The other day I took a "Piggy Bank" of change I'd filled up, after 5 years, to the bank to change out. Had around $250 in it. Considering how little cash transactions I actually have these days, I thought that was pretty good. It used to only take around a year to accumulate that much change. Regardless.... at the end she handed me two coins: A Canadian quarter and a British 20 pence piece.
Looking at that Canadian quarter brought back some memories. See, growing up in Michigan (a border state), it was common for Canadian quarters to be passed along, when giving or making making change, without a second though. It was only quarters, no other coin was treated like this. The two coins are roughly the same circumference, thickness, and weight. They were different enough that the Canadian coin would not be accepted in vending machines, etc. but in the pocket, nearly indistinguishable. It was just known that at some point, you'd end up with a few Canadian quarters in your pocket and 95% of retailers would accept it with no problem. You couldn't take it to the bank, so they just kept floating around, so to speak. Of course back then, the difference was sort of negligible. A Canadian quarter was worth around 24 cents. When I moved away from Michigan and tried to pass one along, people looked at me like I was crazy. Lesson Learned.
I'm curious, who from other states, have used and passed Canadian quarters around like this in the past. Anyone from Canada do anything similar with US quarters? @woodpusher?
And, more interestingly, is this still an accepted practice today? I'm curious, since the Canadian quarter has dropped to a value of around 20 cents, if that has any bearing on the "courtesy" of passing these around.
Looking at that Canadian quarter brought back some memories. See, growing up in Michigan (a border state), it was common for Canadian quarters to be passed along, when giving or making making change, without a second though. It was only quarters, no other coin was treated like this. The two coins are roughly the same circumference, thickness, and weight. They were different enough that the Canadian coin would not be accepted in vending machines, etc. but in the pocket, nearly indistinguishable. It was just known that at some point, you'd end up with a few Canadian quarters in your pocket and 95% of retailers would accept it with no problem. You couldn't take it to the bank, so they just kept floating around, so to speak. Of course back then, the difference was sort of negligible. A Canadian quarter was worth around 24 cents. When I moved away from Michigan and tried to pass one along, people looked at me like I was crazy. Lesson Learned.
I'm curious, who from other states, have used and passed Canadian quarters around like this in the past. Anyone from Canada do anything similar with US quarters? @woodpusher?
And, more interestingly, is this still an accepted practice today? I'm curious, since the Canadian quarter has dropped to a value of around 20 cents, if that has any bearing on the "courtesy" of passing these around.
