Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
These days i very seldom use actual money, almost all my transactions are done with credit or debit cards and for those times i need actual cash loonies and toonies suffice.Not sure whats in store for the future but it sure looks like we are heading more and more toward a cashless society..
It is widely believed that governments are decreasing or at least holding their currency supply stable. The assumption is that credit/debit cards and Google Wallets are at least taking care of increased population and inflation.
The reality is far different. USA increased their currency value by 40% over a 5 year period. Perhaps that is not a shock as it is widely known that the US c-note is primarily circulating in foreign countries. It leads to diatribes by some foreign leaders (i.e. Iran) that the people of the world are working for paper.
But it may come as a surprise that Canada increased their banknote supply by 24% over the same period. Canada is now circulating their c-note at the rate of 10 per capita (per capita includes children). Many Canadians say they never touch anything larger than CAD$20.
The Bank of England increased their currency supply 29% over the same period. In 2004 they BOE was circulating 115 million £50 banknotes which is less than 2 per capita. And £50 is worth less than CAD$100. In general Britain uses very small denomination banknotes compared to Australia, Canada or the USA. They are very dependent on the £20 and the £10.
Of the major western currencies only Sweden has had a dramatic drop in their currency in circulation. Over a 5 year period it dropped 25% from !00 billion SEK krona to 75 billion krona which is worth about CAD$11 billion. That's for a country of population 9 million. As opposed to Canada which has CAD$67 billion for a country of population 35 million.
Sweden is incredibly hostile to cash. The number of ATMs per capita is similar to a third world nation. You can't use cash on public transportation and banks don't keep cash at teller stations. You can use credit card machines at church to give donations. However given that situation the government is planning a completely new issue of both banknotes and coins. The current set was introduced in 2001 and the new set should come out in October 2015. The Swedes have rejected polymer notes.
Last edited by PacoMartin; 03-21-2015 at 08:31 PM..
It is widely believed that governments are decreasing or at least holding their currency supply stable. The assumption is that credit/debit cards and Google Wallets are at least taking care of increased population and inflation.
The reality is far different. USA increased their currency value by 40% over a 5 year period. Perhaps that is not a shock as it is widely known that the US c-note is primarily circulating in foreign countries. It leads to diatribes by some foreign leaders (i.e. Iran) that the people of the world are working for paper.
But it may come as a surprise that Canada increased their banknote supply by 24% over the same period. Canada is now circulating their c-note at the rate of 10 per capita (per capita includes children). Many Canadians say they never touch anything larger than CAD$20.
The Bank of England increased their currency supply 29% over the same period. In 2004 they BOE was circulating 115 million £50 banknotes which is less than 2 per capita. And £50 is worth less than CAD$100. In general Britain uses very small denomination banknotes compared to Australia, Canada or the USA. They are very dependent on the £20 and the £10.
Of the major western currencies only Sweden has had a dramatic drop in their currency in circulation. Over a 5 year period it dropped 25% from !00 billion SEK krona to 75 billion krona which is worth about CAD$11 billion. That's for a country of population 9 million. As opposed to Canada which has CAD$67 billion for a country of population 35 million.
Sweden is incredibly hostile to cash. The number of ATMs per capita is similar to a third world nation. You can't use cash on public transportation and banks don't keep cash at teller stations. You can use credit card machines at church to give donations. However given that situation the government is planning a completely new issue of both banknotes and coins. The current set was introduced in 2001 and the new set should come out in October 2015. The Swedes have rejected polymer notes.
I wonder if that has something to do with bank machines issuing mostly 20's. The only bank machine that I seem to get 50's from is the Hong Kong Bank of Canada.
I wonder if that has something to do with bank machines issuing mostly 20's
I think it has everything to do with what you get from a bank machine. To many people cash is something you get from a machine, and you use it to pay for things, and you receive only smaller denominations in change. Exceptions are only gambling and buying or selling used cars (some people do neither of those things).
Look at the distribution of banknotes per capita. Britain uses the £20 banknote almost exclusively, and relatively few £50 banknotes. Only certain places in Scotland have a £100 banknote.
