Metal detectors will no longer find todays coins in the future....

[gsignal888]

With the advancement of smart phones, it will eventually become a cashless society. In the future no more coins will be minted, meaning at one point in the future history, coins will stop at a certain time by future metal detectorist.

What are your thoughts on this reality?

 

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[TrashFinder]

I just saw in the News where I think it is the Netherlands(?) will stop using cash by 2020. That will, they say, cause problems with tourists and such. I'm not sure if it will be a credit/debit or a new type of selling and buying. Maybe a mark on their hand or forehead? If so, it won't matter much because other things will happen that metal detectors will not be a priority at all.

 

[Shakakka]

Two thoughts on this:

1) Today's coins are JUNK. Here in the US, the coin designs have been absolutely terrible. The State Quarters were semi-cool, but most patterns were too busy to be readable. Way too much stuff jammed into a small space. The 'shield' penny is a joke; it could've been designed by a 1st grader, and the new nickels are pretty bad too. Conclusion: the last good coin design was the Bicentennial Quarter. Almost everything clad is worth no more than face value, and unlike silver and 100% copper today's coins come out of the ground all tarnished and chipped and crappy-looking.

In other words, NO BIG LOSS.

2) My other thought is that one day, hopefully soon, someone will come up with a detector that goes significantly deeper. Imagine a detector that could accurately pick out coins up to two feet deep. This would essentially open up ALL PAST PERMISSIONS to be re-searched; every single inch of ground could yield amazing vintage coins, and because of the extra depth the coins would be VERY OLD on average.

To me, #2 is an exciting possibility that I'd like to see happen in my lifetime. Just imagine going back to all your best 'picked over' spots and cashing in on all the stuff you waltzed right over with even the best metal detectors of today.

A cashless future is inevitable. But as detectorists? We're looking for history. Today's zincoln-lincolns aren't history. Heck, they're barely even coins as far as I'm concerned.

'Nuff said!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Yup and we're all going to pay for everything with Bitcoin and all the other (soon to be worthless) cryptos. Don't hold your breath on this future.

There are still many people in this world who do not have a credit card or a checking account. And if they don't have those, they certainly don't own a smartphone! They live paycheck to paycheck and pay cash for everything. There's no way it will become a cashless society in the near future, so no need to worry about that.

 

[Dave Rishar]

For a long time, humans were willing to put up with the inconvenience of coins because they were necessary. They're no longer necessary, and there are more convenient ways to pay for things. Now it's simply a matter convincing people that there's a better way (that they're already using!), but that's a nearly impossible task.

Going cashless became a good idea right around the same time that fiat currency became the norm. Fiat currency is just tokens representing promises. It has no value beyond what we've collectively assigned to it. Seeing as we've already gone cashless in every important sense, keeping cash around is completely illogical. We only do it because we tend to resist change, and we're wired to do irrational things and then attempt to rationalize them later. This is exactly why cash will be around for a while - we, as a society, are too emotional and irrational to exchange a suboptimal practice for one that would work better.

You heard it here first: We're not going completely cashless any time soon, even though it would make complete sense to adopt something better. Exhibit A is the US cent. Exhibit B is the US dollar coin. We'll be digging up rotted zincolns for some time to come, even though it's quite literally a waste of public funds.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Yup and we're all going to pay for everything with Bitcoin and all the other (soon to be worthless) cryptos. Don't hold your breath on this future.

Or with their credit card, or checks, or direct deposit, or Paypal, or debit card, or whatever. There are plenty of mainstream options for going cashless. You may be using a few yourself. I've used one a few times today.

There are still many people in this world who do not have a credit card or a checking account. And if they don't have those, they certainly don't own a smartphone! They live paycheck to paycheck and pay cash for everything.

Would you consider this segment of the population to be a minority or a majority, and how much money do they have? These are important questions to ask in a representative republic.

There's no way it will become a cashless society in the near future, so no need to worry about that.

Agreed, but for completely different reasons. It'll be another generation or two. People don't like to change, but today's children probably don't even understand cash for the most part. By the time that they're running the government, us folks that grew up with cash will be long gone. That's when it will happen. Most people won't even notice, as most people don't use cash on anything approaching a regular basis today, let alone thirty years from now.

I'm still astonished that there are people in this world that think fiat currency is worth anything other than what we all agree that it's worth. And when our currency is only worth what we all agree that it's worth, we may as well be using wampum. Actually, we'd be better off using wampum. It makes far more sense than dollar bills and fractional coins.

