Dead Presidents
When you think about it, money is just really arbitrary. Here’s a sheet of paper. It has a 5 on it. That means you have 5 dollars. If it had a 10 on it, you’d have 10 dollars.
Why is it arbitrary? Because sometimes businesses will accept Canadian money. That’s not legal tender here in the U.S. of A. But they’ll accept it. Oh, they won’t accept all types, mind you. You couldn’t pay for anything with a Canadian bill. That’s just not right. But a Canadian dime? Or a Canadian quarter? Or penny? They have no problem accepting that.
Case in point. There is a Family Dollar close to where I work. I can get a 20 oz. Diet Coke for $1.15 there. That right there is a bargain with a capital B. But I found out a way to get it cheaper.
About a week or so ago, I picked up what I thought was a quarter from the parking lot of a local Target store. But it was a Canadian quarter. I was initially disappointed because the vending machines at work (and everywhere else for that matter) simply do no take Canadian. I was about to give it to my kid when I had the grand idea. I would see if I could use this to pay for a 20 oz. Diet Coke at the Fam-D (as I like to call it). So, on payday Friday, I took a crisp one dollar bill and my Canadian quarter and went to get a Diet Coke. The cashier rang it up at $1.15, I gave her the dollar and the “quarter”, and I got a dime back. So, when all was said and done, I got me a 20 oz. Diet Coke for a grand total of 90 cents American.
As I said earlier, I probably couldn’t have done this with a Canadian dollar bill. But with the change, that’s a different story. Apparently, if it looks close enough to a quarter (or dime or penny), it will be accepted.
Chris said...
Mon Apr 07, 05:16:00 PM EDT
And you are aware that our $ is almost on par, and sometimes MORE than yours, so if you aren't careful, you could be spending more for that diet coke!!
We often exchange coins from the till to stockpile the quarters with the eagle in exchange for the moose.
P.S. we don't have a dollar bill (sad to say) and for some reason our machines WILL accept US coins.
VioletSky said...
Tue May 06, 06:55:00 AM EDT
Um....I work with you, and frequent that Family Dollar almost daily. It was accepted ONLY because the most ignorant and non-caring people work there. They really just couldn't care less. They most likely didn't even look at the coin. But this does give me a really good idea, since I have a little canadian change hanging around, and until just this moment I had no idea of what to do with it! Thanks!
Anonymous said...
Wed May 14, 10:23:00 PM EDT