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The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia

(www.cnn.com)
349 points andrewl | 5 comments | 12 Nov 25 16:10 UTC | HN request time: 0.339s | source
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nayuki ◴[12 Nov 25 16:41 UTC] No.45902294[source]▶
We eliminated pennies in Canada in 2012 and the transition was a non-issue. The vast majority of retailers would round cash transactions to the nearest $0.05, but a few would round down to the nearest $0.05 in favor of the customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_of_low-denomination...

Canadian cash is better than American cash in several ways: No penny, durable polymer banknotes (instead of dirty wrinkly cotton paper), colorful banknotes (instead of all green) that are easy to distinguish, $1 and $2 coins in wide circulation (instead of worn-out $1 bills).

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ahmeneeroe-v2 ◴[12 Nov 25 17:50 UTC] No.45903260[source]▶
American banknotes have numbers on them to easily distinguish the different values!
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ceejayoz ◴[12 Nov 25 17:54 UTC] No.45903324[source]▶
Not everyone can see.

Australian notes vary in size for this reason.

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rayiner[dead post] ◴[12 Nov 25 17:57 UTC] No.45903357[source]▶
[flagged]
1. dghlsakjg ◴[12 Nov 25 18:12 UTC] No.45903579[source]▶
Does the Canadian solution of adding brail to the notes inconvenience you, or is that an acceptable way to make sure that people with disabilities can participate in cash transactions safely?

Does having different sized coins strike you as an inconvenience?

Why does a feature that can be used by anyone, regardless of disability, strike you as "inconvenient for almost everybody"?

What, exactly, is inconvenient about having notes be different sizes?

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2. rayiner ◴[12 Nov 25 18:23 UTC] No.45903784[source]▶
Different sized bills are harder to stack in a wallet. Braille is a much better way to handle the problem. No cost to the majority, while solving the problem for the minority.
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3. krior ◴[12 Nov 25 18:39 UTC] No.45904043[source]▶
> Different sized bills are harder to stack in a wallet.

This has never been my experience. What is the challenge?

4. dghlsakjg ◴[12 Nov 25 18:49 UTC] No.45904216[source]▶
It seems like having equivalent sized notes is just your personal preference, and that you are projecting that as an inconvenience onto "the majority". Based on the comments it seems like even people without disabilities mostly don't care, or actually think that it is a good feature.

For my side, even if I did agree with your preference, I am perfectly willing to deal with the incredible hardship of slightly different sized notes in my wallet in exchange for a society where disabled people need not fear being ripped off.

5. cestith ◴[12 Nov 25 19:04 UTC] No.45904531[source]▶
As long as the largest bills fit and the smallest bills don’t get lost I don’t understand how it’s so much harder.