Money Smarts

My last thoughts about money, I promise.

I don't get why we still have exact-change slots. Anywhere.

When the bus was 25 cents, this made sense. When I hop on the KX and have to deposit exactly $3.50, though, it's a bit silly. Why can't I get change, or just slide my debit card through the machine, like on the CalTrain?

And parking meters are even more ridiculous. When I'm planning my commute to work, it's not that hard to set aside 6 dollars and four quarters. When I'm running off for a quick drive to the store, having to scrounge in the sofa cushions for dimes is ridiculous. But when the alternative is playing beat the clock with the DPT, hoping I can dash in and get change for a dollar so I can feed the meter so I can run back in and do my actual shopping, what choice do I have?

Everyone in Europe is switching to smartcash. You go to the ATM, slide your card through, and instead of getting a 20-Euro bill that can't be used as exact change anywhere, you get a different card, that's worth exactly 20 Euros. And you spend it by waving this smartcard at other machines (including parking meters) which deduct the appropriate amount, until eventually the card is worth nothing.

I've been told that in some countries, you can't spend the last euro, because they want you to recycle the card. Money with a cash-back deposit is an interesting idea, to say the least.

Maybe Americans are afraid of their cash being smarter than them, but I don't see it's any better if we're dumber than everyone else's money just because we're still smarter than ours.