 

[namxat]

Most small denomination coins over the world are really trash: Copper and brass washed steel. Wont hold more than few years in the ground.


But thats not the point .....

Are these electronic payment methods free? No, there is nothing like free lunch! In fact they are acting like a small second or tertiary sales tax. In theory, therfore all your economists should therefore be against them since every macroeconomic textbook tells you to keep "transaction costs" as low as possible to keep economy going as freely as possible. 0.001% on every transaction in the US keeps adding up...................

Are these payment methods absolutely anonymous? Some are (google up the Hong Kong octopus card) and running well since decades. For some reasons this is ignored and instead you should pay with your identfiable smartphone. Hmmmm.....................

No people, I pay as much as I can cash and I promote to do so in every person I meet.

Regards & thanks to reading my rants

Namxat

 

[fistfulladirt]

There are people today already happily accepting the mark. In the future one will not be able to buy or sell without it.
Not looking forward to that.

 

[sprailroad]

I understand what your saying about the future of coins and metal detecting, most likely your right, but at least I'M thinking that for our great-grand children, they will still have the thrill of finding the treasure of those dandy pull-tabs for centuries to come.

 

[Rookster]

I'm a tadlanair now.

 

[creskol]

With the advancement of smart phones, it will eventually become a cashless society. In the future no more coins will be minted, meaning at one point in the future history, coins will stop at a certain time by future metal detectorist.

What are your thoughts on this reality?

\
I guess those of us who don't have smart phones will starve to death.

 

[GB1]

There are people today already happily accepting the mark. In the future one will not be able to buy or sell without it.
Not looking forward to that.

same here but i'm not getting it

 

[dts52]

I understand what your saying about the future of coins and metal detecting, most likely your right, but at least I'M thinking that for our great-grand children, they will still have the thrill of finding the treasure of those dandy pull-tabs for centuries to come.

Not if I find them all first! Bwahaha!
HH
dts

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Don't hold your breath. I have less than zero use for fake money.

 

[Bama Billy]

Metal detectors will always finds today’s coins unless they evaporate. There are billions of coins on this planet, they’ll always be there to detect. People in Europe regularly pull 5-600 year old coins out of the ground so I’m positive we’re fine for a while. I realize that modern coins won’t last THAT long but I’m not worried at all

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Dave gives the best example. We can't even convince the government to get rid of the worthless penny, so how are we ever going to convince them to go cashless? The only reason we still have pennies is because the politicians are getting "perks" from the mining companies. Why else would you make something and take a loss on every one you made? Just getting rid of all the coins would cost the politicians billions in payola, so that's never going to happen.

 

[Muddyhandz]

So will people have to rent debit machines when hosting garage/yard sales in this cashless society?
Oh, electronic payments with your zombie phones? Sure, you want 25 cents for this? I'll send a quarter to your e-mail right now.....
Sound stupid? That's what I thought when the person in front of me used their credit or debit card to pay for a measly coffee over a decade ago.
Now look at everyone tapping their chips or phones. Groomed perfectly by the financial institutions.
"We pay for everything on our credit card so that we get the points reward." Yeah, the banks and credit companies are making boatloads of money!
I still use cash for most of my transactions but the young cashiers just get confused.
If they don't enter it into the till correctly, then they have no idea as they cannot add simple math.
Heck, they teach math in school with your zombie phones. There's probably an app to help people wipe their asses because humans are becoming useless!
If they force me to get a zombie phone to pay for everything, then I'm off to live in the woods AGAIN! Screw this world!!!!
However, some kid the other day said that Canada is going to release the $5 coin soon.
They've been saying that for years but who knows, maybe it will come out someday.
If it does, you can guarantee it will be made out of steel.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

That's the main reason banks want a cashless society. Costs too much to handle and transport those dirty coins and bills. The casinos figured that out many years ago. That's why I no longer gamble. Not much fun to win $100 on video poker and have the machine spit out a slip of paper! Boring!

 

[T.C.]

That's the main reason banks want a cashless society. Costs too much to handle and transport those dirty coins and bills. The casinos figured that out many years ago. That's why I no longer gamble. Not much fun to win $100 on video poker and have the machine spit out a slip of paper! Boring!

...but they still pay you off in cash.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

True, but the fun part is hearing all those half dollars clanging into the till!