# Why are American and Canadian coins so similar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463 "2005-12-07T04:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/41 "2005-12-08T18:14:18Z")
> [@Queuing](#): > > A WAG, for whatever its worth, but I would say that it could lie in the machines used to make the coins. I can’t imagine that whatever company makes these for the mints would bother to design 2 different machines, so the Mints each got 1, or however many, and they are basically the same. I doubt that the machines need to be so different. The dies used to coin the metal, yes, but I think those can be replaced without modifying the entire machine. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/42 "2005-12-08T19:52:58Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > From experience, many American merchants near Toronto accept Canadian currency. I have heard that the casino in Niagara Falls, New York accepts Canadian currency to compete with the bigger casinos on the Canadian side of the border, but I do not know if that’s true. > > Famously, many Detroit area merchants were briefly accepting Canadian currency at par as a gesture of thanks after Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor helped six American hostages escape from their captors during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Really? I’m surprised. I’ve always wondered why so many countries except U.S. dollars, but I was sure that no merchants in the U.S. would accept Canadian currency. You can use dollars in Tiajuana for just about anything, and many things in Havana. But in the U.S., anything with a maple leaf or the Queen is simply “not real money.” I know that internationally the U.S. dollar has been a standard, but isn’t the reality changing? Aren’t many other countries buying bonds and whatnot to the effect that the dollar isn’t the same thing it used to be? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/43 "2005-12-08T19:54:57Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > From experience, many American merchants near Toronto accept Canadian currency. I have heard that the casino in Niagara Falls, New York accepts Canadian currency to compete with the bigger casinos on the Canadian side of the border, but I do not know if that’s true. > > Famously, many Detroit area merchants were briefly accepting Canadian currency at par as a gesture of thanks after Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor helped six American hostages escape from their captors during the Iran Hostage Crisis. Really? I’m surprised. I’ve always wondered why so many countries accept U.S. dollars, but I was sure that no merchants in the U.S. would accept Canadian currency. You can use dollars in Tiajuana for just about anything, and many things in Havana. But in the U.S., anything with a maple leaf or the Queen is simply “not real money.” I know that internationally the U.S. dollar has been a standard, but isn’t the reality changing? Aren’t many other countries buying bonds and whatnot to the effect that the dollar isn’t the same thing it used to be? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/44 "2005-12-08T20:29:13Z")
Stores and restaurants in areas of the US that attract large numbers of Canadian tourists, such as Old Orchard Beach, Maine and Wildwood, New Jersey, often do accept Canadian currency too, and some will even fly the maple leaf flag to signify it. It’s almost unheard of in non-border, non-tourist areas, though. ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/45 "2005-12-08T20:47:36Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I doubt that the machines need to be so different. The dies used to coin the metal, yes, but I think those can be replaced without modifying the entire machine. Are the dies the things that would shape the coin? Are you saying the rest of the machine could be the same, just the thing that shapes the coin different? Still, wouldn’t it be easier to just make them the same? Seems to me that is the simplest answer rather then wondering how close the value of the coin comes to some metal, or how much each dollar is worth relative to each other, or whether its a big vending machine conspiracy, or… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/46 "2005-12-08T21:17:39Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > but I was sure that no merchants in the U.S. would accept Canadian currency. You can use dollars in Tiajuana for just about anything, and many things in Havana. But in the U.S., anything with a maple leaf or the Queen is simply “not real money.” They certainly accept Canadian money at all kinds of stores up on the ‘North Shore’ (actually the South shore of Lake Superior, up north of Duluth, Minnesota). They’ve been doing this for years. Local radio stations up there will broadcast the current exchange rate every morning, so local businesses know it. They’ve been doing this for years. I remember taking vacations up there with my parents in the early 1960’s, and the businesses cheerfully accepted either currency. But my mother noted that the exchange rate always seemed to be against you: whatever currency you were trying to pay with always seemed to be a few cents lower than the official currency of the country. She suspected that local merchants used this to either gain a percent or two extra profit, or to cover their extra costs in dealing with both currencies. But they were quite willing to take it in payment, even if it wasn’t ‘real money’. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/47 "2005-12-08T21:51:16Z")
> [@Queuing](#): > > Are the dies the things that would shape the coin? Are you saying the rest of the machine could be the same, just the thing that shapes the coin different? Yes. Dies do wear out gradually, and they get replaced. It’s a lot cheaper than replacing an entire giant machine. > [@](#): > > Still, wouldn’t it be easier to just make them the same? You mean, just make Canadian quarters look like US ones, eagle and George Washington and all? If you have a different image, you need a different die anyway, so it isn’t easier or harder to make it a slightly different size. ---
**Author:** ![Queuing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Queuing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queuing)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/48 "2005-12-09T16:37:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Yes. Dies do wear out gradually, and they get replaced. It’s a lot cheaper than replacing an entire giant machine. > > You mean, just make Canadian quarters look like US ones, eagle and George Washington and all? If you have a different image, you need a different die anyway, so it isn’t easier or harder to make it a slightly different size. Ah, sorry, I forgot about the actual pictures on the coins. I was just thinking about size. My dumb mistakes. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/49 "2005-12-09T17:04:23Z")
> [@Cerowyn](#): > > Famously, many Detroit area merchants were briefly accepting Canadian currency at par as a gesture of thanks after Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor helped six American hostages escape from their captors during the Iran Hostage Crisis. I haven’t seen the ads recently, but there were places in northern New York that accepted Canadian currency at par well into the 90s - although that was just because that was a damn good way to get a whole lot of Canadian currency flowing in, so they’d make a whole lot of profit, even figuring in the exchange rate. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/50 "2005-12-09T21:30:25Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Really? I’m surprised. I’ve always wondered why so many countries except U.S. dollars, but I was sure that no merchants in the U.S. would accept Canadian currency. You can use dollars in Tiajuana for just about anything, and many things in Havana. But in the U.S., anything with a maple leaf or the Queen is simply “not real money.” > > I know that internationally the U.S. dollar has been a standard, but isn’t the reality changing? Aren’t many other countries buying bonds and whatnot to the effect that the dollar isn’t the same thing it used to be? I think you’ll find that anywhere near the U.S./Canadian border, where the Canadian population is significantly bigger and/or more affluent, that Canadian currency is accepted on the U.S. side as well. Toronto is the fourth largest MCA in North America (after New York, Los Angelos and Chicago), and Montreal and Vancouver are pretty big as well. Ask the NFL’s Buffalo Bills about the importance of Canadian customers, for example (and why Toronto will never be the first non-U.S.-based NFL franchise). ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463/51 "2005-12-10T02:24:14Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Not quite true. American notes are a touch longer and shorter. Usually this is enough that bills designed for American wallets don’t work for carrying Canadian currency. _Holds two bills up together._ Well, look at that! The US bill is 3mm longer and the CA bill is 4mm taller. I never noticed that before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-american-and-canadian-coins-so-similar/334463.md?page=2)