The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 11)

/p>

In response to Lawrence Henry's inquiry as to the mystery of the nickel I'd like to add a few observations from my over twenty years in the hotel business.

While his coin counting was accurate based on the change amount (one cent to 99 cents) there are other factors involved that determine commonality in change received. For example, most bars don't add tax to the price of a drink (it's backed out by us accountants) and we like to price them in increments of $3.50 or $4.25, etc. Thus in that situation there is a need for lots of quarters.

Some businesses tend to go through more pennies. The state of Oregon has no sales tax so when you go shopping and everything is $XX.99 you will go through tons of pennies. Pricing has a big effect on what type of change you get back even in variations of spending. An example would be a vendor at a football game selling merchandise and prices everything in whole dollars. Based on this pricing he could maybe go through more 1's than 5's.

I agree with the dime theory in that they can be used in combination with others to forgo using quarters when low, but dimes are also packed more efficiently than the others. A roll of pennies is 50 cents, nickels $2, quarters $10 and dimes are $5 per roll. But since they are smaller than the others you have lots more of them if you have the same value on hand of each type -- say $200.

p>And just for Mr. Henry's curiosity, this is the usual coinage breakdown initially issued to most of our cashiers throughout the hotel: 4 rolls of quarters, 3 rolls of dimes, 2 nickels, 2 pennies, totaling $60.00. br> -- Greg Barnard br> Franklin, Tennessee /p>

P.S. If you are going to a men's club I suggest stocking up on 1's and 5's. :-)

Maybe this is the reason for "The Vanishing Nickel"?

From "Around the Nation" on the Washington Times for January 9, 2005:

blockquote>3.6 million nickels disappear with trucker br> MIAMI -- A truck driver has disappeared with the 3.6 million nickels he was hauling to the Federal Reserve Bank in New Orleans, police said Friday.

topics:
Mainstream Media, Business, Abortion, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq