First Page
Previous Page
Posted 09/11/2014 10:55 pm
Quote:
Look around you. Notice the many, many machines that take coins. Notice the places like parking meters, coffee machines and on and on and on. I once worked in a building where there was an entire floor of machines for food and drinks. Yes to today many also take currency. BUT just who is going to retrofit all the rest to take plastic?
Look around you. Notice the many, many machines that take coins. Notice the places like parking meters, coffee machines and on and on and on. I once worked in a building where there was an entire floor of machines for food and drinks. Yes to today many also take currency. BUT just who is going to retrofit all the rest to take plastic?
Think of the situation in Transnistria, a country (well, maybe) that I am trying to steer the discussion back towards because it is the one that is actually adopting plastic.
The highest-value non-plastic coin there is worth about 4 cents. The plastic line-up is replacing the four lowest-value banknotes there. (imagine a plastic $2 coin in America) It's a little bit much to assume that every country enjoys America's density of coin-operated machines - plastic coins will catch on first in the developing world, where these arguments about having to change luxuries are basically irrelevant.
"Introducing new denominations means a super-expensive retrofitting process" - 18 years after the introduction of the toonie, some old vending machines in Canada still don't take the things, and really, who cares? These things don't last forever - the first machines to be retrofitted will have an advantage over their competitors, and eventually they'll all be replaced anyway.
I guess a wait and see would be the course, but I think plastic coins would make sense for most or all of the world to reduce cost, weight, etc where coins are still needed or wanted.
