Greenbacks No More 1387
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.
Sight impaired (Score:2, Insightful)
About goddamn time (Score:4, Insightful)
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?
Hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
About time, too (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:You've got to be kidding me (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
it's a great day for drunks! (Score:2, Insightful)
on the other hand, bartenders should be weeping like babies right now.
Re:Foreigners? (Score:2, Insightful)
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..)
Re:About goddamn time (Score:4, Insightful)
They are going to encounter a ton of resitance from US citizens. Heck, just read the messages in this disussion so far, and you'll see that even geeks, the ones you think would be more interested in new things and change, are freaking out, and attacking the idea even though there's not a single valid complaint that I've seen so far.
It's all been "I don't want a rainbow in my wallet" or accusing non-Americans of being unable to read numbers (though they don't realize most non-Americans don't read the numbers on their currency because they use different colors, so they're not used to it).
I suspect the public outcry against this will be huge, and people might even try and find some way to work 9/11 and "not surrendering to terrorists" into this.
It's no wonder that Europe and Japan create fancy new technology and implement it left and right (maglev trains, alternative fuel cars, etc), while America sticks to inventing weapons of war, new food additives, and new ways to patent/copyright information so that nobody can use it - cause new technology requires new ideas and change, and if even the geeks can't accept the color of their money changing, imagine something that could actually be disruptive.
Re:Yeah, we think highly of foreigners here. (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
And the score is.... (Score:5, Insightful)
It speaks volumes about our (Americans') culture and attitude towards the rest of the world as a society, and yes, I'm American.
Re:About goddamn time (Score:3, Insightful)
What's the use of having a great copy-protection method when people can't tell the difference just by looking at it. In many places, new bills have a hologram printed on them, so you can see easily if it's been copied (with a color copier or something simple). With US bills, I doubt you can tell quite easily... and how many people/stores check all bills very carefully?
Re:About goddamn time (Score:3, Insightful)
The anti-counterfeit measures are basically non-existant
Not true. Go to the Secret Service's webpage [secretservice.gov] based on the measures they've taken. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they're not there.
it's impossible to know if something is a 5 or a 10 just by glancing at it
You mean, like looking at the big number in each corner of the paper? Different question: Are you telling me that you need a color-based mnemonic to remember a numeric-based mnemonic as to the representation of the value of the currency? IOW, Red=5 is easier to remember than 5=5?
Let's try a test (Score:4, Insightful)
If you give away anything but $100 bills, then I'll believe foreigners can't tell American money apart.
Terrible idea (Score:3, Insightful)
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!
Re:About Time! (Score:2, Insightful)
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
Re:Well you've got to be kidding me (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Try picking bills in a wallet without colors (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Criticism of foreigners unwarranted? (Score:1, Insightful)
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.
Re:Foreigners? (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Counterfeiters won't care (Score:3, Insightful)
If you're a mugger, you target the little old lady, not the big musclular guy w/ a shoulder holster and a black belt.
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:About Time! (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Change in the infastructure (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:No more green OR pennies (Score:1, Insightful)
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.
Counterfeiting, Dark Taxis, and Natioanl Image (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:About goddamn time (Score:2, Insightful)
I am sure that he was referring to "in comparison to other countries." Yes you may have some anti-counterfit measures, but American money is still very simple to copy, much simpler than others around the world.
That and the anticounterfit measures have to be readily and easily visible to the average cashier, or else they are pretty much useless.
PK
Re:About goddamn time (Score:3, Insightful)
Yea, I love those awesome flying cars they have in Japan that run on H2O and cause zero polution!
Seriously dude, what the heck are you talking about? Do you actually think the rest of the world is lightyears ahead of us in technology? I mean, if there were all these magical things Japan and Europe invented don't you think they would be making a killing selling them to us? Come on.
There are societal/economical reasons why things like maglev trains don't work as well here. Things like wanting the freedom of your own house and wanting to drive where you want to when you want to.
As for those evil Americans "inventing weapons of war", well guess what---your using one of those "weapons" right now. The Internet started as DARPANET--A Defense Department network designed to keep communication going during nuclear attack.
Brian Ellenberger
Re:against color (Score:3, Insightful)
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
Break out the alcohol! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No more green OR pennies (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Trouble? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Change in the infastructure (Score:2, Insightful)
Off the top of my head, I can think of two groups that will likely be affected--high-priced subways (like SF BART and DC Metro) and casinos (with all of their slot machines).
Since these groups just upgraded their machines to the latest technology for the last bill change, hopefully the bill readers will require only a software upgrade to recognize the new bills.
Re:About goddamn time (Score:4, Insightful)
How the hell are you supposed to know if someone's passing you counterfeit bills if the countermeasures are hidden to the naked eye? Maybe this has something to do with the fact that U.S. currency is the most successfully counterfeited money in the world.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Trouble? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not for foreigners (Score:2, Insightful)
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
so who sets the color code? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Huh? (Score:1, Insightful)
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.
Re:No more green (Score:2, Insightful)
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).
Re:Huh II ?? (Score:3, Insightful)
It also make currency a lot harder to forge. Maybe the US should have all their coins the same apart from what is stamped on them
Another important thing is that having currency where each denomination is clearly different makes things easier for people with poor eyesight.
Traditional US bills are a model of order and security, which is what they are supposed to represent.
Actually they are the model of insecurity, from taking the ink of low denomination bills and reprinting as a higher denomination to banks messing up filling their cash machines so they dispense the wrong amount of money are problems which are simply impossible with most currencies.
Why have people been buying US dollars for years with these kooky looking currencies? Because they are stable!
Currency speculators don't use cash. They couldn't care less what physical form is used for any currency.
The Most Successfully Counterfeited in the World (Score:2, Insightful)
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
Re:Terrible idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Which will expose your money to view longer?
1) Glancing in your slightly parted wallet and seeing eg 5 red notes, 2 green ones, and 1 blue one?
2) Taking the wad of cash out of your wallet and viewing each note individually to ascertain its value?
Who the f*&k is going to count your money before they rob you anyway? You have a fat wallet, they'll take it. If they all happen to be $1s, bad luck, they'll take that risk.
If you live somewhere where everyone around you is trying to rob you anyway, you should really consider moving to a safer neighborhood.