Tried A Half In A New Vending Machine At My Local Walmart

just bought a foot long subway today with half dollars - I know sort of off topic but then again maybe not

Well, another way to tell that the half IS still a "circulating" denomination, is the fact that, on the U.S. Mint website, they have pages for you to read about the penny, nickel, dime, quarter, HALF, and (small President and Native American) dollar coin. Now, why would the U.S. Mint be featuring a page devoted entirely to the half, if its not a circulating denomination? Why not also feature a page on the Half Cent, Two Cent, Three Cent, Twenty Cent, Susan B. Anthony, and large Eisenhower dollar coins?

Its because all of the other coins I mention are OBSOLETE. The Kennedy half is NOT.

basebal21,

I still never hear this argument against dollar coins or $2 bills. Dollar coins are not being made for circulation anymore, yet are circulating in small numbers. And although $2 bills actually ARE still being made for circulation, they are just barely. I've always heard that $2 bills account for less than 1% of ALL Federal Reserve notes printed. So how are they any different?

The only difference I see, is if the $1 bill were killed off, and then the dollar coin and "maybe" the $2 bill would take off, leaving the half as the lowly, last and only "odd" denomination in circulation. Who knows? Maybe then, they'll kill the half, but I hope not.

Also, keep in mind that I am not in this little battle only to circulate halves, but $2 bills as well, but as long as we have $1 bills, I'm not fooling with dollar coins, because its pointless, because people are always going to choose a $1 bill over a dollar coin, but might not as likely choose two quarters over one half or two $1 bills over one $2 bill.

Just bought beer tonight with a pocket full of halves as usual.

The soda machine at work takes dollar coins and my boss already hates when I pay my tab for parts with nickels and dimes and quarters and he especially hates when I give change to coworkers in dollar coins and nickels for the soda machine when it won't take their dollars.

basebal21,

First off, I'm finally going to ask how you quote someone else's message. I knew how on other boards, but for some reason, this one is different.

As for the half, dollar coin and $2 bill being dead, and you could only "force the "$1" coin on people by getting rid of its paper rival, and you can not force a half or a $2 bill on people, you are absolutely correct. We can not force a $2 bill or half on anyone, but I'm pretty sure that, if we replaced the $1 bill with a dollar coin, I really don't think there will be any need to "force" the $2 bill on people, as many of the polls I have read over the past two decades or more, said that, if the dollar coin replaces the $1 bill, most people will turn to the $2 bill as their "paper alternative" As for the half, I can only see us getting the half going if we eliminated the penny, nickel, and quarter, and either revived the 20 cent coin, or just used halves and four dimes, just as jbuck made a good point about how we use up to four pennies now, so why not four dimes and one half if we don't want to go through all of the trouble to get vending machines to recognize a 20 cent coin, and no longer accept quarters?

(Wow! Post # 300!)

I'm not saying we should do it either. I was just saying that most public opinion polls show that, if the $1 bill goes, the $2 bill will take its place, because many people would hate carrying so many dollar coins. Like for example, me and my mother used to play bingo a lot, and a LOT of people got many multiple $1 and some change prize payouts, and one time, for St. Patrick's day, the runner of that bingo gave out all golden dollar coins as payouts, and most people there being "old" it did not make them happy campers to lug all of that metal money, who won the jeackpots, to their cars.





Like I said, I don't think $2 bills would be done, if we switched to dollar coins. We may even see $2 coins 5-10 years after the $1 bill goes.




True, but I'm not saying we have to totally redo the currency system for the half. But speaking of not being able to force the half and $2 bill on people, I just now realized that that is not true, just from some of the past words I have spoke here before. Just retool all vending machines to accept and dispense halves as needed (as the post office did with SBA dollar coins with their stamp machines. You can't argue or reason with machines ), and get all self checkout machines to start accepting and dispensing $2 bills and halves as needed, problem solved. Banks and credit unions should also have them on hand as well, and use them as needed. They would only have to hand out a maximum of two $2 bills and one half, and if people ask for two quarters or two/four $1 bills, the teller could be nice about it and switch it, but otherwise, say nothing. Or they could just say that it is policy to give out exact change with ALL denominations they carry or in other words, all denominations that "circulate" OR in your terms "that are current" and yes, the $2 bill and half ARE current denominations. So if someone cashes a check for $53.76, they should be paid in a $50 bill, a $2 bill, a $1 bill, a half, a quarter, and a penny, just as an old, now deceased friend told me, where he worked, if you were owed $152.00 at the end of the week, you were paid with a $100 bill, a $50 bill, and a $2 bill. NO two $1 bills or four halves or eight quarters or a bunch of $10 bills, $20 bills, $5 bills etc. or whatever, and it should be no different today and now. If your bank/credit union owes you money that would require a $2 bill or a half to make up the difference, that $2 bill or half should automatically be handed out by the teller, no questions asked, ifs ands, or buts.

We'll see, I guess.




Wouldn't surprise me either. I really don't even think we'll get rid of the $1 bill until electronic money totally takes over, because, all I ever hear from the dollar coin supporters is that, the dollar coin is gaining more and more support, and then, when I talk to the $1 bill supporters, they say that the $1 bill is in no danger of being eliminated. Go figure.





Well, if the vending industry has been around so long, I'm sure they already have billions, if not trillions of dollars and can sink in a few hundred million into their machines to accept and dispense ALL denominations. And yes, it would do something if these denominations started circulating in the norm with all other denominations. Money should not be an issue for vendors as far as upgrading for new coins and bills goes. If people want to spend their $2 bills and halves at those machines, those machines should be capable of accepting those types of money. Especially large retail stores where self checkouts might need to accept these denominations, and if the machines dispensed them as well, people would receive them, and circulate them.




Okay, fine. It should NOT be "forced" BUT, the credit unions and banks SHOULD automatically pay the differences in $2 bills and halves, and only switch them for two/four $1 bills and/or two quarters IF the person "requests" the change.





But there doesn't even need to be a law put into place for the circulation of these denominations to happen. In fact, according to Treasury websites I have read, there needn't be a law passed for the Treasury to order print runs of new $500, $1,000, $5,000, and/or $10,000 bills either. Its all up to the Secretary of the Treasury on what denominations are printed and minted, and although the Treasury Secretary "can" order print runs of the four large denominations, it was always stated that he would likely consult Congress before doing so. But hopefully some day, one of these Treasury Secretaries will give us some $500 bills in the near future. A $200 bill would take an act of Congress, since the U.S. has never been authorized to print a bill in the $200 denomination, but if we do reissue the $500 bill, and possibly the $1,000 bill, I do believe we should have a $200 bill as well.




But banks should automatically offer them, as I said above, then if someone says "no" to them, THEN they can make the switch to the customer's preference.

I will say that I still find it amazing a "new" thread can be started here on a topic that has been discussed ad nauseum and STILL get people to repeat the same previous responses....over and over again

Yogi was right "It's like deja vu all over again"

I think of it to be more like enabling....

Sad part is that it used to be an interesting read but now it's just last months newspaper...and I LIKE half dollars and have some uncut $2 bill sheets of 32...one framed and hanging in my man cave