Conference kaosws::canada

    I'm surprised that there is that much resistance to using those
    new coins.  They don't have the problem that the American Susan B.
    Anthony dollars had with people mistaking it for the quarter.  I
    remember that the new coins were light, and very distinctive.
    
    Is it possible that the new coins might fuel inflation?  Coins have
    this image of being "just change"...it's not a standard unit of money.
    When talking about costs of things, everyone usually talks about
    "the dollar".  With the new coins, I could imagine that people would
    think of the dollar in the same way that they might consider the
    quarter...it's only "pocket change".  Now, everyone will think of
    prices in terms of two-dollar increments. (do they still have that?)
    
    On the topic of Canadian money, can anyone explain why the government
    changed the prints of the various denominations?  I remember the "OLD"
    money from fifteen years ago (or was it earlier), and I thought the
    new colorful money was very interesting to look at.  When I last got
    some new money a couple of years ago, some of the bills had their
    designs changed and also became mono-tone colored (e.g., the two
    dollar bill became all shades of pink-brown).
    
    B.
    

< Note 174.1 by CADSE::WONG "Le Chinois Fou" >
<<When I last got some new money a couple of years ago, 
<<some of the bills had their designs changed and also became mono-tone 
<<colored (e.g., the two dollar bill became all shades of pink-brown).
    
	Actually, there is more colour in the new bills than the older
ones, due principally to thwart counterfeiters.  There is also a more
succinct reason for the colour scheme for each paper denomination.  Note 
the following colour for each bill:

	$1 (now defunct) - Green              General
	$2               - Orangish brown     Opposition to
	$5               - Blue               Bureaucratic
	$10              - Purple             Paperpushing and
	$20              - Lime Green         Lousy Government
	$50              - Maroon             Monetary
	$100             _ Beigey brown       Bungling

Also, those very adept people at the Canadian Mint where the die are
designed for each denomination put hidden pictorial messages on the bills.
For example, on the reverse side of the $50 bill is the RCMP Musical Ride
in a closed circle formation with the horses' posterior facing the outside
of the circle, and on the obverse (front) side is a rendering of a former
Prime Mover, William Lyon McKenzie-King.  The implication, as all knew him,
is that was a horse's ass!  Also, the fact that the Mounties have their
lances pointing at each other towards the inside of the circle is another
obvious derogatory remark on the RCMP - that kind of formation is referred
to as a 'Newfie firing squad'.

	The PolySar petrochemical plant on the back of the $10 - the government
is full of gas.  Tall-ship building in Lunenburg on the back of the $100 - the
country is being run aground, just like the original Bluenose.  Logs floating
in the Ottawa River at the back of the Parliament Buildings on the $1 - are 
those WOODEN 'logs' emanating from the 'rear' of Parliament?  A Robin on the
$2 and a Kingfisher on the $5 - flights of governmental fancy.

	What about our coins, eh?  We're probably the only nation that has
a rat on it's coinage ( or in imprudent circles, a beaver).  A Christmas
coin in the form of 25� - the caribou, or reindeer in Europe and no, it's
not Rudolph, it's Olive the other reindeer.

	Those guys at the Mint sure have a keen sense of ptolemics.  Imagine
staging the heist of the first die of the new $1 coin so that they could
use their 'statement' coin - the Loonie!  It's their attempt to suggest that
we should return to the barter system, e.g. "I'll give you 50Kg of road-kill
for 1Kg of yams".

	Gotta go, I have to barter with the cab driver...now where is my
bag of newt nuts?

Knarf Kanute

    I remember when the first round of bills were changed, back in the
    70's.  My first reaction was, "gee, this stuff looks like play money!".
    
    That particular line of money seemed to be more complicated (with more
    lines drawn in, and liberal use of color combinations) than the new money.
    

Down here in the US, seems another reason for the negative reception the
Susan B.s got was that no one wanted a pocket full of coins for change from
a five-dollar bill, etc.  People like the feel of folding money in their
pockets, not a bunch of heavy, jingling, nickel-coated copper facsimiles...
or whatever they're made of these days.

'Course, since the American Buck ain't what it used to be, who cares?

Question: Just how LARGE (read: heavy) are these new $1.00 coins supposed
to be?

Kip

<<Question: Just how LARGE (read: heavy) are these new $1.00 coins supposed
<<to be?

