Canadian Money

[JustADude]

Are those spendable?

GreenSinestro, there's an old warning people used to give someone going into the big city for the first time: "Don't take any wooden nickels!"

That answer your question?

[UncleImpy]

I live in Seattle, so you occassionally get a coin from the Great White North in your change. I end up sifting them out and keeping them in a jar at home, and once a month, when my coworker makes his trek to Vancouver to visit family, he takes my jar-o-coins and returns them to the wilds of Canada (usually at a designated Reservation of Automobile Fuel).

I certainly wouldnt expect an American merchant to take them...because I know their bank sure as hell isnt going to accept a Canadian quarter and credit their account $0.25. Sure, its just a quarter, but if you use that excuse, think back to all the Sucky Customers you've hated for wanting to 'cut you a deal' over something small.

Its a quarter. I am not above digging in my pocket and offering them the CORRECT quarter.

[draggar]

I think it's all part of Canada's plans. Innundate our economy with their money, thus crashing our economy because all of our money is gone. Then, they can easily invade us.

They'll start with their mounties invading Maine and New Hampshire, sweep though New England, then have a second forse move though Seattle.

[Broomjockey]

First, the magnetic issue: some Canadian coins are, some aren't. Most of the quarters are. Years of boredom have given me this insight. It mostly depends on year of minting.

Second, the tossing of Canadian money and considering it on par with counterfeiting. I personally find that really insulting. Put the exchange rate on it, fine, I don't care, even for small coins, that's only fair. Refuse to take it, fine, it's not legal currency in your country, so you're not obligated to, it is just a courtesy. But to throw it out and consider the passing of it a heinous act? I absoultely cannot see your side of it. Canada and the USA have a free and open trade relationship as countries, so your location in the country doesn't matter. People move back and forth across the border freely and often, meaning cash is changing hands on an individual level between the countries every day, and not everyone is going to keep it all seperate. Some people just don't care enough. That means some "cross-contamination" is inevitable. As I said, you can refuse to accept it. But it isn't as if people are hopping the border with $1,000,000 USD, changing it to CAD change, and coming back to pass it off at a profit. There's no real reason any of my jobs have accepted US currency other than it was a convienience for the rare customer who needed it. It made our jobs harder, and my managers certainly didn't like it for all the extra work needed to deal with it (and with an exchange rate of 1.00 CAD=0.948060 USD as of time of writing, it is 5 cents different, because we'd always round to take care of fees and lower the hassle).

It's stuff like this that makes me when I hear about people passing off Canadian Tire money as real currency in the States. (Reward money given out for shopping at Canadian Tire, comes in paper bill form, but is mostly in denominations of <50cents)

[PuckishOne]

Canadian quarters are magnetic? Cool!

Maybe this is just because I'm close to the border, but I've received more than a little Canadian coinage from supermarkets, drugstores and even banks here. Really, it's not the end of the world...if I notice it at the time I point it out and not once has anyone been unwilling to swap it for me. If I don't notice it, no problem: it goes into my Giant Jar O' Coinage at home, gets rolled up eventually and taken to the bank, which has no problem accepting the occasional nickel or quarter at par.

Also, news flash for those who don't see the beautiful colors that is Canadian Money too often: as of noon today, the US dollar is worth a mere $1.0568 Canadian, so if you're really buried under an avalanche of foreign currency, hold onto it and turn it in at a bank now that it's worth something.

[Geek King]

Canadian quarters are magnetic? Cool!

Oh my yes. And two can jam up the change slot in an arcade machine like nothing else this side of bubblegum.

[Bagboy]

Dude, Canadian paper money is alright. I've used Canadian coins at the airport, in the vending machine

[Palsgraf]

About ten years ago, when I was working at a hotel front desk (in Illinois), a guy walked up to me one night and demanded that I exchange his quarter for another one because our vending machines wouldn't accept it. I explained that it wasn't working because it was a Canadian coin, and offered him 17 cents for it.

Without pausing (and that's why I knew that he must have realized it was Canadian and hoped I just wouldn't notice), he yelled at me, "Haven't you heard of NAFTA?!!"

Moron. I closed my cash drawer and returned to reading my book.

[Bloodsoul]

Anyway, you got them because the snuck through the machine, and were the right size to sort into the pennies. The bank should switch them out if you can show the rolls you took them from. Then again, it is just two cents, and you get some cool coins.

Actually one of those two coins was magnetic, almost making me believe the other was a fake (though now I'm assuming it's just aluminum?). Yeah, this was long ago so those rolls have long since been dispursed, and those two coins swapped with pennies in my wallet (when cashing out with a boss overlooking), and since added to my collection.
Yay! ^_^

(Silly me for thinking that coins were wrapped by hand, eh heh heh...)

[Hon'ya-chan]

Canadian Coins use Steel for most of the current denominations (The Loonies and Toonies use Nickel with Copper or Brass Alloys). For example, Pennies after 2000 are 94% Steel, 1.5% Nickel, and the rest copper plated zinc. Canadian coins have used 99.9% Nickel after the 1960's when Silver was removed from them.

Nickel is one of the few metals in nature that is Magnetic.

[Primer]

Nickel is one of the few metals in nature that is Magnetic.

I think you mean iron, which is an ingredient in steel.
Nickel is NOT magnetic.

[Dreamstalker]

yeah, too bad the tollway fixed the necco candy scam - bet those beat quarters from any country!

Necco candy scam?

EDIT: Found it. Weird.

I possess a few copper slugs, as well as lead blanks. Someplace I have a quarter produced with one of said lead blanks that I wonder how, even back in the day when that was an issue, anyone could believe it was real. I also have a real half-dollar that was somehow altered so JFK's profile is raised.

[Hon'ya-chan]

I think you mean iron, which is an ingredient in steel.
Nickel is NOT magnetic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel

Nickel is one of the five ferromagnetic elements. However, the U.S. "nickel" coin is not magnetic, because it actually is mostly (75%) copper. The Canadian nickel minted at various periods between 1922-81 was 99.9% nickel, and these were magnetic.

[Gurndigarn]

And the Canadian dollar is now worth more than the US dollar.....

[tamezin]

People act like I've just given them wooden nickels if they god FORBID find a canadian quarter.

You should buy all of those canadian quarters and flip them at the bank. The Canadian Dollar is stronger than the American dollar now, so you would make a profit.