| Author |
 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,166 |
|
Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
I was just at my local Walmart with my mother a few hours ago, and we used the self checkout. I had used a $30 in $2 bills, and after a while we got that annoying "Please wait for assistance" message you typically get from those machines. So, the cashier for the self checkout stand sees me inserting those fresh new, Series 2009 $2 bills into the machine, and I told her "I was actually shocked that these machines accept halves, because I've never seen a machine that does" and she said "Well, these machines are newer than some of the machines at the older Walmarts, and Meijers around here, so that's why they accept halves" then, when we were owed 50 cents back from our bill, we got FIVE dimes in change, and I said "Wow! Look at all of the dimes!" and the cashier lady says, "Yep, that means I'm out of quarters" and I told her, "Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if they could get these machines to "dispense" halves as well, and cut down on quarter usage?" and she said "Yeah, that would be nice" So, the half is NOT "dead" yet. Its only hibernating or incubating, otherwise, why would a store have its self checkout machine designers go out of their way to accept an (NOT) obsolete denomination? From the sound of things, I am beginning to wonder if the use of the half is steadily on the rise again, just like $2 bills. Most of us never see $2 bills in circulation, yet they claim that $2 bill usage is steadily rising, so, how do we know that the same is not happening with the half, at "about" the same rate and pace as the $2 bill? Yes, I know halves are not minted for circulation right now, but that is going to change in about 10 years, just as it may take that long before they start producing dollar coins for general circulation again, if they don't get rid of the $1 bill. People were saying years ago, now that I think of it, that bar tenders were using both $2 bills and halves, in hopes of getting doubling tips. |
|
|
|
Valued Member
Puerto Rico
92 Posts |
Interesting.. the other day I was at a "Ralph's" in California and when I saw the cash register I could not believe what I saw. The cash register had a slot for $2 bills and they actually had some! This is the first time anywhere I saw a cash register that had a slot for $2 bills, let alone actually having $2 bills.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 708 Posts |
Quote:
Interesting.. the other day I was at a "Ralph's" in California and when I saw the cash register I could not believe what I saw. The cash register had a slot for $2 bills and they actually had some! This is the first time anywhere I saw a cash register that had a slot for $2 bills, let alone actually having $2 bills. Most cash registers do have five slots, and one bill slot is intended for $2 bills ($1, $2, $5, $10, $20/$50 and $100bills under the till or put into a safe, since there would be no way of handing a $100 bill back out, unless we ever get $200 bills, and/or reissued $500 bills), and most of them also have five coin slots, and one of those slots in intended for halves (1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, and 50c) (not dollar coins) Oh, and by the way, after I had inserted all of my $2 bills into the self checkout machine, I had to insert a $10 bill to finish the pay, and the machine spit out two "$1" bills in change, and another thing I told that self checkout cashier was "See? This machine also should have been made to dispense a $2 bill back at me, if I only needed $8 of that $10 bill" |
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
As Fox says it isn't so much the register had a slot for twos as much as much as it was the business owner set up the drawer to have twos in it. Drawers tend to have four, five or rarely six slots and considering that 20's a seldom given back in change any of them can easily be set up to use twos. Get rid of the dollars bill and the cent and any of them can easily use 2's - 20's and nickels through dollar coins. And on the five or six slot drawers you can not only give the 20 its slot on top, but you will also still have extra space for rolls, receipts or what ever else you need in the drawer. And if you drop the dollar note they will fill that slot with twos.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
213 Posts |
I think the reason it accepts halves is because like all businesses they want to reach the widest market. Even though its rarely used this still want to have have it for the dying breed that use them.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
186 Posts |
My local Super Walmart just added self checkout lanes. I'll have to see if halves work |
|
Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
Quote:
I think the reason it accepts halves is because like all businesses they want to reach the widest market. Even though its rarely used this still want to have have it for the dying breed that use them. Uhh...I doubt it. By that logic, why wouldn't they have also put in a coin mechanism that accepts Eisenhower large dollar coins? Those still circulate in small numbers, and I tried an Ike there at the Walmart whose self checkouts accepts halves, and it just jammed up in the machine somewhere where the store manager had to open up the machine to retrieve my Ike for me. (You would think that at least CoinStars would accept Ikes of all things. I've never used a CoinStar machine, but I always use to see the "No Ike dollars" sign on the machines) I wonder if the bill slots in any machines would accept Red Seal $2 bills or $1 pr $5 Silver Certificates.  The machines accept halves, and not Ikes, because halves are a "current" denomination and coin and Ikes are a considerably "obsolete" coin. Quote:My local Super Walmart just added self checkout lanes. I'll have to see if halves work And be a good little Snowman and let is all know if halves do work or not. (Just joking with you there, Snowman)  Likely, if you have the self checkouts with the coin slot "above" the scanner, that type of self checkout, at my local Meijers stores do not accept halves, even though the coin slot is perfectly large enough for them. If the self checkout gas the coin lip sticking out, "under" the scanner, where you just dump in all of your change (coins) the machine should accept halves (and small dollar coins, both Golden Dollars of all types and Silver Susan B. Anthonys) Edited by Fox
07/31/2013 01:15 am
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
Uhh...I doubt it. By that logic, why wouldn't they have also put in a coin mechanism that accepts Eisenhower large dollar coins? Because theyve done the cost analysis and determined what is worth it and what isn't. If they think itll make them money theyll do it. It could just be as simple as the machines were already set that way from the factory and they didnt want to spend the money to change it. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1053 Posts |
A vending machine near me dispenses dollar coins.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
477 Posts |
I use halves for tips, ones that I get from roll searching. Probably the first halves some of the girls have ever seen. If I could find a good source of clad Ikes they would be awesome tips.
