The Other Boiling Point



  • @tchize said:

    we decimalized pretty everything in the metric system, except for the f** time

    There you go.



  •  @Spectre said:

    @tchize said:
    Other debate, car:  Liter / 100 kilometer, or miles / galon?

    Square metre.

    Cubic fortnight per sigma.



  • @C-Octothorpe said:

    @boomzilla said:
    I always have difficulty suspending disbelief when watching TV, and the characters always have at least a couple hundred dollars in cash on them. ("Here's a wad of $100 bills, this is all I have on me.") In this age of electronic payments, do many people really still do that?

    This. 

    I can't remember the last time, other then when making a large cash-only purchase, did I have over $60-$100 on my person.

    I just don't understand the people who will go and withdraw $300.  What the hell do you need that much cash for, other than drugs and hookers... Oh, wait...

    What, you guys actually trust companies that are actively hostile to your fiscal wellbeing? No thank you. I always try to keep $100-$200 dollars on me and pay for most everything with that.

    It keeps me reasonably free of credit mistakes, accidental fees, pesky bills, and painfully long telephone calls trying to get the bastards to reverse some mysterious $80 service charge that shouldn't apply to me. It also reduces my footprint for identity theft, I suppose, even if the cost of the old-fashioned kind of theft is slightly higher. Then again, maybe not; I never have to worry about a thief stealing and using my credit card when I don't have one. Also, I'd like to think that paying with cash keeps me more aware of my monetary output. Imo, it's far simpler than the common alternative, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth for conspicuous consumption.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Xyro said:

    What, you guys actually trust companies that are actively hostile to your fiscal wellbeing? No thank you. I always try to keep $100-$200 dollars on me and pay for most everything with that.

    It keeps me reasonably free of credit mistakes, accidental fees, pesky bills, and painfully long telephone calls trying to get the bastards to reverse some mysterious $80 service charge that shouldn't apply to me.

    That's fine. I find that I'm reasonably free of that stuff, too.

    @Xyro said:

    It also reduces my footprint for identity theft, I suppose, even if the cost of the old-fashioned kind of theft is slightly higher. Then again, maybe not; I never have to worry about a thief stealing and using my credit card when I don't have one.

    There have been a couple of times where someone has apparently stolen my CC number and run up some charges. The CC company fixed it up pretty quickly. I never paid a dime from that stuff. The main hassle was getting new cards issued and updating all of the automated payments. Of course, what good is being married if you have to do all that stuff yourself? You might as well do your own laundry, or something.

    @Xyro said:

    Also, I'd like to think that paying with cash keeps me more aware of my monetary output. Imo, it's far simpler than the common alternative, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth for conspicuous consumption.

    Yes, the CC definitely takes some of the awareness away, especially if you never look at the bills. But I wouldn't say going to the ATM makes life simple. I probably take cash out less than once per month at this point.


  • Trolleybus Mechanic

    @homsar said:

    Small-denomination notes are just hidden subsidies for the wallet industry!
     

    Large denomination notes are just hidden subsidies for the stripper industry. Have you ever tried to stuff a dollar coin into a G-string? No? You should. It's well worth the $1. The beatings, though...

     A downside to coins, for anyone who ever lived in Toronto: a subway token, until very recently, was pretty much the exact same size, shape, textrue and overall look of a Canadian dime. I'm sure at one point everyone has accidentally paid for a $0.10 item with a $3.00 token.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @Xyro said:
    Also, I'd like to think that paying with cash keeps me more aware of my monetary output. Imo, it's far simpler than the common alternative, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth for conspicuous consumption.

    Yes, the CC definitely takes some of the awareness away, especially if you never look at the bills. But I wouldn't say going to the ATM makes life simple. I probably take cash out less than once per month at this point.

     

    This.  I still carry cash for certain situations (minimum purchase required for credit card use, potentially sketchy merchants, refilling the laundry card) but I use my credit card as much as possible just to avoid going to the ATM.  I hate paying fees, and there aren't any in-network machines in my neighborhood, so getting cash turns into a huge hassle.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @locallunatic said:

    @homsar said:

    @boomzilla said:
    The US coins are actually pretty different in size and shape

    The five-cent coin seems very similarly-sized to the quarter to me, although in pulling both out of my pocket to verify this I've noticed that the quarter has ridged edges whilst the 5-cent doesn't, which is helpful to know.

