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 Replies: 63 / Views: 9,268 |
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Valued Member
United States
53 Posts |
I was reading the DCA thread, and I started thinking about the future of coins and currency. I think we will eventually move to an all electronic transaction system.
I collect coins, but I rarely use cash to make purchases.
Everything goes on rewards cards that get payed off every paycheck.
It seems like there are several perceived benefits for electronic vs. cash transactions...but do you ever see a day when currency becomes obsolete?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
597 Posts |
no theirs too much you cant buy with out real dollars drugs prostitutes etc without $ the gov wouldn't be able to have black-ops
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
At some point it will. It wont happen during the life time of any one alive though
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Pillar of the Community
United States
899 Posts |
Will I have to figure out how the 3 shells work?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
997 Posts |
There is no REAL need for coinage these days. Even the largest coin in normal circulation in the USA (the Quarter) has minimal purchasing power.
Coins are used primarily to make change and for vending machines. As prices rise the former is less and less important. Rising prices and the willingness of the public to use plastic for small purchases takes care of the latter.
If coins were stopped being made most would disappear from circulation almost immediately as they would be hoarded. I know I would retain every coin I could get my hands on.
If they went piecemeal and eliminated coins one by one it might ease the shock but prolong the agony. The US could eliminate the cent as many countries have already done and after the initial shock no one would care. Getting rid of the nickel is a bit harder due to the fact that there is a 25 cent piece instead of a 20 cent coin. (It makes a difference, really!). Even the lowly dime is pretty much worthless except as a change maker these days.
Unless the USA decides to revalue the Dollar by a factor of 10 or even 100 coins will have little or no real value.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I've been saying this for a long time. All coinage and currency will shortly vanish. Already it is getting to be something that seldom is used around larger cities. Of course smaller communities and places where computers are not as common will still be using coins and currency for a while but as things are going now, not much need for anything except a plastic card. Since BOA nows has that 1%, 2%, 3% cash back on all purchases, why would anyone use cash? I use that card anywhere it is accepted. And why not? Eat at a restaurant, get 2% of what you spend back. Go to a grocery store, get 2% cash back. And with the prices of gasoline for my car, 3% cash back. No matter what I buy, at least 1% cash back. I really see no reason to spend money as we know it now. If it wasn't for flea markets and coin shows, why use cash? I wonder if someday a criminal will say this is a holdup. Please swipe your card in this device and consider yourself robbed.   |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
but do you ever see a day when currency becomes obsolete? Absolutely. It's inevitable. I don't necessarily see it disappearing completely, but the handwriting is on the wall when you can see a day when plastic will be obsolete if you have a smartphone. |
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New Member
United States
47 Posts |
I agree, eventually it will happen, although creative ways of minting PM's is likely to continue
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
The next method of payment?
BITCOINS.
Who of us, will be the first to start a RARE bitcoin collection?
When I ask, will the first FAKE bitcoin be made?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
TV didn't eliminate radio.
eBooks haven't eliminated paper books.
Cell phones haven't eliminated land lines.
Electronic transactions I doubt will ever eliminate physical cash.
What we *need* to do is make our cash more useful. Each and every one of our coins need an extra 0 on the end of them to be of a size really worth using in commerce. (That'd bring them just about on par with purchasing power 50-60 years ago.)
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2868 Posts |
It would, of course, depend on which part of the world you are talking about. First world countries such as Europe, Austraila or the US - maybe. Other counteries - probably not.
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
First world countries such as Europe, Austraila or the US - maybe. Other counteries - probably not. First world countries would certainly be first, but at some point even the other countries will advance from where they are today. It could be a 1000 years or so but even if theyre 200 years behind the rest of the world theyd still be way ahead of where they are now |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3079 Posts |
They will try and you can gauge the acceptance, by looking around your local casino! Slot machine gaming tokens will the first to go. People that like the sensation of real coinage in the pay out chute are the hold up now. They still are changing them to swipe cards and paper win receipts. The next will be the tokens for the arcade machines, the pool tables. That use a variation of the swipe phone card that can be refilled. Then you have people like me that don't have a debit card, or don't have the bank info on the phone. It is to easy for people to steal the info now, sometimes with out you even knowing it till it is to late. As far as Bit coins I don't think so. To easy for any one to start a site ,rip off a bunch of people and get in the wind. Look at these guy's that pulled the 40 million ATM heist a week or so ago. They have plenty of clear good photo's of them and they still haven't caught them. It will happen at some point, but I think it will be a forced on us. Only for one simple fact so the government, can keep track and take "IT's fair share" of your earnings!  |
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Valued Member
Ireland
131 Posts |
Hope I'm not gatecrashing by replying to a topic in the US forums (I tend to 'read' the forums by way of the last 100 updated list) but imo this is a question that will relate to all geographic locations at some point or another.
I'm sure there will come a day when coins will become obsolete and another day when paper currency also likely follows suit but both could be a very long way off imo.
There have been various 'trials' of electronic only currencies, I don't recall any as yet being hailed as much more than a qualified success. Slowly and surely though different populations are certainly being edged in that direction and I can see a time where the convenience of simple electronic transactions will outweigh the psychological desire of handling a physical entity. For now though I think that desire of handling something physical is too strongly ingrained in the human psyche.
Whenever it is finally acccomplished though I'm sure it will all be done under the auspices of both more cost effectiveness and helping defeat black market economies. The former will undoubtedly be true, the latter however will equally undoubtedly adapt as and how it feels it needs to.
It certainly would be interesting to live through such a change - not saying I would be in favour of it but it would be interesting. Very much doubt I will be around then though.
Norm
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Moderator
Australia
16806 Posts |
Coins are one of the few ancient inventions that are still used today in much the same fashion as they were used 2500 years ago. In that sense, they've lasted much longer than the half-life of a typical invention (about a hundred years).
Coins were invented because using them for money was much more convenient than using cows, or iron sticks, or farm implements, or bags of wheat, or whatever else people used to use beforehand. Paper money largely supplanted the role of coinage because it was more convenient. Plastic and other forms of electronic money are more convenient again. But notice, with this increasing convenience also comes increasing ease of theft and fraud. Coins are easier to fake than bags of wheat; paper money is easier to fake than coins. Electronic money is by far the easiest form of money to steal or to counterfeit which we have yet invented.
For the past 2500 years, people have always been prepared to sacrifice monetary security for convenience, but there may come a point of diminishing returns, when the risks outweigh the convenience. So far, the people of the modern Western culture have not yet said that about electronic money. So I don't think that point is yet reached.
So yes, I think there will come a day, perhaps within this century, when coinage and paper money become effectively obsolete.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
899 Posts |
I think the question may be more accurate to ask... will government issued coins and currency become obsolete.
I believe that if and when it does happen - there will become a market for barter and trades (again). If everything is tracked via electronic cards - then there will be others who don't want that transaction tracked and will seek out other forms of payment. Like Bitcoins or Liberty dollars...
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Replies: 63 / Views: 9,268 |
Posted 05/21/2013 8:13 pm
