2010-08-27
Can You Change Some Change?
There’s been a bit of buzz about the Dollar ReDe$ign project, especially the Dowling Duncan and Raffael Hannemann entries. There’s one thing that’s bothering me, though.
If this is truly an attempt to consider radical change for US banknotes, the spec should eliminate the one dollar bill. Sure, redesign the $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100, but if you’re thinking big, cut the little one.
I can’t think of another Western currency that has paper money worth so little. The UK eliminated the old 10 shilling note in 1969, replacing it with the decimal 50p piece; the pound note hasn’t been produced in England and Wales since the pound coin was introduced in the mid-’80s, and it was formally withdrawn in 1988. The smallest UK banknote is the fiver. The dollar is currently worth 64p.
Similarly, the smallest Euro note is €5, with €1 and €2 coins. Denmark and Norway both start at 50 krone, which is also roughly worth £5. The Czech Republic recently phased out their 20 Kč note, which was worth 66p, in favour of coins and the 50 Kč note.
Meanwhile, the US Mint is complaining nobody uses dollar coins, while no doubt dollar bills wear out terrifying quickly (just like the old UK ten bob note did). Maybe the shift from cash to electronic transactions will save the dollar from itself, but that seems like wishful thinking. Perhaps some Americans reading this can understand: why is the dollar bill so entrenched?
