Loony Machines

From Yahoo Canada:
"New lighter loonies, toonies causing headaches for vending and parking machines"

If you're having trouble getting a vending machine or parking meter to accept your shiny new loonie, don't kick the machine, blame the high-tech coin.The Royal Canadian Mint's new generation of loonies and toonies apparently are getting spit out regularly by coin-operated devices. The coins, issued this month, use multi-ply steel technology that makes them cheaper to produce and provides more security features. But they also weigh slightly less than the older alloy coins and often get rejected by vending machines and parking meters. The Toronto Parking Authority estimates that at about $345 per machine, it will cost about $1 million to upgrade almost 3,000 machines to accept the new coins, the Star reported. Calgary's Parking Authority is already spending about $30,000 to recalibrate its 770 parking machines.Vending machine operators are also bracing for an added cost to modify their equipment."I don't know if the new coins will fit in our machines," Simo Caffe owner Jessica Seguin told the Calgary Herald. "If they don't fit, it will cost $300 to $600 per machine to upgrade the coin mechanism." The mint has been using the multi-ply steel technology in smaller coins for about a decade, causing headaches for the vending industry."And later in the year we will have to reprogram again for the new $20 polymer bills," he said. The Bank of Canada began issuing the new plasticized currency last year, starting with $100 and $50 notes, with the more common $20 coming this fall and $10 and $5 bills next year. Like the coins, the new plastic currency is being touted as more durable and less vulnerable to counterfeiting. But users have reported the bills tear easily once they're creased or nicked and can melt if exposed to heat. The mint is defending its new coins. Spokesman Alex Reeves said the shift to coins that can be more easily read by vending machines has actually made life easier. But the mint is already preparing an alternative to coins and small bank notes for so-called micro-transactions. The MintChip would be a form of secure digital currency that would allow people to transfer value from one chip to another and via devices such as smartphones.

You would think that the Bank of Canada and/or the Mint would give either tax benefits or some other form of compensation to the vending machine companies and city, provincial governments to help ff-set the costs incurred by the new currency. ^

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/lighter-loonies-toonies-causing-headaches-vending-parking-machines-202448810.html