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.

 

[Texas Star]

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.

How big (small) must a one or two dollar gold coin be these days?! How do you pick up the little buggers, with tweezers?

 

[Golddollar]

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

That must be a Commonwealth action. Canada got rid of its $1 and $2 bills a number of years ago, and replaced them with $1 coins (Loonie) and $2 coins (Twonie). I remember stopping for lunch on one of our family fishing trips to Canada and the clerk commented that the only time they were seeing dollar bills was when Americans were bringing them back.

 

[hoc9sw]

As to US dollar coins, they are of little use and more annoyance. When I was based overseas, and accompanied foreign guests on US trips, I would see waiters and stores dump $1 coins even in multiples of 5 on them, thinking it was an easy way to clean the cash register (which rarely has a place for them). I would see waiters try to give $5 in dollar coins as change. In most countries that would be to encourage bigger tips, but here it wasn't so.

I've seen many a store here in DFW that actually refused to take $1 coins or $2 banknotes. That is illegal, and I've been known to cause problems for those I knew I'd never see again after being treated badly, but in general you just have to offer something else, as it isn't worth the argument. In reality, a lot of the small store owners may have never seen them, and not even know they exist.

Most of my dollar coins get dumped in a jar and moved to the Salvation Army Christmas collection kettles.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I love the Sacajawea and newer 'gold' US $1 coins.
The earlier ugly coin with the ugly woman, not so much.
But as already posted, the $1 coins are not ordinarily commonly used.
The last time I got some was at my Credit Union when I asked the teller,
Show me what you got!
I bought 10 of these, I think.

 

[Kiwi cop]

That must be a Commonwealth action. Canada got rid of its $1 and $2 bills a number of years ago, and replaced them with $1 coins (Loonie) and $2 coins (Twonie). I remember stopping for lunch on one of our family fishing trips to Canada and the clerk commented that the only time they were seeing dollar bills was when Americans were bringing them back.

We also got rid of our 1c, 2c and 5c coins and changed the 10c one from "silver" to copper to reflect it's true value.

Now,everything is either rounded up or down at the point of sale, unless you use EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer,point of sale) where the money goes straight from your bank account to theirs.

EFTPOS is so popular most people never carry cash anymore. I recently found a $20 note in my wallet that had been there 2 weeks that I had forgotten about hidden behind all the business cards. My wife quickly claimed it saying if I had had it that long I didn't need it

 

[Golddollar]

I am well known in a number of American Legion and VFW lounges for buying my beer and meals plus tipping with the Gold(en) Dollars. I imagine that that the children and grandchildren of the staff have a stash of Gold(en) Dollars waiting for them from the tips I've given. One bartender at the Somerset, PA American Legion told me she saved the Sacagawea dollars for her daughter, but I was the only person who came in and spent them.

I look at coins as works of art, and my late mother loved coins. I think it's in the DNA. The story in my mother's family is that when they moved out to western PA in the 1830s they bought their farms with silver money in bushel baskets. They hid the money under the vegetables in the baskets.

 

[BigBoy99]

We only have the five denominations of paper money $5, $10, $20. $50 and $100.

One bad feature about US paper currency is the physical size of the paper notes - all of the different denomination notes are the exactly the same physical size! A US $1 paper note is the exact same size as a US $100 note, making miss identification of the bill denomination more difficult. IIRC, NZ paper currency is a larger physical size for the higher denomination of the note. A small note is of lesser value than a larger note.

When I was in high school (a long time ago), working the night shift at a gas station, a foreigner drove up and asked to have $10 of gas put in his car. I put the $10 of fuel into the vehicle and he gave me a $100 bill to pay for it and just drove off. I really appreciated his unfamiliarity with US paper money!

 

[rolomac]

Just a couple of comments - first - whoever thinks there are 40 quarters in a ten dollar roll is thoroughly confused (.25 x 40 = $8.00) and second - as a small business owner, I ask a favor - carry something other than $100 bills. Small businesses open up in the morning with a set amount of change in their registers and when the first customer in the door makes a $2.00 purchase and presents a $100 bill it either cleans out that registers change reserve or brings everything to a halt while the clerk finds their supervisor who runs to the back room to access the safe and get change in small bills while other customers wait in line. Hope you enjoy your USA visit.

rolomac

 

[Absalom]

Just a couple of comments - first - whoever thinks there are 40 quarters in a ten dollar roll is thoroughly confused (.25 x 40 = $8.00).....

rolomac

Umm.... is there a punchline I'm missing?

 

[H Richard]

Having just returned from an European trip, (Danube River cruise) and going through 5 different countries, keeping a little pocket money for souvenirs and food is sometimes difficult. In Hungary the money is a FUT, and the exchange rate was something like 250+ to the US dollar. In Germany and Austria and France they did all use the Euro and was 1.16 to the dollar, and Prague was the Crown which was about 21 to the dollar. Your goal was to make sure you got it all spent before you left that country as trying to convert any coins to US dollars outside those countries is near impossible. I still have a few Euro's left and a few Crowns, but less than I had the last time we were there.