This morning, my 19, soon to be 20, year old daughter stretched out her arm and showed me a Kennedy Half Dollar coin that she held in the palm of her hand. As she did so, she asked “Can you still use this?”
I immediately said “Of course you can!”
Darn, too quick on the answer. I’m pretty sure she would have given it to me if I had said something more like “Yeah, we don’t use those anymore”.
With COVID-19 sweeping the country in a strangling economic and political grip, as well as the overall push to carry electronic currency, I’m pretty sure we are seeing a huge decrease in the handling and exchange of “real” money, so-called. Pay with credit card, debit card, Paypal, BitCoin, Apple Wallet, and etc. The state government has put some nasty restrictions on most activities involving groups of people – retail shopping being one of them. Just a big weird experience because of the flu. Ok, so going off track a bit. That’s OK because nobody reads these posts anyway. Except me, as part of an early dementia and Alzheimer’s therapy class. RIP Dad, I know, don’t forget that birdcall joke.
In any event, I’m wondering if we are seeing the last hurrah of actual coin usage. If my daughter is wondering if we still use coins now, maybe in twenty years I’ll be wondering why I let them collect so easily – a jar here, a jar there, some over there, some in the garage (I don’t even have a garage), some everywhere.
And, when you think about it, the US mints have minted a huge amount of metallic circular currency over the years. What’s weird is that you only see them in certain places – pockets, bureaus, jars, clam shells, ashtrays, wine bottles, cash registers, desk drawers, car cup holders, and piggy banks.
So, what have we arrived at?
Three things.
First: Will piggy banks become obsolete?
Second: Has anyone ever driven down the highway past a junkyard and said “Hey everyone, look over there, it’s a pile of used quarters!”?
Third: We all see things differently, even when sleeping.
And finally, Fourth: A nineteen year old is, more often than not, simply 19 years old. Until they’re 20.