I was just downstairs in the 1st Floor breakroom here at Megaplexcorp Inc. And, especially since I no longer spend my free time out in the smokers' lounge, I have noticed a disconnect - one that's both typical of a corporate-fabricated environment and frustrating in its simplicity (both of construct and solution).
In this break room is the ATM (and it's the only one in this 4.5-acres-of-floor building). Also located there (and again the only one) is the bill-changer.
DISCONNECT: The ATM dispenses tens. The bill changer makes coins for fives and ones. There is no bridge between the two, save for the stamp machine, which takes anything up to twenties, but gives change in government-imposed Sacajawea Golden Dollar coins, which exactly none of the vending machines in that or any other break room accept.
Thus, much like the International Space Station, a whole collection of non-integrative technology sits there and does nothing unless the operator has already brought everything he needs in the first place.
Now (begin dream-sequence music) imagine if I could re-design the currency . . . .
The penny would be made of zinc, un-clad and shiny silvery bright. It would be the size of a current dime and have that picture of Sacajawea on it, so that nobody could complain that I was being anti-Indian-Woman-On-A-Coin or something.
The nickel would be the size of a current penny, be made of nickel-zinc like it is now and would feature a likeness of Calvin Coolidge smoking a cigar. If you need to ask, you're part of the problem.
The dime would be the size of our current nickel. It would have a bas-relief of Ben Franklin. I don't know why. It just fits. And it would be slightly bluish in color. Again, I don't know why. It would just be a cool thing.
The quarter would be exactly as it is now, but instead of GW (he comes later), it's our buddy Abe Lincoln. Standing, in stovepipe hat with sheaf of papers in hand.
Then, an under-used coin goes away. The Half-dollar simply disappears. There's no good size and it's simply extraneous in the scheme.
Next (and this is the big one), the $1 bill also goes away, and the dollar coin - gold in color and the same size as it is now - reappears with the George Washington portrait that's on the bill.
There would be no $2 bill.
Paper money, other than the two lowest denominations, would remain unaffected.
And, since I'm powerful enough to completely overhaul the currency of the United States of America, I would also 'convince' all soft-drink, snack and other-product-dispensed-by-vending-machine companies to redesign their machines to accept dollar coins and pennies. And, I could then make a fortune by leasing change machines that gave ten $1 coins for the tens that the ATMs spit out
Genius!!
The boost to the economy by increrasing convenience and accessibility of thusly-sold items would more than offset the cost of the changeover (so to speak).
Of course, lots of idiots would be really confused. But this is actually a benefit, since then we'd know who they were and could ship them off to slave-labor camps where they would - logically - assemble ATMs and vending machines.
What a system!
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