	About the weight of one adult loon.

    Actually Kip, the new loon is about the size and weight of an
    American 25 cent piece.
       
    only brass colored
    Jim

    actually, Kip, the new loon is larger than the Yankee quarter, heavier,
    with 16 sides around the edge, and brass coloured. Impossible to
    mistake for a 25 cent piece of either US or Canada.
                               
    Scooter

    Although most people don't have any problem distinguishing the Loony
    from any other coin...
    
    Scooter still tries to pass off those gold-coloured, foil-covered
    chocolates (the ones that LOOK like coins ?) as the new loon.
    
    Get it together, Scooter!			8^>
    
    
    Dave (Scooter's neighbour)

    Geez Gendron, will you stop telling everybody that I'm your neighbor
    ? or else they'll start to believe you !
    
    Scooter

    One thing that works in favour of the Loonie as opposed to the Susan
    B. Anthony coin is that we still have a two dollar bill.  It should
    cut down on the number of loonies in the pocket.
    
    Glenn

    Now, I wonder why the Canadian two-dollar bill is so successful
    while the Jefferson bill died so quickly?
    
    B,
    

    
    Hallo,
    
    What's happen if we still go some $cn 1.00.  If the printing is
    shut down , is use also finish ?
    
    Maybe I can start a collection, because in Paris I can't use it.
    
    Eric.

    Sorry Eric, but it's not going to be a collector's piece for a long
    long time.  The government printed so many $1 bills that they won't
    be worth any more than a dollar (or so say the experts).
    
    But yes, it's still worth a buck!  It will still be accepted at
    all stores.
    
    
    Dave

    re .13
    
    Yes but I believe paper money `wears out' pretty quickly.  (I know
    mine does when I jam loose bills in my pocket).  So the banks will
    routinely take the worn out bills out of circulation, replacing
    them with coins.  A large part of the motivation for this is that
    coins have a longer life-time and thus lower `cost'.                
                                                  
    The government expected this to happen as a natural evolution, but
    since it didn't (people habitually reach for bills, not coins),
    they're going to force it by shutting down the presses.  Expect
    to see paper bucks to be rare, soon.
    
    re a few back
    
    I always found it curious that in eastern Canada, if you get change
    for a five, you get 2 x $2.00 whereas in western Canada you get 
    4 x $1.00 and $2.00 bills are relatively unusual.
                                      

    Re .14 the $2 bill out West
    
    	Out West in the past, the two dollar bill was used for
    payment of services in places of ill repute, namely brothels.
    If you had two dollar bills in your pocket, it generally meant you
    were looking for a 'good time', as it were. As a result, the $2
    bill is still avoided by westerners today. Maybe the end of the
    $1 bill will force them to use the 2 now...
    
    	In the East, the $2 bill has never had this distinction, only
    the $3 bill has, and your rarely see those circulating in the East.
    
    Glenn

     For a really good deal, the Mint is selling uncut pages of $1.00
    bills for $50.00. One uncut page of $1.00 bills consists of 40 bills.
    That means you pay $50.00 to get $40.00.
     Glenn, what else do you know about westerners?

       In Japan, there are 6 kinds of coins.
       1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 yen.
       (1US$ = 130 yen, 1 Can$ = 115 yen approx)
       500 yen is relatively new, it was introduced several years ago.
       When 500 yen coin has begun to be used, many people wanted to collect
       it, because of their curiosity.

       I think it's good to have 1$ coin.
       When I had a trip to a US, I always had to bring many coins.
       Even for buying a coke, or making a telephone call, I need 2 or 3
       quaters. It made my pocket very heavy.

    
    I don't think it's very usefull to have so much coins.
    
    In France we have 0.10  0.20  0.50  1  2  5  10 Francs coins, and
    I know that it's very heavy in the pocket. ( $cn 1.00 = 5 fr aprox).
    
    

    I heard an interview with a Mint official yesterday about the loonie.
    
    He stated that a survey done two years ago just after they were
    introduced showed that 2/3 of the people liked/had no objection
    and 1/3 disliked the idea of the coin and would not accept it.
    
    A survey done within the last three months showed about the same
    ratios for liked/no objection to disliked. The big difference shown
    was in the actual acceptance; over 90% said they had accepted the
    coin during the previous two years and would continue to accept
    it. Apparently this was most satisfying to the Mint.
    
    Roger