What coins?

[Kiwi cop]

Was talking to a workmate who did a bus tour through the US last year about our upcoming trip (just over three months away now) and his advice was to get a quantity of coins for use in motel washing machines/dryers as soon as we get there for laundry. As we will be in Houston for the first three days finding a Bank to change some notes will not be a problem (will also need to get some lower denomination bank notes as the smallest we got from our bank we’re $20 notes).

He can’t remember what denomination coins the machines take (here it is $2 a coin with multiple coins required).

Can anyone advise?

 

[ExRanger714]

Quarters (25 cents or one quarter of a dollar) fit everything; vending machines washers dryers. Come in rolls of 40 ($10) Anywhere you spend any cash money when asked "Will you sell me a roll of quarters?' will usually comply. Singles (one dollar bills) accepted in a lot of machines too. You will need a few fives for restaurant tips (in sit-down, bring you your food, keep your drink fresh kind of restaurants). Your hotel restaurant, if there is one is probably overpriced but convenient..

 

[ExcitableBoy]

25 cents/a quarter of a dollar. It traditionally has a likeness of George Washington on the "heads" side and an eagle on the "tails" side, but the newer coins will have any of the fifty states represented on the "tails" side. About 23 mm-15/16" in diameter.

I haven't been to a laundromat in forever, but I'm sure that some machines will also take $1 bills.

Happy washing!

 

[Golddollar]

He can’t remember what denomination coins the machines take (here it is $2 a coin with multiple coins required).

Can anyone advise?

Probably the most useful coins will be quarters ($.25). They are now the most frequently used coins for vending machine, parking meters, laundromats etc. At a bank they come in rolls of 40 ($10 US). A lot of vending machines are now using paper currency, but just about all of them will take nickels, ($.05) dimes ($.10) and quarters. Very few vending machines take pennies or half dollars.

Some newer parking meters and vending machines will take Gold(en) Dollar coins or Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, but not a whole lot will.

If somebody gives you a big dollar coin with a date in the 1970's that is an Eisenhower dollar. It is still legal tender but doesn't fit in any vending machines that I know about.

I apologize if I have gone into excess detail but I don't know anything about NZ money.

 

[Absalom]

Ah yes, advice.

Don’t overthink this. If you need quarters at a hotel, get change at the reception.

Don’t go out of your way hunting for a bank just to get change. If you have $20 bills, you’re good and will soon have more dollar bills than you know what to do with. Frequently tourists show up here only with fifties and hundreds; that would be more of a problem. But with ATM machines all internationally compatible and everywhere, there is really no excuse to lug big bills around.

I don’t know your currency, but remember that US bills all look alike to people from other countries. When I worked at a hotel in my early years, I sold a guy from somewhere foreign a stamp. He gave me a twenty and told me to keep the change. I’m pretty sure he thought he’d given me a dollar. I was dirt-poor and just said thank you with a smile. Eternal shame

 

[Kiwi cop]

Thanks guys.

The bank gave me $1000 in $100's, the same in $50's, $400 in $20's and $100 in $10's as "travel cash" (plus I have a lot more in US funds on an international debit card that also works as a MasterCard).

I was planning on getting a couple of hundred dollars in smaller bills to carry in my wallet (the big stuff will be with our passports and cards in a money belt) but I will also grab a couple of rolls of quarters.

Just out of interest; had my phone running Spotify on random play the other day and the old Bruce Welch song "Please Mr Please" came on. Do juke boxes still play five songs for a quarter? or is it only one song per coin these days.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

It’s nice to have a couple of Credit -Debit Cards you can use to get cash from ATMs.
A few ago I went down to Costa Rica and the guidebook advised that.
I wondered how it would work in the boonies- Small Towns.
I discovered that folks were lined up at the ATMs everywhere we went!
And I bought gas everywhere with my Visa and MasterCard.

 

[Whitwabit]

I have 2 debit cards .. one I use here around town and the other I use when traveling and only keep $2-300 in it .. I can transfer money to it from another account if extra is needed ..

 

[Maddog 521]

Credit cards, 1 dollar and 5 dollar bills can be used in the Fort Worth and Dallas area. I am reluctant to put a credit card in any vending machine or a parking meter. I would never put a debit card into any machine. Just me I guess

 

[Golddollar]

Just out of interest; had my phone running Spotify on random play the other day and the old Bruce Welch song "Please Mr Please" came on. Do juke boxes still play five songs for a quarter? or is it only one song per coin these days.

Juke boxes are now being internet connected instead of having physical records in them. They are less and less taking coins at all. Songs are based on credits, 1 or 2, and the juke boxes usually start at 2 credits for the first dollar you put in. It's kind of slow trying to pick out your songs but you have something like 10,000 to choose from.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Juke boxes are now being internet connected instead of having physical records in them. They are less and less taking coins at all. Songs are based on credits, 1 or 2, and the juke boxes usually start at 2 credits for the first dollar you put in. It's kind of slow trying to pick out your songs but you have something like 10,000 to choose from.

