Does any other country (besides U.S.) use the same color & size for all of its paper currency ?
Different colors & sizes seem helpful, if perhaps not cost-effective. Was there any rationale ?
“Proverbs for Paranoids, 1: You may never get to touch the Master, but you can tickle his creatures.”
Most countries vary their currency much more than the US does.
The problem is the American people. For unclear reasons, Americans freak out over changes in currency.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
I think that we “freek-out” because we so seldom have to use forgein currency. In other parts of the world, where most countries are smaller, & people pass borders more frequently than us, get accustomed. The Euro-dollar will be a big help. Until I visited Europe, I was puzzled why Jesus came down on money changers. In each new country, one must exchange currency. The money changers. of course, charge for their service. The best idea is for universal “World Dollars” A long time off, but inevatable.Foreign money is ususlly much better looking than our’s. Most use differant colors for each denomination, an idea we shoud adopt…Does anyone remember the old 10,000 lira note in Italy (IIRC worth about $5 or $10) it was about 12"X 8". What a hassel that was!
Zymurgist
I am from the USA and lived in Canada for 5 years. When my Canadian friends discussed US money they always seemed to get worked up over the monochrome nature of our paper currency. “How can you tell them apart?” they’d ask. I would try to be patient while explaining our system of numerals to indicate dollar amounts. They seemed to think that adding colors (or colours) was easier than adding numbers, or some such thing. Anyway, I never saw what the big deal was, and still don’t. Now that my wife, a Canadian, lives in the states, she seems fairly well-accustomed to our system, and rarely gives out 50s for 5s.
I personally think the color and size uniformity of American currency, ironically, makes it the most distinctive in the World.
I couldn’t tell you what a Russian rubble looks like, but I’ll bet most Russians know exactly what a greenback looks like.
Non-Americans see the US dollar as a symbol (and source) of strong economic security and reliablity. Part of this impression comes from the fact that there have been few drastic changes in it’s appearence.
As for Americans, we think that anything with colors other than black of green ink looks like Monopoly money!
I’m not overfond of the new twenties. I think it’s mostly because of two features:
all that blank space on the back, and
the seal on the front looks like it was added with a bad inkjet printer and could smear off at any moment. On every new bill I’ve seen, the seal has bled significantly and is not at all sharp.
The second one bothers me a lot more than the first. I’m not used to US currency looking shoddily made.