     

    They aren't that close to each other, instead of comparing them visually try gripping each between the first and second knuckles of a finger and then the second and third knuckles.  In addition nickels are thicker (though that is slight and generally only noticeable with slight of hand practice).

    For some reason, I have a Nepalese coin. At least, I assume so. I don't recognize any of the writing except for the word NEPAL on one side. I can't make out any numerals, so I have no idea what it might be worth. It's right in between the size of a penny and a nickel, although it feels lighter than both, and is sort of a brass color. TRWTF is how this came into my possession.



  • @homsar said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    2) Our coinage is actually optimized for "fewest coins required to make change", so there's an extremely logical reason that, for example, a quarter is 2.

    The ridicule is not at the number of denominations (indeed any base-100 coinage system will probably end up needing a 2.5 multiplier) but the names. Under the metricised British system, you have the penny, then the two-pence, five-pence, ten-pence, twenty-pence, fifty-pence, one-pound, and two-pound coins. (Then the five-pound note (or "fiver" if you want a nickname, although it's hardly abstract), ten-pound note ("tenner"), twenty-pound note ("twenty"), and the little-circulated fifty-pound note (frequently not accepted due to the high prevalence of forgeries – little circulation means little familiarity with what it should look like, which combined with its high value makes it an ideal note to forge).)

    I've found very few aspects of the US physical currency that I like. In fact, I can't currently think of one.

    The only ones with silly names are the penny, nickel, and dime.  And the penny and nickel are their nicknames, the actual coins refer to themselves as "One Cent" and "Five Cents" (as opposed to the dime which actually says One Dime on it)

    Anyway, as a primer  to identifying US coins, which you brought up in a later post.  Note that every coin can be identified by its size and edges without looking at its color:

    Name: One Cent
    Nickname: Penny
    Rarity: Common
    Size: Small
    Edges: Flat
    Color: Brown/Bronzish
    Value: $0.01

    Name: Five Cents
    Nickname: Nickel
    Rarity: Common
    Size: Medium
    Edges: Flat
    Color: Silver
    Value: $0.05

    Name: Dime
    Rarity: Common
    Size: Smallest
    Edges: Ridged
    Color: Silver
    Value: $0.10

    Name: Quarter Dollar
    Nickname: Quarter
    Rarity: Common
    Size: Medium-large
    Edges: Ridged
    Color: Silver
    Value: $0.25

    Name: Half Dollar
    Rarity: Rare
    Size: Large
    Edges: Ridged
    Color: Silver
    Value: $0.50

    Name: Dollar (until 1999)
    Nicknames: Susan B. Anthony dollar
    Rarity: Rare, No longer in print
    Size: Medium-large
    Edges: Dodecagon (twelve-sides), not round
    Color: Silver
    Value: $1.00

    Name: Dollar (Current)
    Nicknames: Sacagawea dollar, Native American dollar, Presidential Dollar
    Rarity: Uncommon
    Size: Medium-large
    Edges: Flat
    Color: Gold
    Value: $1.00



  • @boomzilla said:

    @Xyro said:
    What, you guys actually trust companies that are actively hostile to your fiscal wellbeing? No thank you. I always try to keep $100-$200 dollars on me and pay for most everything with that.

    It keeps me reasonably free of credit mistakes, accidental fees, pesky bills, and painfully long telephone calls trying to get the bastards to reverse some mysterious $80 service charge that shouldn't apply to me.

    That's fine. I find that I'm reasonably free of that stuff, too.

    @Xyro said:

    It also reduces my footprint for identity theft, I suppose, even if the cost of the old-fashioned kind of theft is slightly higher. Then again, maybe not; I never have to worry about a thief stealing and using my credit card when I don't have one.