$! for 2 credits and 2 credits per song?

Last time I played a juke box it was $1 coins and 3 songs for $1.

That was back in 1998 though.

A lot changes in 20 years.

 

[Texas Star]

I can't recall when I last saw a juke box. But don't frequent places likely to have them.

The nearest apartment laundromat charges $1.50 in quarters for a wash and a dollar to dry. Residents can buy prepaid cards at the office.

If in Dallas, try Outback Steakhouse for a decent meal at a fair price. Most of their locations also have a Red Lobster fish restaurant in the same big parking lot.

Don't count on the employees at Outback to know anything about Australia, despite the decor. I've never been in one where anyone but me could even name the Aussie states. Most Americans have never heard of your North Island or South Island, and if you tell them you're from Wellington (if you are), they'll maybe have heard of Wellington boots, but not the city.

But most Americans are nice people, and I think you'll enjoy your vacation.

Try to learn whose picture is on our various denominations of money. I guess the only person on your money is Queen Elizabeth II? Or, do you have a Maori opera singer on some? (Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)
She and Sir Edmund Hillary and an actor on, The Lost World (Peter McCaulay) are the only New Zealanders whose faces I know.

 

[Golddollar]

Try to learn whose picture is on our various denominations of money. I guess the only person on your money is Queen Elizabeth II?

Here are the portraits on the bills you will likely encounter:

$1 George Washington
$2 Thomas Jefferson
$5 Abraham Lincoln
$10 Alexander Hamilton
$20 Andrew Jackson
$50 Ulysses Grant
$100 Benjamin Franklin

American paper money is sometime called "dead Presidents" but Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were never Presidents.

The Gold(en) Dollar coins I am known to spread around have either the Indian girl Sacawagea from the Lewis and Clark expedition or any of the now deceased American presidents.

 

[ExRanger714]

It's somewhat easy to mis-read the face of a bill with portrait and small numbers but the back has no portrait and the denomination numeral(s) on all 4 corners and therefore easier to be sure of what you have.

 

[Texas Star]

Here are the portraits on the bills you will likely encounter:

$1 George Washington
$2 Thomas Jefferson
$5 Abraham Lincoln
$10 Alexander Hamilton
$20 Andrew Jackson
$50 Ulysses Grant
$100 Benjamin Franklin

American paper money is sometime called "dead Presidents" but Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were never Presidents.

The Gold(en) Dollar coins I am known to spread around have either the Indian girl Sacawagea from the Lewis and Clark expedition or any of the now deceased American presidents.

I thought Sacagawea dollars were silver? The few I've seen were. I've also seen her name spelled as Sacajawea. I don't know her tribe. She seems to have served pretty much the same purpose for Capt. Lewis and Capt. Clark as Dona Marina/Mallinalli did for Cortes in Mexico, but didn't have any kids by either US officer. (Dona Marina bore a son for Cortes. He is the first known Mestizo.)

 

[Absalom]

Here are the portraits on the bills you will likely encounter:

$1 George Washington
$2 Thomas Jefferson
$5 Abraham Lincoln
$10 Alexander Hamilton
$20 Andrew Jackson
$50 Ulysses Grant
$100 Benjamin Franklin

And if you know who these people are, don’t mention that to any Americans you encounter, or they’ll think you’re arrogant, because they may not

 

[Absalom]

I thought Sacagawea dollars were silver? The few I've seen were. I've also seen her name spelled as Sacajawea. I don't know her tribe.....

It’s copper with a brass coat, so a golden color.

She was Shoshone, which is how she gained most of her importance. When the L & C expedition encountered that tribe on the upper Missouri, she actually found relatives and helped interpret and establish good relations.

 

[johngalt]

Another comment - the president/Sacagawga/Susan B Anthony dollar coins are almost the same size as a quarter.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Here are the portraits on the bills you will likely encounter:

$1 George Washington
$2 Thomas Jefferson
$5 Abraham Lincoln
$10 Alexander Hamilton
$20 Andrew Jackson
$50 Ulysses Grant
$100 Benjamin Franklin

American paper money is sometime called "dead Presidents" but Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were never Presidents.

The Gold(en) Dollar coins I am known to spread around have either the Indian girl Sacawagea from the Lewis and Clark expedition or any of the now deceased American presidents.

I know of them all, but I had to struggle a bit with Hamilton.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Try to learn whose picture is on our various denominations of money. I guess the only person on your money is Queen Elizabeth II? Or, do you have a Maori opera singer on some? (Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)
She and Sir Edmund Hillary and an actor on, The Lost World (Peter McCaulay) are the only New Zealanders whose faces I know.

We got rid of Liz (her Majesty) on almost all of our paper money a while ago and only kept her on one. Kiri Te Kanawa and Ed Hillary are there along with Kate Shepherd (suffragette, we were the first to give women the vote), and Ernest Rutherford (first person to split the atom).

We only have the five denominations of paper money $5, $10, $20. $50 and $100. We ahve gold $1 and $2 coins.