NationStates Jolt Archive

The thought just popped into me head the other day, that none of our paper cash has braile on it. How do the blind know they aren't getting ripped off when recieving cash back after paying for something if they don't have a friend or someone to look out for them. I googled the question 'how do blind people count money' .. now I knew once they know what bills they have they will fold it a certain way or keep certain bills in certain places.. but the recieving of money was what I was wondering about.

The first answer to pop up was ..

" When we get money back from someone else, we ask which bill is which and then fold it "

That's not good :D

U.S. paper money should at least have different sizes.. if no braille. Don't ya think? Like the Euro.



wiki - Critics also note that U.S. bills are often hard to tell apart: they use very similar designs, are printed in the same colors (until the 2003 banknotes), and are the same size. Advocates for the blind have argued that they should be printed in increasing sizes according to value and employ Braille codes to make the currency more usable by the vision-impaired, since the denominations cannot easily be distinguished from one another non-visually. Though some vision-impaired or blind individuals say that they have learned to determine the different denominations by feel, many others rely on currency readers; still others have their bills each folded differently to quickly identify the denomination. For the blind, this initially requires the assistance of a mechanical device or a sighted person.

By contrast, other major currencies, such as the Euro and pound sterling, feature notes of differing sizes: the size of the note increases with the denomination and are printed in different colors. This is useful not only for the vision-impaired; they nearly eliminate the risk that, for example, someone might fail to notice a high-value note among low-value ones, a common problem in the United States. Tourists also frequently encounter difficulties with U.S. money, as they are less familiar with the design cues that distinguish the various denominations. -
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LoL I added in too many choices.. didn't need the first one. Oh well. First poll .. I should've wrote down the choices and looked at it first instead of just putting them in.

I doubt that our cotton-cloth bills would be very good recipients, and holders of braille.

And different sizes would be crap for vending machines.

We should just stop using paper money, really. Plastic for everybody.

Braille might not work well on our bill, but could change the sizes of bills.

And different sizes would be crap for vending machines.

We should just stop using paper money, really. Plastic for everybody.


Didn't think of the vending machines. What do they do in countries who have different size bills? Do they not have vending machines?

I chose "leave as-is", and here's why: I read once that many blind people have developed increased tactile sensitivity which allows them to distinguish bills by texture. Sure, it sounds impossible, but it has been found that when one sense is disabled, the others augment their sensitivity to compensate.

Cool stuff...

Didn't think of the vending machines. What do they do in countries who have different size bills? Do they not have vending machines?


errrr... how do your vending machines tell the difference between notes if they're all the same size is a better question..

errrr... how do your vending machines tell the difference between notes if they're all the same size is a better question..


I'm guessing they read something on the money. I don't think our bills are different thicknesses or weight. Would have to read something off them.

I'm guessing they read something on the money. I don't think our bills are different thicknesses or weight. Would have to read something off them.


I'm pretty sure our vending machines do it on size like they do with coins, but I'm probably wrong..

Didn't think of the vending machines. What do they do in countries who have different size bills? Do they not have vending machines?

They have coins for the denominations that our bills come in, that would be relevant.

errrr... how do your vending machines tell the difference between notes if they're all the same size is a better question..

Optical scanner.

I'm pretty sure our vending machines do it on size like they do with coins, but I'm probably wrong..You're not wrong.

Plenty of nations have lots of bad experience with making coins and/or notes uniform. The ones suffering most usually aren't blind people (probably because they're used to us inconsiderate fuckers), but rather the elderly. Many of them don't have the eyesight to distinguish between highly similar currency & many lack the capacity to feel the difference.

It always amazes me when I notice some place changing their coins without improving on their functionality. After all, it's currency, not high art. Functionality has to be the primary concern.

Still, any modern currency is an improvement over the massive stone wheels used by one ancient culture. Just not a very great improvement.

EDIT: Braille, different sizes, different materials, holes, blending materials.. A great many things can be done to make currency both easily identifiable, functional & pretty.

