Cop complained about receving dimes as change

[Argus]

Actually, I believe he wouldn't be carrying excess weight due to the dimes instead of quarters (nickels, on the other hand...).

The Mint seems to agree with you. Based on their web page, fifty cents of either dimes or quarters would weigh 11.34 grams (the same as a half-dollar coin).

[EvilEmpryss]

Now I see why the girl at the register the other day was so apologetic about giving me $16 in ones. I couldn't care less how I get the bills since they all spend the same -- though ones on a Friday means yard sale cash for Saturday. Bonus!

Look at it this way: Now he has to carry around an excess amount of weight.

How much does a grudge against a cashier weigh, anyway?

From how long some SCs complain, it must be a metric shitload.

[EricKei]

He woulda loved the old BoutiqueGrocery where I worked back in the 90's. In what I can only guess was an effort to reduce the coins they counted every night, they did not give us dimes in our tills at all, only quarters, nickels, and pennies. They also encouraged us to get rid of any dimes we took in ASAP.

[XCashier]

A vending machine will accept ten dimes or twenty nickels as easily as it accepts four quarters for a candy bar. Coinage literally all spends the same and it's nothing to flip out about.

People get angry over stupid things when there's no point to it. In a world full of war, poverty, sickness, injustice and cruelty, there are plenty of important things to get angry over; receiving dimes instead of quarters is not one of them. Save your anger for the truly bad things in life and both you and your blood pressure will be much happier.

[ADeMartino]

A vending machine will accept ten dimes or twenty nickels as easily as it accepts four quarters for a candy bar. Coinage literally all spends the same and it's nothing to flip out about.

People get angry over stupid things when there's no point to it. In a world full of war, poverty, sickness, injustice and cruelty, there are plenty of important things to get angry over; receiving dimes instead of quarters is not one of them. Save your anger for the truly bad things in life and both you and your blood pressure will be much happier.

THIS, absolutely! I'm frankly astonished that a COP, of all people, has to be reminded that there are real problems in the world.

[protege]

THIS, absolutely! I'm frankly astonished that a COP, of all people, has to be reminded that there are real problems in the world.

Unfortunately, some cops (and doctors, lawyers, teachers...) are douchebags who think they're entitled to special treatment because of their job. Balls to that.

But, this thread reminds me of one of the vending machines I had to deal with at camp. At the time, I was running their trading post. Basically, it was a crappy little store at a scout camp, where you could get sodas, snacks, merit badge books, T-shirts, and other items.

One of the snack machines I had outside...I hated with a passion. Not only was it a piece of shit (the damn thing would jam if you looked at it wrong), but it only gave change in nickels! Annoying as hell to drop in a dollar for a package of 40-cent Lance crackers...and have to wait for the machine to count out the 12 nickels Why Lance thought that was a good idea, I'll never know.

Needless to say, when that stupid machine finally broke at the end of summer, I wasn't sorry to see it go.

[ADeMartino]

change in nickels! Annoying as hell to drop in a dollar for a package of 40-cent Lance crackers...and have to wait for the machine to count out the 12 nickels Why Lance thought that was a good idea, I'll never know.

Pure cost minimization. A nickels-only coin mechanism is far less complex and considerably less expensive than one that deals with multiple coin types, and nickels are the least common denominator when it comes to vending machines. You also don't need a coin sorting mechanism to deal with incoming change - just a really big hopper full of nickels.

There was a subtle psychology to it, too. Allegedly having a giant pile of nickels in your hand was an incentive to purchase something else, rather than carry around all that weight in your pocket.

[wolfie]

THIS, absolutely! I'm frankly astonished that a COP, of all people, has to be reminded that there are real problems in the world.

If you asked Col. Hammer (from the "Hammer's Slammers" series by David Drake), he'd assure you that anyone who got upset about receiving their change in dimes instead of quarters obviously was a cop.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I like getting change; I rarely spend coins... I have a vase that looks like an oversized milk bottle and I want to see how much it holds. My bank has free coin counting if you have an account. Whatever's in the bottle at the end of the year will go toward the money I owe my parents for my appliances and other house-buying expenses that they fronted for me (and the down payment on my car that I was not exactly expecting to replace that day...I had the money in the bank for it but it was just easier for my mom to get a check out of her account, instead of my dad driving me two towns over to the credit union office and back; and it makes them feel better to have me pay them over time, cuz they worry ).

[ADeMartino]

I figured out why the cop didn't want dimes! He didn't want to have a roll of anything in his pants that he might mistake for his d***!

[dalesys]

I figured out why the cop didn't want dimes! He didn't want to have a roll of anything in his pants that he might mistake for his d***!

But the roll of dimes would be so much bigger!

... he'd be terrified that it was somebody elses ...

[protege]

Pure cost minimization. A nickels-only coin mechanism is far less complex and considerably less expensive than one that deals with multiple coin types, and nickels are the least common denominator when it comes to vending machines.

IIRC, that machine was all mechanical. There weren't any electronics in it at all. It was pretty crude by modern standards, and needed constant attention. Nearly once a day it would jam up...requiring me to leave the 'register' (basically my counter and calculator ), and go outside and mess with it.

[ADeMartino]

IIRC, that machine was all mechanical. There weren't any electronics in it at all. It was pretty crude by modern standards, and needed constant attention. Nearly once a day it would jam up...requiring me to leave the 'register' (basically my counter and calculator ), and go outside and mess with it.

And THAT'S why Lance used it. It was long paid for, and in their eyes there was no need to replace a 'working' machine. And yes, many vending-machine services have a peculiar definition of 'working'.

[XCashier]

And yes, many vending-machine services have a peculiar definition of 'working'.

"Well, it ain't blown up yet, so I guess it's still working!"

[ADeMartino]

"Well, it ain't blown up yet, so I guess it's still working!"

More like "We've only received 70 complaints this month, so all is well."