    There have been a couple of times where someone has apparently stolen my CC number and run up some charges. The CC company fixed it up pretty quickly. I never paid a dime from that stuff. The main hassle was getting new cards issued and updating all of the automated payments. Of course, what good is being married if you have to do all that stuff yourself? You might as well do your own laundry, or something.

    @Xyro said:

    Also, I'd like to think that paying with cash keeps me more aware of my monetary output. Imo, it's far simpler than the common alternative, especially if you don't have a sweet tooth for conspicuous consumption.

    Yes, the CC definitely takes some of the awareness away, especially if you never look at the bills. But I wouldn't say going to the ATM makes life simple. I probably take cash out less than once per month at this point.

     

     

    Since when did using your card less frequently ever make you less lightly to be a victim of identity theft or unauthorised transactions.... ?  Most of it is on-line when you cannot use cash and the rest is places where you may not want to use your card anyway - Strip club, strip bar, fight club, fight bar, holiday in a country which is known for its sex trade

     



  • @Justice said:

    I still carry cash for certain situations (minimum purchase required for credit card use

    I have no idea how it goes with Amex, but both Visa and Mastercard ToS say that there CAN NOT BE any minimum purchase enforced by the store. You can and should report any cases where you're not allowed to pay with card because of too small purchase. (And yes, I do know stores don't like it as card processing fee may sometimes be more than their profit on the purchase. Still, they did sign the ToS.)



  • @Justice said:

    I still carry cash for certain situations (minimum purchase required for credit card use, potentially sketchy merchants, refilling the laundry card) but I use my credit card as much as possible just to avoid going to the ATM.  I hate paying fees, and there aren't any in-network machines in my neighborhood, so getting cash turns into a huge hassle.
     

    That hassle is part of the benefit of using cash for most purchases, it makes you less likely to spend due to the hassle involved.  I mean it sucks when you need more cash due to buying lunches or something, but it does add a little extra resistance to impulse purchases.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Helix said:

    Since when did using your card less frequently ever make you less lightly to be a victim of identity theft or unauthorised transactions.... ?

    I wouldn't know. I think you're the only one saying that. I said that even with my current credit cards that I was reasonably free from, "credit mistakes, accidental fees, pesky bills, and painfully long telephone calls trying to get the bastards to reverse some mysterious $80 service charge that shouldn't apply to me."

    Xyro doesn't seem to have a credit card at all, which seems like a pretty solid way to avoid identity theft or unauthorized purchases via credit card.



  • @bannedfromcoding said:

    I have no idea how it goes with Amex, but both Visa and Mastercard ToS say that there CAN NOT BE any minimum purchase enforced by the store.

    Well that's interesting.  Makes sense though, the only place I ever see that is at small restaurants (in particular a local pub where the owner is a tightwad of epic proportions).

    @locallunatic said:

    @Justice said:

    I still carry cash for certain situations (minimum purchase required for credit card use, potentially sketchy merchants, refilling the laundry card) but I use my credit card as much as possible just to avoid going to the ATM.  I hate paying fees, and there aren't any in-network machines in my neighborhood, so getting cash turns into a huge hassle.
     

    That hassle is part of the benefit of using cash for most purchases, it makes you less likely to spend due to the hassle involved.  I mean it sucks when you need more cash due to buying lunches or something, but it does add a little extra resistance to impulse purchases.

     

    I can see that, but I manage the majority of my savings upstream of my checking account, so the occasional small impulse purchase isn't that big a deal for me.  Plus I can get cash back and/or airline miles on the cards I use, so there's an additional benefit to not using cash.  It's a matter of preference; I've never had much of an issue with impulse purchases, so I generally favor the route of convenience.


  • @boomzilla said:

    I said that even with my current credit cards that I was reasonably free from, "credit mistakes, accidental fees, pesky bills, and painfully long telephone calls trying to get the bastards to reverse some mysterious $80 service charge that shouldn't apply to me."
     

     

    Thats True.

    Cue the bagatelle music.

     


  • 🚽 Regular

    @boomzilla said:

    Xyro doesn't seem to have a credit card at all, which seems like a pretty solid way to avoid identity theft or unauthorized purchases via credit card.
     

