I've been spending Kennedy Halves lately.
jmski52
Posts: 23,991 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've been spending the halves from Mint bags lately and an overwhelming majority of the clerks are dazed and confused about what these coins are.
Yesterday, a 20-something had to ask her manager if she could accept this type of "dollar". She didn't even read what it says on the coin "Half Dollar".
I've had remarks such as "what is it - you don't see these every day".
On multiple occasions I've had to explain that what they are looking at is a half dollar.
Not long ago I bought a chocolate malt with 12 Kennedys "from my sock drawer" and at least the woman got a laugh out of it.
I took $180 in clad Kennedys to try out the automatic counting machine at my branch bank. The next time I came into the bank, I am now "the half dollar guy".
The interesting thing I've discovered is that having a few Kennedy Halves in my pocket seems to give a little substance to the coins I'm carrying around.
Does anyone here try to keep most of their transactions in cash these days? My Opinion - I believe that the move to CBDCs should be resisted as much as possible, but it does look like it will be harder and harder to keep cash relevant, which is a pretty bad deal for just about everyone.
I knew it would happen.
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Sorry, by using my credit cards for all transactions, currently I have about $1300in cash back to spend on coins!
I carry two dollar bills with me and use them when I can for garage sales, Facebook Marketplace pick ups and tips. I use cards for mostly everything else. Best reactions are when people tell me they are rare and worth money
I also use 100 dollar bills at any business that wants to charge me a 3% service fee to use a CC card. I like to think that I am making them realize that CC are as convenient for them as they are for me. Drop the fee or deal with cash and all the extra work.
Yeah. Using cash is like burning cash.
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Theres someone at the coffee shop that does that. I wad lucky to get a 2020 and 2025 ( the other 4 were for her ). We was all happy 😊
It's illegal to burn (melt) Kennedy half dollars.
Please don't encourage this.
Edited to add:
There is one impressionable member here who may respond to your post.
If you think that is fun try spending some Ike dollars.
My cash box for coin shows and craft fairs has $2 bills and Kennedy Half Dollars for change (when giving back $10 or less)
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I really don't carry coins anymore, but I might get some Half Dollars and start spending them.
A couple weeks ago I had a coworker/friend ask me for a quarter so he could pay for his food, but all I had was an Ike. He said "Oh d***! You've got one of the OG dollars!" The cashier didn't know what to do so they just let him have his food 25¢ short. Pretty funny. Sometimes I wish I had more "funny money" to make things like that happen more often.
I collect world proof sets, coins featuring composers, mid-20th century U.S. proof coins, U.S. type coins, and whatever else I want.
I use cash mostly for tips and small purchases.Cash doesn't give you reward points which I pump into my grandson's college fund.
So YOU’RE the one!
The only time I’ve carried any cash in recent years is when I travel, for tips. Used to carry cash for certain questionable transactions, but too damn old now. Oh, and coin shows back in the day, when the knees worked.
I still use cash as much as possible. But usually only paper money. I check the coins I get in change and then throw them in a solo cup. Every time I get a couple of cups full I deposit it all in my bank.
As for unusual money, I spent three $2 dollar bills at a gas station recently. The cashier, probably in her mid-40's, didn't bat an eye or say a word, but she did use the pen they have to test money. I usually only see them do that with bigger bills.
I've got an Ike in my wallet that I've been meaning to leave as part of a tip at a restaurant. But I don't eat out much and the last 2 times I did, the servers were real grouches so I didn't bother digging in my wallet for it.
I always tip in halves, dollar coins and $2 notes. Just trying to plant as many numismatic seeds as I can.
I like your style, men !
I too tip in two dollar bills and dollar coins, and occasionally the Kennedy halves.
For the same reasons as many others; including, I like the idea of servers and others getting tips in cash rather than on credit cards. I know they too appreciate the cash.
by using my credit cards for all transactions, currently I have about $1300in cash back to spend on coins!
Using cash is like burning cash.
How do the above two statements reconcile with the following:
I also use 100 dollar bills at any business that wants to charge me a 3% service fee to use a CC card.
Do merchants pay a 3% service fee for credit card transactions? Isn't that one of the justifications for bitcoin?
A 3% fee for credit card transactions should make it obvious that the savings is more ephemeral than real.
Today, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some produce and the total was $5.01 so the clerk took out a penny from the change jar. But she also said that many people don't even want their quarters back in change.
I knew it would happen.
Sometimes people on the Instagram pages of numismatics-related businesses do fun things like tipping people with silver certificates:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DY8GPaPyen9
Most of them don't seem to care much though.
I collect world proof sets, coins featuring composers, mid-20th century U.S. proof coins, U.S. type coins, and whatever else I want.
Oh?
Wall of HONOR transaction list:WonderCoin, CoinFlip, Masscrew, Travintiques, lordmarcovan, Jinx86, Gerard, ElKevvo, PROMETHIUSS88.
I was at a Wawa in NJ when the guy in front of me was getting $3.90 back in change. The actual 90c gets disbursed in an auto chute. He took the 3 dollar bills and did not want the 90c. I took the 90c and put it in the donation jar next to the register. How can you not want 90c change? Is change now so worthless?
"I gotta know what a five dollar shake tastes like." (+tax + tip=6).
Enough people decline to take their change at the corner market that when I get a soda refill, all I usually need is a $1 bill and they cover the other eight cents with leftover change. So- if I paid by cc, I would typically be paying 8% more.
for the last year or so i have been using well worn liberty and V nickels as well as worn Indian head and common date Wheat pennies as change.
I remember the absolute THRILL when i was a kid in the 70's and we would sometimes get these in change. I hope i can ignite the same spark that they did for me
You might be onto something. These dollars come out in bags and rolls in a couple days.
Kinda like
https://acoinshop.com/ —-> https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
Being a good ambassador of the hobby is an important part of being a collector for me.
My collecting as a kid started as a hoard of “different” coins: bicentennial quarters and halves, wheat cents, SBA dollars, etc. They were all coins that I got from circulation. The human mind pays attention to “different”.
Today, few transactions are conducted in cash. Fewer opportunities for discovery. Less interest in change as the dollar’s purchasing power is debased. But in some ways, that makes it easier than ever to “stand out” with coins.
I spend both NIFC dollars (American Inno business strikes) and $2 bills for small transactions and tips. One of my coffee shop baristas is obsessed with the different dollar coin designs and saves one of each (a collection!).
My barber thinks the $2 bills I tip him with are a riot and he tells me stories about where he spends them and how people react every time I get my haircut.
I tossed a single $2 bill into a kid’s basketball fundraising donation bucket, and he positively freaked out and called the entire team over to marvel at it.
My point is, we can bring a little whimsy into our worlds with the simplest things, and maybe inspire a new collector or two while we’re at it. That’s worth way more than the 2% credit card cash back to me.
Give it a try, support the hobby, and have a little fun!
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Philippians 4:4-7
I use cash in many transactions. Coin shows, drive through, etc.
I use cash for nearly all my transactions.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" Matthew 6:33. Young fellow suffering from Bust Half fever.
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