I left a girl a silver dime once, I said look closely at it, it's worth about $2. I don't do that anymore, too greedy.
Rick
|
|
Valued Member
United States
446 Posts |
For Ikes you're going to have to persistently ask for them at the banks. Most of the time they won't have any but every now and then you'll get lucky and find that someone's cashed in $100 or so.
|
|
Valued Member
United States
186 Posts |
Fox - UPDATE my local Walmart near me in Syracuse (Camillus) does accept halves through the new self-checkouts FOX -like you said, this checkout type is where you dump the coins below the barcode scanner area ...... Snowman |
|
Valued Member
United States
324 Posts |
I know they accept dollar coins but I did not know about halves. That is incredible! Other self serve machines are clear in that they take no halves.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
Quote:Fox - UPDATE my local Walmart near me in Syracuse (Camillus) does accept halves through the new self-checkouts  to Snowman. Thanks for the info. Quote:
FOX -like you said, this checkout type is where you dump the coins below the barcode scanner area ...... Snowman Yeah, Snowman, whats weird about it is, I told the woman at my local Meijer a few days ago, when I tried a half in their self checkout, to see if they upgraded, as they said they might, tro accept and dispense halves, and these are the machines where the coin and bill acceptors are "above" the barcode scanner, and the woman said that they were the "new" machines. I wonder if I got mixed up,  and she was saying that the " Walmart" machines were the new ones, because their machines are fairly old. All these places need to do, is find a way to add another bill changer cassette and coin dispensing tube for $2 bills and halves, and as I said, if the machines dispensed them, people would use them, and there would be no reason to get rid of the $1 bill to make the $2 bill circulate, nor would anything have to change for the half to circulate, except for vending machine updating. |
|
Valued Member
United States
410 Posts |
It is pretty easy to set up a machine to accept halves and dollar coins. The machine just checks coin's properties and then kicks the coin into the overflow bin. Dispensing halves or dollar coins requires an additional coin tube for each. Accepting is a software change while dispensing is a hardware change.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
708 Posts |
Quote:
It is pretty easy to set up a machine to accept halves I have no idea how easy it is to get machines to accept halves, but I think you are making it sound easier than it actually is. Remember, halves do not git in most vending machine coin slots, so there is a hardware issue right there as well. Quote:
The machine just checks coin's properties and then kicks the coin into the overflow bin. Do these bins mix ALL accepted coin denominations together? I've always wondered that. Quote:
Dispensing halves or dollar coins requires an additional coin tube for each. Just as dispensing a $2 bill requires an extra bill cassette to dispense those $2 bills. Quote:
Accepting is a software change while dispensing is a hardware change. As I said, accepting could be both a software & hardware change, due to the half's size, but I still do not believe that upgrading machines to accept and dispense halves, dollar coins, or in self checkout cases, $2 bills as well, is going to break the industries, and it should be done. I have already talked with the DCA about the need to upgrade all self checkouts to dispense dollar coins, should the COINS Act pass, and I asked if they would make sure that the vendors and self checkout companies upgrade to accept and dispense halves and $2 bill as needed, just as they would have to for the dollar coin if the $1 bill is eliminated, and they told me that, its a possibility |
| |
Replies: 18 / Views: 3,166 |
Posted 07/30/2013 03:17 am
