etc.
It speaks volumes about our (Americans') culture and attitude towards the rest of the world as a society, and yes, I'm American.
"A terrorist is someone who has a bomb but doesn't have an air force." -William Blum
Go to any country in the world. Give away a $1, $20 or $100 to whoever wants one. See how many $1 bills you actually give away. See how many $100 bills you actually give away.
If you give away anything but $100 bills, then I'll believe foreigners can't tell American money apart.
The last thing I want is multicolored money. I don't want some asshole to know I'm carrying a big note by seeing a certain color in my wallet while I'm at the grocery store.
There are many situations where it's possible for other people to view my money. I don't want some careful observer 5 meters away to know I'm carrying more than usual because of some colored Monopoly money!
Granted, it's a system I grew up with, but now looking at least the 1,10, & 20 objectively - they are clearly marked. Particularly the newer bills have bigger numbers.
I frequently go to Canada, and I've become accustomed to their monetary system as well. However, I don't feel the bright colors really help differentiate the bills - it just makes them seemer less stately, more Disney.
Just my $.02 US
"Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do." -- Benjamin Franklin
Right this second, I have a pocketful of Australian and Singaporean money. (Just got back from a trip.) At a glance, I can't tell the Aussie dollars from the Singapore dollars. They're both fairly brightly colored, but they're differently colored in an inconsistent way. In other words, an Aussie $5 bill is easy to distinguish from an Aussie $10 bill, but hard to distinguish-- at a glance-- from a Singapore $5 bill.
So it's two sides of the same coin, ha ha. It'd be a challenge to make the US dollar bills look different from one another while preventing them from looking like the bills of other countries.
I've seen enough americans here saying "read the fscking number". but what when the bills are inside a wallet, or purse ?
you have to take all the bills out to read the numbers ? oh, but there's the images, right ? wrong. except for the 1 dolar bill I have no fucking clue of who is in each bill. inside a wallet all of them look the same to me.
now with colors at least I'll know that they're diferent, and it'll be easier to associate the colors with the face value if I ever go to US.
face it, from all the so called "civilized" countries, US is way behind in terms of currency printing technology.
What ? Me, worry ?
Yes, there are numbers at the top of the bills that distinguish currency.
The problem if you are unfamiliar with the bills or handle a high volume is relying too much on the number in the corner of a bill.
I recall hearing a couple years ago on the local news about a person who was simply taking the corners from $20 bills and affixing them to $1 bills. He was doing this during the holiday season, so the cashiers stressed from the frantic pace of things were letting them slip by.
I would imagine foreigners not being familiar with our bills might be vulnerable to the same type of scam.
Having another immediately evident distinguishing factor that people can easily recognize would protect against this.
In the short term, the different types of bills circulating may make things difficult; however, in the long run this is probably a good idea.
You forgot the third view:
Americans posting to an American website about American currency not giving a rip about what individuals like youself (who are on hair trigger alert to be offended by anything said or done by any American) think.
I think they just mean people who aren't too familiar with our currency. Kinda how all asians look alike to people who aren't asian. You're not good at distinguishing things you aren't familiar with.
Frankly, I don't get what's so hard about it. The numbers are represented as large digits on all four corners on both sides. (1,5,10,20) It is written out in English on the bottom on both sides (ONE DOLLAR)
The problem is a lifetime of habit. You grew up knowing you had to look at the numbers in the corner, so you do. I grew up being able to tell the denomination by a quick glance at the paper in general,so I do.
Remembering to actually look at the corner and focus on the number there really does take a lot of effort, after 30 odd years of not having to.
It's much the same way people read. You aren't actually looking at each individual letter in this post, you're just recognizing the pattern of the word. If the writing is hard to decipher, then you have to slow down and spell out each individual letter to get the word.
That's how foreigners feel every time they try to deal with American money.
Personally, I'm all for the change. But there is something that no one has pointed out yet: The enormous cost of new capital machinery.
Many years ago I worked for Coca-Cola, who had 1 million plus vending machines with dollar bill acceptors in South East Wisconsin. Figuring the hard costs alone of new bill validators at 20 million bucks, you can bet there are going will be some VERY strong lobbying when these proposed changes start getting discussed.
.....
The penny should absolutely be abolished in all cash transactions. Keep track of it in all credit and check transactions, but as for cash, it's worthless.
It costs almost a penny to make a penny, and they don't circulate at all. They end up in shoeboxes and jars all over, but they just don't circulate. They're a complete and utter waste. They should be abolished.
Likewise, the dollar bill should be abolished in favor of the dollar coin. And the two dollar bill should be brought back into prominance. Thus we end up with the same number of coins (subtract the penny, add the dollar) and the same number of bills (subtract the dollar, add the two dollar), so cash drawers don't have to be redesigned.
It's an overhaul that's way over-due. I think the people complaining that abolishing pennies would hurt the poor are showing an amazing lack of imagination, and are suffering a horrible case of "the sky is falling" syndrome.
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
Not just new hued (i.e. not bright colours, but various hues) bills but magentic inks, water-spots, metal foil sown into the fiber, various printing methods (for a tactial feel to the blind). Other countries such as Canada have introduced braille for the blind.
The braille is also good for check your pockets at the bars before offering to buy the next round of beer. While in Britian I had my first exposure to different sized bills, and I found it useful to be able to assess at a glance what is in my wallet, and to double check the change from the taxis driver after a night out. Too often you cannot read the bills since it is dark, and taxis are pretty horrid at having burnt out interior lights.
Of course many people will be distracted by the "national image", the real issues of harder to make a quality counterfeit it to the benefit of the US economy, and just about everyone in the US except criminals and the CIA (who have been accused of counterfeiting, but never proven).
