Got 50 cents today!

[Microbus99]

Hi Friends,

You know how sometimes you go to the convenience store and buy something stupid (like Cheetos, which I did) and you hand the clerk some cash. Mind you I almost ALWAYS use my debit card.

Then you get change back and you notice that the clerk slipped you a half dollar coin, dollar coin, susan b anthony coin, anyway, "an odd coin", and you really dont pay attention to it but say, hmmm, I really dont want this! Maybe thats just me and I hate to carry cash or have a pocket of jingling coins!

Well as I was walking around and listening to this jingling sound in my pocket, which sounded "different", I thought I'd take a look at what the clerk gave me from my Cheeto purchase.

Maybe its no big deal to anyone here but I thought it was quite strange. "Maybe I've gotten them before and never noticed I thought".

She gave me a JFK 1976 D Bicentennial Half Dollar. Big deal right?!

Mind you, I'm a big fan of JFK memorabilia (I've actually read the Warren Report, I know, what a geek) and felt like I hit the lottery. I also have a Matchbook from the Whitehouse dated 1962 with JFK's name on it.

Maybe its the Bicentennial thing (in 1976 I was 13, you know, coming of age), the JFK thing, or just the strangenest of it all but I thought I would share what seems to be an insignificant thing that actually means alot to an individual.

I also had a look on Ebay and I saw one for sale for $12.00?! But, you know, its probably only worth 50 cents.

I dont know about you guys, but I feel coins are going away probably sooner than we think (in the US), and I'll set this baby next to my Matchbook in my collector case.

Yay! Never thought 50 cents meant so much!

IMGP2914 (Medium).JPGIMGP2912 (Medium).JPG

[luckydog]

some were regular clad, a few special sets wrer 40% silver, if someone broke up a set you may have a silver, to test spin in on a table, if it has a ring instead of a dull sound it is silver

[Microbus99]

Its definitely not siver LD. So...I have a 50 cent coin. Too bad, so sad.

[Lou]

Congratulations are in order. And thank you for the background story.

[Moparformances]

its funny to read this... im more of a cash cow... dont care to use my debit much for anything under $20.. so i always have a bit of cash... and i have noticed that bigger change is more commen latley around my neck of the woods.. i actualy really like coins and would rather see some of the smaller bills go away.. dollers for sure and posable even 5 dollers as well.. main reason is coins just last longer.. sure they weigh allot more and all that stuff but ya cant collect debit card reciepts... (or can ya )

any hooooooo i started looking in the registers when im geting change and asking for thouse strange coins... .50 cents are not so common but we always have dollers around here... (there great for my Arrangeball machines) and i have collected 20 or 30 of the older Ike dollers as well..

a couple of hears back we opened a roll of dimes at our regester and thay were all mercury dimes... It seem someone rolled up allot old coin and turned it into the bank... i bought the whole roll (leaving us with no dimes) when my Boss went to the bank the next day she bought another whole roll.. i got thouse too.. now i have a nice collection of old Merc Dimes..

any hoo neat story... seem like allot of cashiers dont even know how to give change back anymore..

[JACKSJE4]

seem like allot of cashiers dont even know how to give change back anymore..

Ain't that the truth!! I worked in retail for years when I was younger and I always counted change back to customers. Now, whenever I pay with cash and get change back, the clerks just dump the change in my hand and tell me the amount that they read on the register screen. It irritates me to no end (I guess that means I have entered Geezerville).

When I was in High School and for the first few years of college I worked for 7/11 stores as a cashier. The store was in a lower social economic area and a lot of the customers were on welfare and food stamps. I was always amazed at the number of these people who would use rare bills and coins to buy their cigarettes and beer. Of course, I bought them all up and added them to my collection, which I still have. Lots of mercury dimes, zinc pennies, bicentennial quarters, real silver dollars, $1 silver certificates (most in pristine condition) and quite a few 1953 $2 bills. I doubt I would ever part with these. I will probably leave them to my kids so they can hang on to them and show them to their grandkids.

Anyway, thanks for the post Gordon. I'm glad I'm not the only one here who collects money.

[owennewton]

the other day my total was $16.06, I gave the girl a $20, a $1 and a dime, totaling $21.10. She just stood there with a stupid look on her face and I had to explain that I wanted a $5 back rather than a handfull of coins and she got mad at me. I hope the world will end tomorrow (it will not) as I have no hope for the future with how dumb everyone is.

[Microbus99]

the other day my total was $16.06, I gave the girl a $20, a $1 and a dime, totaling $21.10. She just stood there with a stupid look on her face and I had to explain that I wanted a $5 back rather than a handfull of coins and she got mad at me. I hope the world will end tomorrow (it will not) as I have no hope for the future with how dumb everyone is.

Whoa Owen...sorry about the bad day. Hang in there a couple more days will ya. You need to be here for us!!!

