Money for the Blind

[Beerdude26]

Meh, it's used in Belgium here aswell. It's also handy when searching for a particular note.

 

[joule]

Why is it stupid? I really don't see what you're all bitching about.
If they can't tell what notes they're handing, then they could be tricked into paying much more than they need to.
But it's ok for blind people to be swindled because it'd be a real effort on your part for the notes to be changed - is that it? To be perfectly blunt, that's pretty selfish.
Maybe not change the size (after all, we wouldn't want your wallet to be asymmetrical - Heaven forbid!) but maybe emboss the Braille numbers onto the notes. That way you wouldn't need to print loads and loads of new notes and make sure that old, redundant notes were taken out of circulation.
Now that's stupid.
Not the propositions as such, just the entire post in general.

They'd still need to print loads of new notes and the old notes would still need to be taken out of circulation. Additionally, wouldn't the Braille-embossed numbers eventually be worn down after being handled for so long? I'm not sure how that works, but I would think so.

 

[Operational]

Its been done in Australia. Twice. Of course we didn't have $760 billion in circulation with almost half overseas. Its likely you would never be able to replace it all.

 

[Uriel]

Wouldn't it be easier to design a device that scans the currency? Rather than replacing an entire currency?

 

[tehsolace]

So your way of keeping everyone satisfied is by only realising in 2006 that there are a buttload of blind people in your country, and that almost every other country in the world has taken steps to accomodate them with their currency decades ago, and decide only now to do something about it. And of course complain about it. What an awsome country.

Are you suggesting that this is a 'new issue'? Because as far as I know, blind people have been around for quite some time, as well as our type of money... and I would wager that the issue has been brought up before.

Just because somebody happened to post a thread in this forum making us aware of the 'issue' doesn't mean that its the first time ALL Americans have realized the problem of our money.

I highly doubt that this issue has never been brought up in the past decades.

 

[Diputs]

Wouldn't it be easier to design a device that scans the currency? Rather than replacing an entire currency?

But Al-Mohamed said that blind people often resort to using note-tellers, portable readers that can cost $300 per machine. Often, they don't work when bills have been folded or crumpled and frequently it's inconvenient to use in a busy store, she said.

.

 

[Uriel]

Redesign a new device. Better than completely new currency.

 

[Diputs]

Even if they did, it would still cost a lot of money to buy, and cause traffic in a store.

Besides, it's kind of arrogant to make them have to pay ~$300 just to tell a $1 bill from a $20 bill.

 

[Shasta]

Are you suggesting that this is a 'new issue'? Because as far as I know, blind people have been around for quite some time, as well as our type of money... and I would wager that the issue has been brought up before.

Are you so slow that you think I was suggesting it is a "new issue"? No sh*t blind people have been around for a while. I was saying that the USA is acting like it just seemed to realise that. How the hell did that fly over your head?

Just because somebody happened to post a thread in this forum making us aware of the 'issue' doesn't mean that its the first time ALL Americans have realized the problem of our money.

I highly doubt that this issue has never been brought up in the past decades.

You are probably right there. Which makes it even worse. Americans KNEW the problem was there, but chose to ignore it. Way to go. Not an arrogant country at all...

...(cough)...


....

 

[Uriel]

Better than changing the whole system of currency. Have the government help pay for the machines. Make it apart of disabilities.
As for traffic in stores......how many blind people do you have regularly in a line?

 

[99.vikram]

.....or you could just change the size of the bills and slowly replace existing currency...just a thought. :hmph:

 

[Stigmata]

Or we exhaust millions of dollars implementing a worldwide fully electronic currency system, with cards that have embedded speakers that tell you your balance!

 

[Danimal]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_dollar#Polymer_series
Not only are they plastic therefore more resilient but come in different colours and shapes - what could be simpler? Compared to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dollar#International_use

And to those who say it would be "annoying" - are you out of your minds?! How is changing the size going to be "annoying".
I can see no rational reason why changing the notes would be a bad idea - of course its a moot point since we all know nothing is going to happen.

The only major problem would be having to distribute so much money, nation-wide confusion etc. but that would solve itself with time.

 

[Que-Ever]

I'm proud that I've managed to go this long without making a joke about blind people. I even have one to use...

 

[Raziaar]

So what happens when I need to hold several bills in my hands... 20's... 5's... perhaps 10's and 1's... Do I have to hold them extra carefully so the smaller ones don't fall out if they're mish-mashed together?

 

[Uriel]

Zomg Get Some Eyes Lol Vision Noob

 

[Boogymanx]

Euro bills are like this, different size and with numbers that are a bit thicker so blind people can feel them.