Re: OT: coins and currency (was: [Theory] Types of numerals)

Hi Paul (Paul Bennett), in <op.s2xfa0mgp2ugkf@pauls> on Jan 5 you wrote:

> On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:33:49 -0500, Nomad of Norad -- David C Hall
> <nomad-conlang@...> wrote:
>
> > In fact, I gather the Susan B Anthony dollar was originally supposed to
> > be a polygonal-shaped thing, to make it obvious by feel in ones pocket,
> > but the vending-machine makers complained that if the coin was not
> > going to be truly round, they'd have to redesign their machines... so
> > the currency people relented, and just added a polygon design onto one
> > face a regular, round coin.
> [snip]
> > I kind of wish we'd already started moving away from round coins at some
> > point *before* vending machines became common...  Think of all the cool
> > shapes we coulda had for our coins!
>
> We have septagonal coins in the UK (not one, but two -- to whit: the Crown
> and the Double Florin), and vending machines plus all sorts of other
> coin-operated devices that work just fine with them. I don't buy the
> "vending machine" excuse for one minute. You can phase in support for the
> coins between their announcement date and their release date, and even
> after the release date.
The way I'd heard it -- and mind you, this was years and years ago -- it
wasn't so much that they couldn't change the machines to accomodate the
new shape, it was that they didn't want the *expense* of changing all
their machines to accomodate the new shape... just because somebody,
somewhere, said "What a nifty new shape, let's go with it!"

Had they actually gone and done it, it may well have turned out to be
easier and cheaper than they expected it to be, therefore making it Not
A Big Deal, but it was their *perception* of how much it would take to
do it that made them unwilling to accept it.  Too often, perception
trumps reality and logic.

> Paul
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