I voted to have differing sizes.
My reason is after having spent two years in Germany and using deutschmarks, it is easier even for sighted persons to tell the difference between say a five deutschmark note and a one hundred deutschmark note, (under poor lighting such as a poorly lit club), than it is to tell the difference between a five dollar bill and a 100 dollar bill.

They have coins for the denominations that our bills come in, that would be relevant.


Sorry, I meant vending machines that accept paper currency. Maybe theirs only takes one currency... so it's always the same size or something, but I think monkey said they accept different sizes. /shrug. No matter. Coin is an option on machines now. Everyone learning the new money, making new money counter machines for banks etc., having to get new wallets ...o the horror.. and ofcourse what I've read mostly about the cost it would take to change them are more reasons than a vending machine problem, imo.

You're not wrong.

Plenty of nations have lots of bad experience with making coins and/or notes uniform. The ones suffering most usually aren't blind people (probably because they're used to us inconsiderate fuckers), but rather the elderly. Many of them don't have the eyesight to distinguish between highly similar currency & many lack the capacity to feel the difference.

It always amazes me when I notice some place changing their coins without improving on their functionality. After all, it's currency, not high art. Functionality has to be the primary concern.

Still, any modern currency is an improvement over the massive stone wheels used by one ancient culture. Just not a very great improvement.

EDIT: Braille, different sizes, different materials, holes, blending materials.. A great many things can be done to make currency both easily identifiable, functional & pretty.

I voted to have differing sizes.
My reason is after having spent two years in Germany and using deutschmarks, it is easier even for sighted persons to tell the difference between say a five deutschmark note and a one hundred deutschmark note, (under poor lighting such as a poorly lit club), than it is to tell the difference between a five dollar bill and a 100 dollar bill.

Yep, I think it would benefit everyone.

I had no idea they didn't have Braille. That's surprising for a country where in other regards handicapped people have such a strong lobby and you'll find wheelchair ramps and handicapped bathroom stalls everywhere.

They should definitely add Braille. And, if it were up to me, also get different sizes of bills. Hell, I can see and I was always confused by those all-one-color, all-one-size bills...

Sorry, I meant vending machines that accept paper currency. Maybe theirs only takes one currency... so it's always the same size or something, but I think monkey said they accept different sizes. /shrug.

They do. No idea how they "read" it, but the slot where you place the bills is wide enough for the widest bill to fit in (i.e. the widest bill the machine accepts which here (Germany) is generally the 20€ bill or sometimes the 50€ bill). You have to place all bills in the slot so that they line up with the left edge of the slot, and one end of the note has to go in the slot first (there's a little pic on the machine that shows you which one).

But yeah, the vast majority of purchases from vending machines here is done in coins. Machines that sell only low priced articles (like candy or drinks) typically don't have bill slots at all.

no no surprises,everybody is a client.

Do what they do in futurama, make talking currency :D

there is a blind woman at our church and she has a wallet that seperates her bills by denomination, and a small electronic scanner that she can run bills through that tells her what denomination they are, she says it works similar to the bill scanners in vending machines.

She does wish that when people installed elevators that they would put the buttons at a uniform height, it's great that there is braille on them (since they often number them in weird order) but she feels dumb feeling the wall for them.

U.S. paper money should at least have different sizes.. if no braille. Don't ya think? Like the Euro.
The Canadian ones have a little braille on them... at least the new ones do.

Didn't think of the vending machines. What do they do in countries who have different size bills? Do they not have vending machines?

Vending machines also take coins, which are of different sizes.

First off, I'm a little frightened that my bank's ATM has braille on it in the drive-through. :eek:
(Little joke there.)

Anyway: I'm for braille, as it would make it a lot easier for the blind. It would not be *that* hard to do: all modern American bills already have the plastic strip (security thread) going through them -- take a bill and hold it to the light, you'll see it a few centimeters from the left of the front side.
All they'd have to do is make it with a thicker end with bumps.

I also wish the US would make some square or pentagonal coins: it's hard to pick a penny from a dime right out of the pocket.

