Comments on: D.C. Circuit panel: paper money unfair to blind

By: Adam J

Adam J — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:28:41 +0000

Deoxy – the plaintiff is an organization for the blind as well and has 4 other organizations as amicus briefs. NFB has two considerable conflicts of interest too, they are in a partnership with a company who makes the currency readers, and they also have a division called the National Association of Blind Merchants which would be adversely affected by the currency change (blind merchants receive priority for vending machines on public property under the Randolph Shepard Act).

By: stfoley

stfoley — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:00:33 +0000

The holes in bills may be doable *IF* those holes are located where a broad plastic strip is embedded. This way the strip (that the holes are punched into) would reinforce the location so that the wear and tear such devices would inflict on the bill is lessened.

By: my 2 cents

my 2 cents — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:21:27 +0000

A few comments on the ideas here:

Intaglio printing is standard for most currency, including in the US, as it is harder to counterfeit. The raised ink can be felt on new bills, but not on older ones, so you will have to replace bills at least 4 times more often.

Plastic threads in bills are nothing new. Hold a $20 bill up to the light and look a 1/2″ from the left.

Putting holes in bills will cause stress concentrations and tearing in standard use. Basically they will just wear our faster. Plus the new bills will have to be substantially different from the old bills to keep people from punching holes in old bills and passing them as higher denominations.

By: Bumper

Bumper — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:29:16 +0000

The blind people I know are very active within the local and national blind community. They don’t think very much of this whole falderal. Other countries have made attempts to add features to money to make it easier to “read”, but apparently they are not worth the effort. Canada, for instance, has a special braille code on their bills but it is easily squashed and therefore not usable for very long.

On the other hand the argument of the government is pretty lame. Recently bills have been changed quite frequently.

So we are left with a national organization that is trying to “AARP” for their constituency and solve a problem that doesn’t exist versus a governmental bureaucracy that is, well, a bureaucracy.

By: KP

KP — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:24:53 +0000

Yay. More political correctness gone amok. I suppose these “judges” want US to pay for this as well.

By: VMS

VMS — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:46:54 +0000

Punch one mm. holes in the currency. A $100 bill would get 1 hole, a $50 bill 2 holes, a 20, 3 holes a 10 4 holes, a 5 5 holes and a 1 6 holes. See why the numer of holes is smaller for the highest value of currency

By: Lawyer

Lawyer — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:35:42 +0000

Couldn’t the government just buy every blind person a mini-scanner type of device that could read aloud the number on the bill? Could be cheaper, if such a thing exists.

By: Deoxy

Deoxy — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:34:08 +0000

“There are approximately 7,000,000 food and beverage vending machines in the United States; by one estimate, it would cost $3.5 billion to retool or replace these machines.”

1) So? Since when do judges care abuot how much of OTHER people’s money their ridiculous decisions cost?

2) Wow – that’s $500 per machine. That’s pretty darn high.

VMS:

What part of “the prospective modifications to currency, which the National Federation of the Blind have criticized as unnecessary” do you not understand? When the people you are supposedly helping are asking you to not do what you’re doing, and you keep going, well, there aren’t any polite terms to use to describe your behaviour. “Arrogance” is one of the less rude ones.

By: teqjack

teqjack — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:04:16 +0000

I do think the Court was not correct in ignoring “third party” effects.

But I also do not think they need to be so bad. Changing bill sizes would be, but there are other ways.

For one thing, currency changed quite recently. For another, the US Mint is in the process of rolling out another set of alterations, includingg some additional colors.

OK, colors are not much of a help. But I recall experimentation with plastic and metal strips some years ago. With improved tech such may now be practical, and if so could vary with bill denomination. This would require (probably) only a small software change to the vending/bill-changer machines, unlike having a variety of sizes, and provide a tactile sensation for the blind.

By: Nikki Pratt

Nikki Pratt — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:50:53 +0000

My first thought was also that the bill sizes would have to be changed, an idea that I detest. However, there’s already alternative ideas sprouting up around the internet. One of the best ones I’ver read is to put threads in the bills to identify them.