    Avoiding unauthorized purchases? Yes. Identity theft? Not so much. There are plenty of ways one could commit identity theft without knowing your credit card information. Employers, hospitals, accountants, and a myriad of other organizations and companies store your social security number, address, and anything else that one could potentially use fradulently, and that type of theft is far worse than credit/debit card fraud.

    Credit cards have limits, and unauthorized purchases made on your behalf might cause some headaches and phone calls, but eventually even if you're not reimbursed, you at least can get a fresh new number. If you're smart, you'll keep your checking account low to prevent potential theives from completely emptying your finances with a stolen debit card. Worst case scenario is a good amount of money is stolen but your life is at least not completely destroyed.

    Contrast that with when your identity is stolen, which can happen with or without a credit card, a car loan, or even a bank account, you could find yourself in a heap of mail regarding the exercise of the lein on that mansion on the golf course in Malibu, the repossession of your learjet, and your pending lawsuit with the owner of the penthouse suite in Manhatten that you haven't paid rent on.

    Granted, those are extraordinary circumstances, but it has happened and while having more paper trails around your identity definitely helps, it's not totally avoided simply by not having a credit card. Just by having a W4 with health insurance and paying taxes you're putting yourself at risk.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @RHuckster said:

    @boomzilla said:

    Xyro doesn't seem to have a credit card at all, which seems like a pretty solid way to avoid identity theft or unauthorized purchases via credit card.

    There are plenty of ways one could commit identity theft without knowing your credit card information.

    Yes, but none of those would be identity theft via credit card. Which would presumably be someone getting your information from the CC company or something. I dunno...


  • 🚽 Regular

    @boomzilla said:

    Yes, but none of those would be identity theft via credit card. Which would presumably be someone getting your information from the CC company or something. I dunno...
     

    That's like saying I avoid car accidents by never driving at night and when told you're still suseptible to car accidents in the day time I retort, "Yeah, but I said I'm avoiding car accidents at night."

    There's a false sense of security if you refrain from having a credit card because you are trying to avoid identity theft. If you have a checking or savings account with the bank, then you're just as vulnerable to someone stealing your personal information from that bank. If you think the convenience of having a credit card is overshadowed by the risk of identity theft, then fine. But it certainly doesn't even come close to neutralizing the risk. There are tons more ways to get your info.



  • Right, I don't have a credit card at all. At least, I've managed to avoid it thus far, but who knows how long I can stay stubborn. My most fundamental objection is that it's just another third-party controlled thing in my life that I have to guard and check and maintain. These days I'm sure I can call up the credit card company and dispute charges and reverse payments or whatever if something gets double-charged or stolen or whatnot, but I have better things to do with my time. I just don't want to deal with it. The convenience a credit card provides is minimal to me because 1) I hardly ever buy expensive items and 2) the inconvenience of maintenance overwhelms it.

    I am fortunate that my bank is in walking distance as well as has reasonable hours. If it wasn't this way ... well, I'd probably just carry more cash on me then.

    Really, I just hate dealing with money that other people control. I want maintenance-free money.

    Oh, that and the fact that you constantly owe giant companies money kind of disturbs me.



  • @RHuckster said:

    There's a false sense of security if you refrain from having a credit card because you are trying to avoid identity theft. If you have a checking or savings account with the bank, then you're just as vulnerable to someone stealing your personal information from that bank. If you think the convenience of having a credit card is overshadowed by the risk of identity theft, then fine. But it certainly doesn't even come close to neutralizing the risk. There are tons more ways to get your info.

    Of course, but lessening risk is lessening risk. If not driving at night makes for a safer drive, then you are indeed avoiding accidents that you may have otherwise had if you drove at night. (Although I prefer driving at night - less people, and headlights makes the important things stick out. Daytime driving is full of maniacs and distractions!)

    One less attack vector is something anyone could use.