I'm against different sized American bills because I like people not knowing how much I'm carrying...
When I'm in Slovakia, I automatically put my purples and browns (1000 & 500 SK notes) in another pocket, as "flashing cash" is not usually a good idea, and they're so much larger than the 50, 100, or 200 crown notes.
http://www.nbs.sk/MENA/BANKOVKY/INDEXA.HTM

In America, I just have a number of green slips of paper -- they could be 1s and 5s, they could be 20s or 100s. Who knows? :)

First off, I'm a little frightened that my bank's ATM has braille on it in the drive-through.

I remember a thread about that.

Sorry, I meant vending machines that accept paper currency. Maybe theirs only takes one currency... so it's always the same size or something, but I think monkey said they accept different sizes. /shrug. No matter. Coin is an option on machines now. Everyone learning the new money, making new money counter machines for banks etc., having to get new wallets ...o the horror.. and ofcourse what I've read mostly about the cost it would take to change them are more reasons than a vending machine problem, imo.

Our vending machines have scanners in them which tells whether it is a single or a five. That's why when you feed the bills in, there is a picture on the front of the feeder that tells you which end has to be up, and in which direction the bill needs to face.

So is the poll a kind of misprint? 1 and 3 seem to be the same.
Anywhoo I voted for braille.
Besides making things a little easier for the blind. seems like braille would be one more thing to make it harder on counterfiters.

In Vegas I saw a vending machine that took credit cards.

(No, I won't tell you what it was vending!)

First off, I'm a little frightened that my bank's ATM has braille on it in the drive-through. :eek:
(Little joke there.)

yeah, I found out why that is a few years back and the joke isn't so funny anymore.

So is the poll a kind of misprint? 1 and 3 seem to be the same.
Anywhoo I voted for braille.
Besides making things a little easier for the blind. seems like braille would be one more thing to make it harder on counterfiters.


Yes, I noticed it afterward. Edited my post when I recognized it. Sorry about that. My first poll and didn't think my questions through enough, just put them in there.

I say we go back to using coins and make each coin out of a different metal. The blind could figure out how to tell coins appart by their density. A depleted uranium twenty dollar coin would weigh more than a one hundred dollar gold coin which would weigh more than a fifty dollar silver coin.

Oh, I forgot to mention that they should each be the exact same size so people might end up dropping the wrong denomination of coin into a vending machine. Drop a fifty dollar coin into a Pepsi machine and you get to drink a very expensive soda.

Debit cards for everyone. That's my answer.

Build in biometrics as well, that way the fucker can't be stolen.

Yeah, debit kids for small kids!

Yeah, debit kids for small kids!

Just to counter a likely argument, maybe not from you though, the cards could be made to not allow overdrawing. Thats one of my main fears with my card, when I'm low on money, I'm not sure of exact costs sometimes.

Parents would be able to funnel money into their kids accounts for things, or buy it for the kids. Seems like a good idea in my mind.

Sounds like a good idea.

errrr... how do your vending machines tell the difference between notes if they're all the same size is a better question..They read the pictures on the money, which is why only certain bills are usually used and why they have to be put into the slot in a specific direction. It's also why one of the card chargers at my library doesn't accept the new $ 10 bills yet... grr...

The poll is stupid.

And my answer is: No.

I have, for a long time, advocated the addition of braille to money.

different sizes would mean changes in alot of machines... and till sizes...

embossed might work... but considering how mangled some bills get...

Vending machines also take coins, which are of different sizes.have you tried putting pennies and silver dollars in a vending machine?

I think it would be a good idea, but there might be some technical challenges involved especially at the production level and in circulation. As notes get worn, the braille might get worn down and that would eliminate the benefits; also, it might increase the cost of printing notes and complicate it in vending machines

The best thing to do would be to just implant debit chips in our brains and automatically draw the information from there...but that's still a while down the road, I'm afraid.

Didn't think of the vending machines. What do they do in countries who have different size bills? Do they not have vending machines?

European, UK and South African vending machines (from my experience alone) handle different size bills. Get with the 21st Century will yas...

Likewise your whole banking system could do with an overhaul.. I haven't had to write checks since before I could shave.. :headbang:

That said, I voted only to add braille and leave the size alone.. I like regional and national idiocynrasies and the US bill size is about the only way you set yourself apart.. :D