For those who cannot understand the tourist angle. I suspect that is a PR claim, but visitors are not only dealing with a new currency, they are often using a second, third, or fifth language, and also trying to do currency conversion to their native currency when shopping and trying to budget their trip. There are those shop keepers and tourist industry people who try to take advanage of the similiar appearance. I'm know that there has been more than a couple bait-and-switch cases of people doing much like a card trick when giving back change; to not just tourists but everyday Americians.
Yes, I suppose if you are too stupid to have good eyesight, you deserve to lose your money. Honestly, I am embarrassed by the number of Americans that have said "Look at the number you IDIOT." Why is it so hard to realize that coloring money makes it *easier*? Maybe you are a master at telling our money apart at a glance and have great vision. Good for you. How is this an argument against changing the color?
Do you honestly believe that entire countries that have trouble with our money are just too foolish to get it? Maybe we who live here have adapted with what we have. Is it some sign of weakness-- is adding color for "babies" or what?
Wow, now that's an extreme stance. I *really* doubt this. Other countries have money that looks like no other. Our money isn't famous and worth a lot because it is known for being green... it's the other way around.
If you take the stance that single color->easier counterfitting is baseless, how can you then make the claim that multi-color->downfall of the dollar? Which one is probably closer to reality?
mark
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
I was at Mardi Gras in New Orleans (lived there at the time) a few years ago and had a Canadian friend ask me if I knew why Canadian bills were all different colors. With a dead serious expression he said "So you can tell them apart when your drunk.." and walked off. Knowing his drinking habits, I've always got a personal chuckle that in his case I believe it.
Planetes
"One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promo Ad
"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer" - Adolf Hitl
Actually I bet compainies would be more likely to round down. It's absolutely amazing how many people equate $39.99 with $30 rather than $40. I bet they would rather round to $39.95 than an even $40 just to keep the suckers in check.
They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
Find someplace to shop that isn't full of morons. I rarely if ever have this happen.
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Here in Canada, it's pretty easy" 5's are blue, 10's are purple, 20's are green and 50's are red. and 100's are brown. (this used to cause problem for some people when we still had 2's -- which were orange. Under sodium lights, you actually had to look at the numbers, or risk paying $100 for a $2 item).
It's not that I have lost the ability to read number, but why??? I look at the crumpled bill that I pull from my pocket, and I can tel by the blue bits all over it that i've got a 5. No need to unfold it to find the silly number, and no need to make sure that there isn't an extra '0' after the '5'.
If a bill falls out of my pocket in the wind, I can tell at a glance if it's worth chasing after. In a good wind, a blue $5 isn't worth trying to catch... If it's red, I'll be willing to chace that $50 for a couple of blocks.
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
Hear hear. I think they are barking up the wrong tree. The bigger problem I'd see for foreigners is that none of our coins have a value in arabic numerals. Some don't even spell out the value.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
Consider this, many times, you just went to a bank machine and got $100 as five $20 bills. Then you buy a pack of gum to break one of the twenties. Later, when you go to pay for something that's $4.95, and you want to find that $5 bill you know is in your wallet, it's MUCH easier to just look for a blue piece of paper, rather than looking at the writing on each individual bill. Maybe it only saves you 5 or 10 seconds, but if you're in a line with 5 or 10 people, and each person takes 5 or 10 seconds longer, that adds up over the course of a day.
:)
Of course, while you're waiting in line with those 5 to 10 people, you could find that $5 bill and have it ready by the time you get to the front of the line and the line will move efficiently. Of course, we could easily get into a discussion of the likelihood of Americans being that curteous...
--Atlantix2000
What a stupid idea, make the money even more like play money to supposedly suit foreigners. I just don't buy it. Sure, I've seen different colored money in other countries, but I certainly never learned their color code, I looked at the numbers on the bills. Has the new world order standardized the color code for money, or will this just lead to more problems? How many foreigners, not competent enough to read the numbers on the bills are going to be thinking in terms of our color code, rather than their own? We're just inviting problems when we encourage foreigners to use a color code, then someone is sure to accuse us that we deliberately cheated them because they didn't realize that our bills are not valued in the same order as their bills.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
He says as the US dollar continues to lose ground against most of the world's currencies...that's right, chump, keep making fun of our dollar.
Of course comparing dollar values is idiotic without considering purchasing power, and on that stat the Canadian dollar is almost at par with the US $ for most goods.
In reality the rate of counterfeiting is remarkably low (indeed : Virtually every "We don't take $100s" sign in Ontario is the result of a single little Windsor counterfeiting operation getting a lot more press than actual results), however because debit card machines are so prevalent throughout Canada (bit of history: Because we have only a few big banks across the entire country, they were way ahead of the US in forming a country-wide electronic transfer system), paper money is becoming more of a hassle than its worth: Not only do those $50s put you at a maginally higher risk of having counterfeits (albeit marginal), it also means that you have to have the float to store change for that, which means that you'll be a much likelier victim of a robbery.
The condensed version of that goes as such : Debit machines are so common and so heavily used that retailers are in the process of actively discouraging the use of actual paper money, and I wouldn't be suprized to see some store actually refuse to take any money within the next couple of years (P.S. Before someone claims that that's illegal and they have to take "legal tender", blah blah: Actually they don't, and any merchant is well within their rights to refuse paper money).
Given...The US is behind compared to other countries in counterfeiting measures. However is it merely coincidence that American currency is also one of the strongest and most universaly accepted in the world?
Think about it...let's assume for a momment that it was equaly easy to counterfiet all currency....would you be printing up pesos, francs, or US dollars?
There's a good chance that even with improved anti-counterfeiting measures, US currency would remain the most successfully counterfeited in the world simply due to it's liquidity.
-Chris
--an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--