Chapter 76.3: Got Change for a Dollar?

Have you finally gotten used to the "new" designs of U.S. currency? Well, it may be about to change once again, and possibly in a major way. The U.S Court of Appeals ruled that our current currency design descriminates against people who are blind.

While the five dollar bill has that big huge "5" in one of the back corners, that's not helpful for people who can't actually see. So our money may have to become more like some European countries, which make their bills of different sizes.

The government's argument was pretty flimsy, as the article points out. They claimed that people can help the blind to distinguish between bills (we all know how that can work out if a cashier is unscrupulous) or crease bills according to their designation so they know which is which. (Do the blind only receive uncreased bills when they receive change, and are they certain the unscrupulous cashier has given them appropriate change?)

The court made the right decision.

To be honest, I'm surprised the government hadn't fixed this years ago. Our coins are purposely shaped; a dime has ridges to help distinguish it from a penny, so too a quarter to keep it distinct from a nickel or GASP! a Sacagewea or Susie B buck.

Now comes the tricky part.

I'd imagine that at some point during the next president's new administration, there will be a commission that is tasked with overhauling U.S. currency. Shape will be considered. Color. Size. And there'll be complaints from cash register corporations that must redesign their registers, and vending machine companies who'll have to install new thingamajigs to read the bills. There'll be debates on the floor of Congress about whether we should do away with the penny and possibly a movement to get rid of the $1 dollar bill; perhaps we'll see the Thomas Jefferson $2 bill become more common. [I had to add this link, which I find very funny. Apparently one of the reasons for an anecdotal resurgence in the use of $2 bills is because they're commonly used in strip clubs. Boy, I've been out of circulation a long time!]

The Times article notes that the altered currency might open up new hiring opportunities for the blind, but I suspect that age-old prejudice will keep the blind struggling to find jobs to which they're best suited.

Stay tuned. This ought to be worth several years of late night humor and frustration. And by the time they've figured out what to do, we'll all be using debit cards for everything.