RAFINO Report
ISSUE 23 - Winter 1999 - Return
to Index
The SUZY
"B"
By J. Claud Wallace
In 1976 we, the Army, were flying five C5A loads of coin and currency into
Europe each year. The Army was the agent for the Treasury to furnish
coin and currency to all agencies including the PX and U.S.
embassies. It cost in excess of $100,000 for a single flight and
about 49% of the load was in pennies. In addition we had to
retrograde mutilated currency. Studies showed that one dollar bills
were wearing out in about 13 months.
The Suzy "B": When the U.S. Mint introduced the
small Susan B. Anthony dollars in 1978 we started developing a project to
replace the paper dollar with the new dollar coins, i.e., the "Suzy
B's". The Suzy B would not become mutilated so we could avoid
much of the retrograde cost and since we would not need to bring in paper
dollars we could save even more.
This project had some interesting aspects to it, like the problem of too
much weight in pockets and purses….where to put the new money in the
cash drawers. And we had to retrain cashiers in making the proper
change. Our solution was to replace the paper dollar with the Suzy B
coin and the paper $2 bill. This way it would not be necessary to
give more than one Suzy B in change to a customer.
We developed the procedures and implemented the plan. No more
one-dollar bills were flown in, the dollar coins and the $2 bills were
brought in and we were ready to reap the savings from our efforts.
Suddenly, the Stars and Stripes News began to carry complaint
letters of all kinds, most of the complaints could be categorized as
against any kind of change. Some, like the guy who got four dollar
coins in change, were legitimate and we targeted cashiers who needed some
training. In a short time Senator Proxmyer let the Treasury
know that we had to go back to using one dollar bills again, which we
dutifully did. Of course, all the hard savings we were making flew
out the window.
After I returned to the States I wrote a letter to Senator Proxmyer and
explained the reason for the change and challenged the complaints as
largely unfounded. His answer was to the effect that "They
should have consulted me before making such a change." Needless
to say, this answer did not address any real points in the case, but his
decision to revert to the old way was final.
I find it very interesting that the Treasury has minted the 1999 Susan B.
Anthony dollar coin because they had run out of them in the system.
Apparently, someone found a way around the objections to the coin.
We were just 20 years too early with our good money saving idea.
Members of RAFINO! Please
note that Claud Wallace, the author of the above two stories, and
the member who graciously volunteered to take over as Editor of the
RAFINO Report following publication of this issue, was kind enough to
send these stories to me to use (my cupboard was really bare)
rather than to hold them back for his own use. So, please send him a lot of replacements!
He’ll need them ASAP!
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