  • @Xyro said:

    Right, I don't have a credit card at all. At least, I've managed to avoid it thus far, but who knows how long I can stay stubborn. My most fundamental objection is that it's just another third-party controlled thing in my life that I have to guard and check and maintain. These days I'm sure I can call up the credit card company and dispute charges and reverse payments or whatever if something gets double-charged or stolen or whatnot, but I have better things to do with my time. I just don't want to deal with it. The convenience a credit card provides is minimal to me because 1) I hardly ever buy expensive items and 2) the inconvenience of maintenance overwhelms it.

     

    I am fortunate that my bank is in walking distance as well as has reasonable hours. If it wasn't this way ... well, I'd probably just carry more cash on me then.

    Really, I just hate dealing with money that other people control. I want maintenance-free money.

    Oh, that and the fact that you constantly owe giant companies money kind of disturbs me.

     

     

    To be fair i felt like this until i had to keep buying expensive things for work on expenses.  So i thought i might as well get an amex to get the side benefits (currently air miles for free vacation flights, but may change that soon)

     


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @RHuckster said:

    @boomzilla said:

    Yes, but none of those would be identity theft via credit card. Which would presumably be someone getting your information from the CC company or something. I dunno...
     

    That's like saying I avoid car accidents by never driving at night and when told you're still suseptible to car accidents in the day time I retort, "Yeah, but I said I'm avoiding car accidents at night."

    It's like that only in the sense that it's like changing the fucking topic. We were talking about credit cards, not about the larger topic of identity theft. I'm not against thread hijacking, but don't pretend that you're not doing it.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Helix said:

    So i thought i might as well get an amex to get the side benefits (currently air miles for free vacation flights, but may change that soon)

    My main card is a UPromise card, so I get money deposited into a 527 account towards my kids' college savings.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Xyro said:

    Oh, that and the fact that you constantly owe giant companies money kind of disturbs me.
    Genuine question - are you going on the basis that use of a credit card 'obligates' you to carry balances from month to month, and that you cannot simply pay what you've used on it in the last month in total (as you might with, say, a contract mobile phone or a utility bill)?



    Not sure what happens in the states, but in the UK, if you pay what you've spent in the last month on the card (presuming you're not carrying a balance, i.e. you've been paying what you've spent in the past month every month to result in a 0 balance) you don't pay any interest on the amount.



    Of course, there are those that treat credit cards as an overdraft that doesn't need to be cleared, and get charged interest (which is where I suspect most of the the CCs money comes from,) but it it is possible to use them sensibly and not pay extra for the priviledge. Even get extra for using the CC rather than cash (points etc.)


  • 🚽 Regular

    @Xyro said:

    Of course, but lessening risk is lessening risk. If not driving at night makes for a safer drive, then you are indeed avoiding accidents that you may have otherwise had if you drove at night.
     

    Yes, but one who avoids driving at night is missing out on the night out on the town by lessening that risk. Again, if you're able to use cash everywhere you go and don't consider it a major inconvenience to have to make sure you have enough cash when you do your errands, that's fine. I just don't think you're lessening risk nearly as much as you think, and you're possibly missing out on not only those conveniences but building a credit history which might be necessary to own a home in the future. You might disagree, but I personally see having a credit card more of a reward than a risk for those reasons.

    In any case, at least you are more knowledgable in identity theft than a lot of other people. It's better to be "too safe" than to be too careless in these kinds of things.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @boomzilla said:

    so I get money deposited into a 527 account
    I had bugger all idea of what a 527 account is, so went to the internet, and the top result of a google search for [527 account] is a Y! Q, on which the 'best answer' starts with:

    According to the IRS, a Section 527 (§527) organization is an organization that is created to receive and disburse funds to influence or attempt to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office.
    I'm presuming (I hope!) this isn't what a 527 is. Care to educate the proles?

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @PJH said:

    According to the IRS, a Section 527 (§527) organization is an organization that is created to receive and disburse funds to influence or attempt to influence the nomination, election, appointment or defeat of candidates for public office.
    I'm presuming (I hope!) this isn't what a 527 is. Care to educate the proles?

    It's a common (for me) typo for a 529:
    @SEC said:

    A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future college costs. 529 plans, legally known as “qualified tuition plans,” are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code.



