The Half Dollar Quarter Solution

The old quarter and new half cannot be of the same weight and diameter. Otherwise old quarters would be used for new halfs in vending machines.

jbuck,

Are you serious that most vending machines can accept halves? Because, most machines I see, only accept nickels, dimes, quarters, dollar coins, ane $1 and sometimes $2 and $5 bills. Is it just that the vending machine's faceplates and coin slots would need to be replaced so that they would have big enough slots so the halves would fit? I've always heard that halves were too big for most coin mechs, and as I said, I have been talking with the vending industry to change that, by making all new vending machines made after 2013 to accept halves with a new coin mech, as well, as trying to get them to lobby a simultaneious release of the next redesigned $5 bill, and the redesigned $2 bill, coming out with the next currency redesign, so that the vendors can reprogram for both denominations, just as they did with the $5 and $10 bills when the nin-colorized "big head" bills were coming out.


But if what you say is true, that most vending machines have the ability to accept halves, I'll have to ask the vendors the next time I talk to them. I figured it was just like the dollar coin situation, where the vendors could just flip a switch to accept halves, but they all tell me that right now, most older and current machines can not accept halves, but if they do, they should also dispense them as needed. That would surely get halves back into circulation.

jbick,

Thanks for that information. I'll have to mention that to the vending industry guy I have been talking with. I had a guy at a local Meijer grocery store tell me that their self checkout machines teject halves because, as the coin goes down in the slot, the slot gets smaller, and is too small for the half. But that makes no sense, because, if the slot gets smaller, then, why can't the bigger section of the slot accept the half before the coin gets to the smaller section? I'll have to talk to that store manager again. I'd also like to talk to the store managers around here about getting their machines to both accept and dispense $2 bills and halves as needed. But one other issue that the vending industry wrote back in a letter reply from them was that they would also need to install a half tube in their machine to accept halves, which would cost them millions of dollars, however with inflation in full swing, and people not wanting to ditch the $1 bill for a dollar coin like a lot of us do, its still time for a coin larger than a quarter, and if a dollar won't do, then a half will have to work for now. At least you can buy what used to be a "25 cent" 5-stick pack of gum that is now at least a"35-cent" pack of gum, which a quarter can no longer buy, at least you can buy that with a half now, and STILL get some change back.

Here's a slightly different opinion on why halves don't circulate:

The "Camelot effect." JFK wasn't necessarily a great, or even a good, President (most of the folks I know who are old enough to remember him say he was at best an "adequate" President and that the fondness he's remembered with has to do partly with charisma and partly with Kurt Cobain factor), but he's still this huge piece of Americana. You say "John F. Kennedy" and it calls to mind an entire era that goes with him; even for equally-well-known Presidents like Lincoln and Adams that effect isn't quite there (part of that, I'm sure, has to do with Kennedy's era being relatively recent, but that's beside the point).

If we were to create a set of bullion halves with Kennedy on them (to satisfy those who would scream in outrage if he were removed from the coinage) and a circulating half with a different design, I think the different design would cause circulation. Consciously or unconsciously, people hoard the Kennedy halves (and given how often I hear the persistent rumors that they're still made of silver to this day, it might also stop the silverbugs from stashing away pounds and pounds of cupronickel halves).

Do not sweat it. Most of the greatest minds came up with their best ideas after having many bad ideas before them.

Yes, that sounds like a good thing to try!