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To: Beelzebubba

They don't round to the nearest dime. Gee you want to get rid of nickles, too? I think you are going to have to found your own country. The difference between the 1/2 penny and the penny and nickle is that these are useful measurements to have in any decimal system. One big gripe that I would have about dollar coins (which are worth what quarters were in the '70s) is that dollars are whole numbers (whereas non-dollar coins are fractions of a dollar), and fit in very neatly in the cash drawer with fives, tens and twenties. You might think that people are happy to move over the decimal point. They are not. I love to stump my Canadian friends by asking them what a decimeter is. They cannot remember if it is a tenth of a meter, or ten meters. It is never used. Hence, the too small centimeter and the too large meter wind up doing double and triple duty. (Moreover, the mind does not visualize tenths as easily as quarters or eights).

Anyway, this ultimately comes down to a matter of opinion, and for now, the over-whelming opinion is for dollar bills, nickles and even pennies. By all means, try to change minds. But please, do not support a measure that would "force acceptance" in this democratic Republic. Jimmy Carter tried to do that with metric and the results were awful. (The results of a half-successful coercion in Canada are very awful).


59 posted on 11/27/2006 7:55:01 AM PST by sittnick (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: sittnick
>>They don't round to the nearest dime. Gee you want to get rid of nickles, too? I think you are going to have to found your own country.

I have yet to hear any rational reason to denominate commercial transactions to anything smaller than a tenth of a dollar. And without the nickel, you can then drop the quarter, and the whole digit.

>>The difference between the 1/2 penny and the penny and nickle is that these are useful measurements to have in any decimal system.

Like what? What do you buy that needs top be denominated in nickels?

>>You might think that people are happy to move over the decimal point. They are not. I love to stump my Canadian friends by asking them what a decimeter is.

The metric system has nothing to do with eliminating puny coins. You should look at the British conversion to decimalization.

>>Anyway, this ultimately comes down to a matter of opinion, and for now, the over-whelming opinion is for dollar bills, nickles and even pennies.

When people leave pennies behind in a dish as not worth the bother, they are NOT expressing support for retaining those absurd little tokens.

>>By all means, try to change minds. But please, do not support a measure that would "force acceptance" in this democratic Republic.

The simple solution is to permit merchants to denominate all transactions in tenth dollars. (Heck, if it is over $100, round to the nearest dollar!) Let the cash registers round, and the problem is solved. If you want to spend 10 pennies at a time, have at it. I'm proposing more freedom, in fact, not coercion.
65 posted on 11/27/2006 10:57:24 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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