Submitted by Padgriffin t3_y7xaxy in todayilearned
'The new dollar coin was to be made so it matched the dimensions and weight of the American Susan B. Anthony dollar coin so it would be compatible with American manufactured vending machines being used in Canada.'
Of course, no-one would think to use those new Canadian dollar coins in vending machines on the US side of the border. /s
The Susan B Anthony Dollar coin, that was famously phased out of existence because both people and vending machines had problems differentiating it from a quarter?
If it had the same dimensions and weight as a US dollar coin, I figured that would be the problem in US vending machines. Not a quarter.
I get what you're saying...its also a problem to be close to the size/weight of any US coin. But even in the US, the Susan B. Anthony itself was a problem; some vending machines would register it as a quarter, and it became a problem in in-person transactions both ways, with some people not even realizing the Anthony was a dollar coin (similar to the problems some people have spending $2 bills), and other people mistakenly giving it out instead of quarters. So Canada was trying to match the design (bad on its own) of a poorly made design (compounding the problem). There's a reason they only ever bothered minting the Susan B. Anthony for 4 years, and eventually replaced it with the Sacagawea dollar.
The few cents you'd save wouldn't really be worth the effort of hoarding a bunch of Canadian dollars in the US for this one purpose.
Why wouldn’t it be? You can just go to your bank and get Canadian dollars.
Is a trip to the bank, and constantly carrying some Canadian cash on you really worth it, to save a few cents in a vending machine now and then?
It's like the people who drive way out of their way to save a couple cents on gas. They'd be better off not doing it.
It might be worth it even if you are a Canadian coming to the US for a week's holiday. You may not save thousands but some money.
Then multiply it by the number of Canadians. Americans who travel to Canada may also know the scam and take advantage.
When I lived in London in the 1990s, there was a very cheap European coin, which was very similar to a one pound coin. It was used a lot in the ticket machines on the London Underground. And that did cost LU a lot of money.
> When I lived in London in the 1990s, there was a very cheap European coin, which was very similar to a one pound coin. It was used a lot in the ticket machines on the London Underground. And that did cost LU a lot of money.
Sure, if it's very cheap, I can believe it's worth doing. Especially since people may often make ten Underground trips a week.
Right now, the CAD is 0.73 USD which is unusually low--it may be worth it now (although who uses cash anymore?). But ten years ago they were on par. For a bit CAD was actually worth 1.01 USD! So, the particular year matters quite a bit. A lot of the time, it wouldn't have been worth doing.
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