  • @PJH said:

    Genuine question - are you going on the basis that use of a credit card 'obligates' you to carry balances from month to month, and that you cannot simply pay what you've used on it in the last month in total (as you might with, say, a contract mobile phone or a utility bill)?

    Not sure what happens in the states, but in the UK, if you pay what you've spent in the last month on the card (presuming you're not carrying a balance, i.e. you've been paying what you've spent in the past month every month to result in a 0 balance) you don't pay any interest on the amount.
     

    Been a while since I last had a CC, but I remember getting offers for cards that started interest from time of purchase rather than on carried balance.  They were aimed at students (who tend to be broke and with not great credit) so that may have been part of it.  I didn't pay that much attention to some reworking of the rules for CCs in the USA that happened a little bit back so that may have changed, but you don't always only get interest on carried balances.

    @PJH said:

    I'm presuming (I hope!) this isn't what a 527 is. Care to educate the proles?

    Again, from memory so no promises on the accuracy but my understanding was a special form of tax advantaged savings kinda like a 401K (no tax on money put in, only on taken out) but instead of "you get to take it out for retirement" it's "you get to take it out to pay for kid's college".

    EDIT: ah, the number was wrong.  Should be 529.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @boomzilla said:

    It's like that only in the sense that it's like changing the fucking topic. We were talking about credit cards, not about the larger topic of identity theft. I'm not against thread hijacking, but don't pretend that you're not doing it.
     

    Read the OP and tell me how much that relates to credit cards. Xyro mentioned that credit cards "lowers his identity theft footprint" and I simply rebuked that with my belief that your identity theft footprint is already large just by being a citizen of the United States with a job and a checking account. Sorry if in your world that's thread hijacking, but you're taking it as if he started talking about credit cards and I started talking about the friggen Teapot Dome scandal.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @RHuckster said:

    @boomzilla said:
    It's like that only in the sense that it's like changing the fucking topic. We were talking about credit cards, not about the larger topic of identity theft. I'm not against thread hijacking, but don't pretend that you're not doing it.

    Read the OP and tell me how much that relates to credit cards. Xyro mentioned that credit cards "lowers his identity theft footprint" and I simply rebuked that with my belief that your identity theft footprint is already large just by being a citizen of the United States with a job and a checking account. Sorry if in your world that's thread hijacking, but you're taking it as if he started talking about credit cards and I started talking about the friggen Teapot Dome scandal.

    No, I'm not. I was responding to your post that seemed to misinterpret what I was saying. Perhaps you were simply elaborating at first, but then you reiterated your point responding to my response. Now you're doing it again, trying to claim that I believe that getting rid of credit cards makes a big difference in the risk of identity theft. I cannot see why you would think that if you actually read what I wrote. Maybe you just meant to reply to Xyro instead of me.

    So, fine, change the topic, but don't pretend that people said things they didn't say.


  • 🚽 Regular

    @boomzilla said:

    No, I'm not. I was responding to your post that seemed to misinterpret what I was saying.

    Ok, now that I've reviewed the discussion, I understand what you're saying now. I must be having a case of the Friday brainfarts. In the original quote that started this whole hoopla:

    Xyro doesn't seem to have a credit card at all, which seems like a pretty solid way to avoid identity theft or unauthorized purchases via credit card

    In my mind I was thinking "identity theft" and "unauthorized purchases via credit card" when you were thinking "identity theft via credit card" and "unauthorized purchases via credit card" and then I automatically segwayed into Xyro's original argument that credit cards lessen the risk of identity theft in general, which I think is true, but only negligibly.

    That being said, this whole discussion for the second half of this thread is about the risks of owning a credit card and while I was quoting you, I was responding with that general topic in mind.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @RHuckster said:

    @boomzilla said:
    No, I'm not. I was responding to your post that seemed to misinterpret what I was saying.

    Ok, now that I've reviewed the discussion, I understand what you're saying now. I must be having a case of the Friday brainfarts...


    Fair enough. We've all been there.



  • @boomzilla said:

    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."

    What's even more interesting is that you think five is not a number.



  • @alm said:

    @boomzilla said:

    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."