[Microbus99]

its funny to read this... im more of a cash cow... dont care to use my debit much for anything under $20.. so i always have a bit of cash... and i have noticed that bigger change is more commen latley around my neck of the woods.. i actualy really like coins and would rather see some of the smaller bills go away.. dollers for sure and posable even 5 dollers as well.. main reason is coins just last longer.. sure they weigh allot more and all that stuff but ya cant collect debit card reciepts... (or can ya )

any hooooooo i started looking in the registers when im geting change and asking for thouse strange coins... .50 cents are not so common but we always have dollers around here... (there great for my Arrangeball machines) and i have collected 20 or 30 of the older Ike dollers as well..

a couple of hears back we opened a roll of dimes at our regester and thay were all mercury dimes... It seem someone rolled up allot old coin and turned it into the bank... i bought the whole roll (leaving us with no dimes) when my Boss went to the bank the next day she bought another whole roll.. i got thouse too.. now i have a nice collection of old Merc Dimes..

any hoo neat story... seem like allot of cashiers dont even know how to give change back anymore..

Wow Mo, you put a whole new perspective on cash buying to me. Actually something I just forgot over the years. I've definitely become part of the rat race. Because I travel so much, everything is either expensed with a corporate card or I use my debit card. Its easier for me and when I use my debit card I tell the clerk I dont need a copy of the receipt to save time. Because of the travel I do I've converted my life into a "paperless" one where everything is either on a spreadsheet, on a website, private server, or some secured online storage where I keep everything. I just need reciepts for my expense reports. I have a corporate printer at my office that I see maybe a week out of a month and the printer ink in it is so old its probably dried up.

The same thing goes with cash for me. Its paper and another thing to deal with, and honestly, I hate to have change in my pocket. For years I've used this gallon beer jug that I got at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Denver as my change dump. Everyday I come home and have change I just throw it in that jug. When its full I get about $200 since I throw everything into it. However, half dollars dont fit in the opening and this one just got me going.

On the other hand, when I go to Germany (or any Euro Union) its all about coins. This freaks me out! Its more important to have coins then paper, or credit cards for that matter.

And another thing, when I'm at the grocery store and someone in front of me has to "write a check" I almost have an anxiety attack. Thats how bad I've gotten.

Yeah, I need a vacation, medication, something.

What a world, what a world!!

Thanks for the replies guys!

[pinball wizard]

Originally Posted by Moparformances
seem like allot of cashiers dont even know how to give change back anymore.. not only that,but i tried to make a small purchase at the neighborhood supermarket using sacagawea dollars,only to have this young clerk tell me he couldn't take them because they were not money and looked like car wash tokens from across the street.i argued with him and explained that they were real money,he had to ask the assistant manager to confirm it.kids these days.

[Habious]

the other day my total was $16.06, I gave the girl a $20, a $1 and a dime, totaling $21.10. She just stood there with a stupid look on her face and I had to explain that I wanted a $5 back rather than a handfull of coins and she got mad at me. I hope the world will end tomorrow (it will not) as I have no hope for the future with how dumb everyone is.

I do this kind of thing all the time.

I use a magnetic money clip. It works well, never wears out or stretches but, it can only old a finite number of bills before it won't stick closed. So, I always think it terms of carrying the least number of bills around.

Whenever I give someone $32.00 for a item that costs $26.50, I get that same thousand-yard stare...or they tell me "You gave me too much".

*sigh*..."Just type it in." They do and then they're like "Oooh! Look at that!"

The lost art of MATH!

[Sid]

the lost art of thinking..

[Habious]

the lost art of thinking..

Yeah...that too.

[Microbus99]

the lost art of thinking..

The worst thing about this guys, its usually kids that are my daughters age (20), so who are we to blame! Since we're all about the same age (I know, not everyone), or would have kids old enough, or could potentially have children old enough to maybe work at a convenience store (16)?! We have to step back and think about it.

Thankfully my daughter is a master at math and wouldnt be the one we're talking about but really, its an aspect of our methods of financial transaction that we're seeing a change in our lifetime without a doubt!

[takethecastle57]

What gets me is that the new Computer Registers actualy tell the person running it how much to give back to the customer and Why Oh Why do they put the loose coins on top of the money INDOORS !!!

Stupid , Stupid , Stupid High school , Phd's , B.A.'s can't even count back money to the Good Customer Folks .

[JACKSJE4]

I personally believe that calculators and computers have contributed to the "dumbing down" of the Tweens. When i was in grade school, calculators were fairly new and most couldn't afford them. They were not allowed in school anyway, so we actually had to think and do our math problems manually. These days calculators are required in grade school and lessons are written around how to work them (my wife is a grade
school teacher), plus cash registers calculate the change for you, whereas when I was in retail many, many years ago the registers were not that sophisticated.

I agree to some extent with Microbus that many parents fail their kids in this regard, but I also think that technology plays a significant role too.