Australia has a relatively large number of $50 banknotes, and a smaller number of $20 banknotes.
Both USA and Canada have a large number of $20 banknotes, and a much smaller number of $50. The $50 is very unpopular in the USA.
The USA has a huge number of $100 banknotes (triple Australia or Canada), but possibly 75% of them are circulating overseas.
Number of banknotes per capita
£20/£50 - 29.4 / 3.6 : Bank of England
$20/$50/$100 - 6.7 / 24.9 / 11.7 : Australia
$20/$50/$100 - 24.6 / 6.1 / 10.0 : Canada
$20/$50/$100 - 25.3 / 4.8 / 31.7 : USA
I haven't been to Australia, but I must presume the $50 banknote is the standard denomination for bank machines. I noticed in Europe most machines gave the €50.
===
Since many people's only contact with cash is going to a bank machine, and using what they withdraw to make small purchases, they are shocked to see how many large notes are circulating. Britain has had a healthy distaste for large value banknotes since the counterfeiting scare in WWII. Prior to WWII notes as high as £1000 were in circulation, but they were all turned in and demonetized. The modern day £50 was only reintroduced on 20 March 1981, and is in low circulation today.
Last edited by PacoMartin; 03-22-2015 at 10:03 PM..
I wonder if that has something to do with bank machines issuing mostly 20's. The only bank machine that I seem to get 50's from is the Hong Kong Bank of Canada.
I think it's because there has traditionally been a reluctance by small merchants to accept $100 bills, for fear of counterfeits. I recall that when I worked retail, we'd test $100 bills before accepting them.
This is changing with the polymer bills (for example, I recently saw, in my local corner store that never used to accept $100 bills for anything, a customer use a polymer $100 to buy a carton of cigarettes priced at $95.00). That being said, however, there is still a reluctance on the part of the same corner store to accept a polymer $100 for a $2 candy bar.
So, $20 bills seem to be the norm from cash machines, though one or two locally will spit out $100 bills, if you enter an amount in multiples of $100. It's a bit of an inconvenience, but there you go.
I think it's because there has traditionally been a reluctance by small merchants to accept $100 bills, for fear of counterfeits.
Prior to WWII there were a lot of large bills, even though the money was worth a lot more. I think that in the USA per capita currency was less than $100, but there were $500, $1000, $5000 and even $10000 banknotes.
After WWII, the US never printed anything higher than $100, but in 1969 they formally passed a law that said that $100 be the highest denomination in all future printings, and that anything higher than that turned into the bank would be sent to the BEP and destroyed.
Britain was terrified of counterfeiting in WWII, and they had banknotes as high as £1000. When it became clear that the Nazis had used captive Jewish calligraphers to make very high quality counterfeits, the government demonetized all notes higher than £5 (after a brief period whereby people could turn them into banks). The reintroduction of higher denomination notes was slow: £10 in 1964, £20 notes in 1970, and £50 in 1981.The £1 coin was introduced in 1983 and replaced the banknote.
The higher quality notes issued in recent years has made the fear of counterfeiting much lower.
South Korea was so afraid of counterfeits from North Korea that they refused to issue a banknote of denomination higher than US$10 for many years. Naturally that made going to a bank machine very awkward at times. The Japanese issue no notes higher than 10,000JPY=CAD$105 . Although that seems large enough, their society is very cash dependent and they must circulate a huge number of banknotes for their citizens.
Actually the reduced threat of counterfeiting makes the use of high denomination notes by criminal activity even worse, as they have high confidence in what could be crates of cash. Probably the three most valuable banknotes in circulation are the 500 Euro note, the 1000 Swiss franc note, and the 10,000 Singapore Dollar banknote (a version of which is also used in Brunei).
Last edited by PacoMartin; 03-22-2015 at 11:12 PM..
Prior to WWII there were a lot of large bills, even though the money was worth a lot more. I think that in the USA per capita currency was less than $100, but there were $500, $1000, $5000 and even $10000 banknotes.