    What's even more interesting is that you think five is not a number.

    That confused me too, but I decided that I think boomzilla meant "digits". (Of course, as has been mentioned, "one dime" satisfies neither description unless "dime" is an official subdivision in the same way that "cent" is, which I'm not sure about.



  • @bannedfromcoding said:

    I have no idea how it goes with Amex, but both Visa and Mastercard ToS say that there CAN NOT BE any minimum purchase enforced by the store.

    No they don't. At least, they'd better not--that's prohibited by the Dodd-Frank act these days. (Well, for large card franchises with assets over $10 billion.)


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @alm said:

    @boomzilla said:
    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."

    What's even more interesting is that you think five is not a number.

    Not as interesting as your apparent illiteracy.



  • @homsar said:

    although my fingers now smell faintly of coin.

    Cant speak for other Americans, but this is why i hate using coins. I think we should do away with a lot of the coins. Round to the nearest nickle or dime. I won't complain.


  • Garbage Person

    @Reynoldsjt said:

    @homsar said:
    although my fingers now smell faintly of coin.

    Cant speak for other Americans, but this is why i hate using coins.

    Yes. Why do the god damned things smell so god damned horrible?

     

    My keys are largely the same material mix and can get pretty skanky, but they don't leave the stink on your damned hands like coins do. You actually have to go sniffing your keys to get it.



  • @dhromed said:

     I'm usually stingy with insulting words, but this author is just a goddamn homeschooled retard.

     

    I'm not seeing the home schooling connection, but OKELY DOKELY.

     



  •  @boomzilla said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    1) Nobody uses (and most people probably haven't even heard of) "finski", "sawbuck", or "half-dollar." (Does the mint even print half-dollars anymore? I haven't seen one in decades.)

    Indeed. About the only time I hear those is when joking around. Actually, the Kennedy half dollar is still being minted, but doesn't circulate much.

    @blakeyrat said:

    2) Our coinage is actually optimized for "fewest coins required to make change", so there's an extremely logical reason that, for example, a quarter is 2.5 dimes.

    What's interesting is that none of them have their actual denomination printed on them using numbers. It's stuff like, "Five Cents" or "Quarter Dollar."

    The hideous Presidential Dollars and the beautiful obverse/hideous reverse Native American dollars now have a large "$1" on them.  Putting this cartoonish number on here was deemed so important that they moved the date to the rim... kind of funny because there is plenty of room on the Native American ones (right next to Sacajawea where it used to be).



  •  BTW, the edge of the SBA dollar wasn't a hedecagon (11 sided), it was round and reeded.  The rim was 11 sided.  If the coin had actually been made with the 11-sided edge, it would have been a lot harder to confuse it with a quarter, but it wouldn't have worked well in vending machines.



  • @operagost said:

    I'm not seeing the home schooling connection, but OKELY DOKELY.
     

    Meh, I was just beging stereotypical.

     

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dhromed said:

    @operagost said:
    I'm not seeing the home schooling connection, but OKELY DOKELY.

    Meh, I was just beging stereotypical.

    I think that was his point. Maybe homeschoolers are different on your continent. Over here, they tend to be better educated than the typical public school student.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @boomzilla said:

    @dhromed said:
    @operagost said:
    I'm not seeing the home schooling connection, but OKELY DOKELY.

    Meh, I was just beging stereotypical.
    I think that was his point. Maybe homeschoolers are different on your continent. Over here, they tend to be better educated than the typical public school student.
    Erm - what sort of public school? Depending on the continent concerned it can be one of two opposite things. (I'm guessing the state funded sort though.)


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @PJH said:

    @boomzilla said:
    @dhromed said:
    @operagost said:
    I'm not seeing the home schooling connection, but OKELY DOKELY.

    Meh, I was just beging stereotypical.
    I think that was his point. Maybe homeschoolers are different on your continent. Over here, they tend to be better educated than the typical public school student.
    Erm - what sort of public school? Depending on the continent concerned it can be one of two opposite things. (I'm guessing the state funded sort though.)

    Crazy foreigners. Yep, I meant the American kind.


Log in to reply