The Business » currency

Table for Mr. Jackson

business — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:33:08 +0000

Is a well-greased palm the key to a life of priviledge? Tom Chiarella, writing in Esquire, heads out in New York with a stack of $20 bills to find out. The short answer? It works, unless you’re asking someone to something that might cost them their job.

I always grease Bobby H., the bellman at my hotel, and on my first night, within minutes of the pass, he suggested that I might request a room upgrade. He even gave me a room number to ask for. Another twenty at the desk and I was out of two queens, snug in my one king. The next day, we ran the same drill, and wham, I was in the minisuite. The twenty after that, I was in a full suite with a view of Times Square. We used a different desk guy each day. When you’re passing twenties, Bobby H. told me, you have to spread the wealth. “It’s a one-time trick,” he said. “You don’t want anyone to catch on.” Somehow he managed to take a twenty each time, having caught on fully some time ago.

However, Chiarella is a bit less successful in buying favors during a trip west. (via kottke)

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

How much is $1 trillion?

business — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:51:51 +0000

What does $1 trillion look like? If you stacked up $100 bills, it would look something like this (that little red mark at the front left of the image is a person):

Just for reference, here’s a historical photograph of someone posing with 1 million $1 bills.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Printing money

business — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:40:55 +0000

Who couldn’t use a little more cash? Now there’s a convenient site on the Internet where you can print your own.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Minty freshness

business — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Now that the U.S. Mint has completed its 50 state coins program, it plans to issue six quarters in 2009 that honor Washington, D.C., and the five U.S. territories. It makes sense as a kind of continuation of a very successful chapter in the Mint’s long history.

Quick trivia test: Can you name the five U.S. territories? (I couldn’t. This one stumped me.)

A coin memorializing Duke Ellington, a Washington, D.C., native, will be issued later this month. It’s clear that this coin isn’t part of the 50 state quarters program because no head and shoulder image of persons living or dead were allowed on those coins (I’m not sure how Helen Keller got on the Alabama coin). I also wonder about the engraving of Duke Ellington. How many pianists actually rest their elbow on the keyboard of their instrument?

Don Mecoy
Business Writer

Eight bits for a dollar

business — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:42:00 +0000

The U.S. Mint last year launched the presidential $1 coin program in yet another attempt to get Americans to use dollar coins. As part of its campaign to get the coins in circulation, the Mint is selling small bulk orders and shipping them free (currently shipping are the John Quincy Adams model).

What that means is you can get $250 or $500 worth of the coins in your hands for exactly face value. I suppose a clever marketer could devise some way to use a bunch of $1 coins as part of a contest, sweepstakes or special offer. However, in my long-ago experience in retail, many customers were angered if I tried to give them $1 coins as change.

Ultimately, I don’t think Richard Nixon will succeed where Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea have failed.

Don Mecoy
Business Writer