Yes, but back then, there were few ways of getting credit. Credit cards did not exist, or if they did, they were not universally accepted for large transactions. You either paid cash, or you got a letter of credit from your bank (excluding things like mortgages, which were handled, in Canada anyway, by your lawyer in a real estate transaction). Unless you wanted to drag around a suitcase with small stuff, you needed large bills for large transactions.
In short, cash always works. As recently as 1983, one of my old girlfriends walked into a car dealership with $10,000 in cash (one hundred $100 bills), and drove away in her new car. Plus some change (the car was $9925 or so). She had saved, did not need to finance, and paid off the car in cash when she took delivery. Why not a bank draft or certified cheque? Well, that would have been an extra $7.50 in bank fees! (Me, I'd pay it; she was a little more parsimonious.)
Now, of course, we don't need large bills--there are other ways to transfer funds safely from one party to the other for legitimate and legal transactions. But still, in spite of the fact that large-denomination bills are being withdrawn, cash will always work.
But still, in spite of the fact that large-denomination bills are being withdrawn, cash will always work.
Well in the first world large denomination bills were all removed before WWII (except for Canada who got rid of the CAD$1000 in the year 2000). Large denominations are removed all the time in inflation ravaged third world. Also zeros are removed (three in Mexico, and up to 25 zeros in Zimbabwe and in Yugoslavia). Italy never removed any zeros, and by the end of the lira (in 2007) they briefly issued a 250,000 lira note
Canada's complete set of polymer banknotes in all denominations is less than 800 metric tonnes by weight. USA has produced 7139.2 tonnes of hundred dollar bills since the 2006 series, and 9324.8 tonnes of $1 banknotes in 2006 and 2009 series (not counting 2013 series).
Producing, trucking, destroying and guarding the $1 banknote is an environmental catastrophe, but it is entirely the whim of the American people. The $100 banknote is even more expensive to design, produce, distribute (overseas consumption) and guard against counterfeiting. Many people feel that it is time to reintroduce the $500 banknote.
I haven't been to Australia, but I must presume the $50 banknote is the standard denomination for bank machines.
Yes, although most ATMs will also dispense $20s. Since most transactions are paid by EFT or card, $50 notes are probably better to have than $20s for any unforeseen cash purchases.
Australia has a relatively large number of $50 banknotes, and a smaller number of $20 banknotes. Both USA and Canada have a large number of $20 banknotes, and a much smaller number of $50. The $50 is very unpopular in the USA. I haven't been to Australia, but I must presume the $50 banknote is the standard denomination for bank machines. I noticed in Europe most machines gave the €50.
Number of banknotes per capita
£20/£50 - 29.4 / 3.6 : Bank of England
$20/$50 - 24.6 / 6.1 : Canada
$20/$50 - 25.3 / 4.8 : USA
$20/$50 - 13.3 / 6.2 : New Zealand
$20/$50 - 6.7 / 24.9 : Australia
€20/€50 - 9.1 / 22.1 : Eurozone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakery Hill
Yes, although most ATMs will also dispense $20s. Since most transactions are paid by EFT or card, $50 notes are probably better to have than $20s for any unforeseen cash purchases.
That is a good point, but why wouldn't it apply in USA, Canada, NZ, or Britain as well? Australia has over 3X as many fifties circulating as twenties. Fifties also outnumber twenties in the Eurozone. In all other Anglo countries there are far more twenties. NZ has relatively little cash circulating, but still twice as many twenties as fifties.
I realize that the exchange rates are different, with the British Pound being worth twice the NZ dollar, but prices are different. Americans are not fond of the $50 banknote. If they are paying cash for something that is $48 they will pay with three twenties. I have never once gotten a $50 from a bank machine outside of Vegas (where they prefer the $100).
I prefer the old paper money,this new plastic stuff sucks, it is slippery unless its with other bills then its sticky and you have to lick your fingers to make sure two bills arent stuck together a practice that is rather unsanitary and gives the bills a somewhat slimy feel.
Disagree. Love the new understandable money. It looks cool plus it's environmentally friendly.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
