mcs328

Today, my co-worker showed me the new Hong Kong currency. It's a $10HK note that's plastic instead of paper. It's colorful just like before but it also has about a 3/4 inch squarish-squigglish portion window that is not colored but clear plastic. Immediately this has the advantage of being more durable than paper. Doesn't get dirty, doesn't tear as easy, you can't print it using your run of the mill home printer and I'm sure it's life cycle in circulation is much longer than paper. However, doesn't it bend easily or snap over time when folded repeatedly? Since the new note is plastic, does it melt or warp in the dryer? Then again the majority of people in Hong Kong or Asia in general don't own a dryer to begin with.

Anyone else seen this new plastic currency? Good direction?

__________________

VTGreg

I think it would be incredibly silly to come out with a new version of money. I think the next step is no exchange of funds in the conventional manner. Paper money has become less and less necessary and in the not to distant future I imagine we go completely to debit and/or credit cards.

For those that don't have bank accounts I'm sure that there will be rechargable cards that can be used in a similar manner to a debit card.

I wonder what the cost savings would be for the government if they stopped minting coins and printing paper money.

__________________
It only ends once... Anything that happens before that is just progress.

Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

zippyjuan

I know that Australia went to plastic currency a while ago- their first one was in 1988. Over 20 countries now use them. US notes are made mostly of linen- not paper.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/a...ney/index.html

__________________
I add new pictures to my photo gallery pretty regularly. You can see them here if you are interested: http://www.pbase.com/jeffryz

Jeffbx

Yeah, I think if a new medium becomes widely accepted it'll just be EFT. Paper money will always be around, but I see more & more transactions becoming electronic.

zippyjuan

Despite all those VISA ads you see on TV, cash is still a faster way to pay in stores. Just see who moves faster next time you are out shopping. Debit and credit cards are obviously easlier to use online of course. I can't get the dollar bills to fit into my card reader.

uncledaddy

Isn't there that "Pay Point" where you just wave the card in front of a sensor. I've seen the terminals bet have never seen in use.

But yeah, those commercials are funny because cash is still faster and now with electronic checks you just have to hand over a check and the receipt is printed on your check and the check is given back to you, just as fast as a credit card.

__________________

renovation

didn't the us goverment do a test run of a all debit system a while back in a small town . i remember something about them going to anyway. one nice thing about a debit card system if you own a store .you don't have to worry as much about getting slammed with a person handing you a bad check .
also you have to keep a tighter accounting of your money.

__________________
You could pick up Lindsay Lohan for less than a intel 990x, and still have money left over to bail her outta jail

InfiniteNothing

Plastic money? sounds like a poker chip

__________________
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Maarchk

Although you get hammered with debit charges. Arco charges 45 cents per debit transaction. So i think i'd rather pay cash. And also, how can you buy peanuts from the guy at the dodger game? he ain't taking my visa.
But yes in time it will be magic money. Already at the staple's center box, the dessert tray rolls around and they only take CC. A guy grabs like 15 of them and gets them all processed and brings them back like 5 minutes later. That way the food servers can focus and hit all the boxes pretty quick.

__________________
"The girl is crafty like ice is cold."

"I left my heart in san francisco... And my liver at Moe's Tavern."

A real friend is one who listens to you as much as they talk to you.