|
NewsFlash
This website maintained by
|
CoinopTODAY.com
Currency Would Be Redesigned to Help Blind and Visually Impaired Chicago, IL—The National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) is working to prevent changes in US currency designed to help blind and visually impaired that would result from a Nov. 28 court ruling, NAMA President and CEO Richard M. Geerdes NCE announced today.“This decision would impose a tremendous financial hardship on our members who would be forced to spend hundreds of dollars on each machine so the new currency could be accepted,” said NAMA Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel Tom McMahon, NCE. NAMA responded to the lawsuit filed against the U.S. Treasury by the American Council of the Blind in Washington which said U.S. currency should be redesigned to help blind and visually impaired people distinguish among denominations. NAMA filed a brief during the trial, noting that a decision to change U.S. currency would cost the vending industry substantial amounts. NAMA was the only industry that filed a brief opposing the change, although a host of other industries would be affected. According to NAMA there are 7 million food and beverage machines in the United States and 1.5 million of them accept both $1 and $5 bills. “It would cost $200 to $300 to retrofit each vending machine, and that is simply not affordable,” said Jim Brinton, NAMA Board of Directors Senior Vice Chairman, who is president of Evergreen Food Services Inc., a vending company in Tukwila, Wash. Brinton appeared on Detroit radio talk show Dec. 1, along with a lawyer for the American Council of the Blind and the two talk show hosts where the subject was debated for about a half hour. “There was overwhelming support on our side of this issue from both the radio show hosts and the callers to the show, said Brinton. Some of the other industries that would be affected should this ruling be enforced include transportation which relies on fare card machines nationwide, automatic teller machines and coin converters in banks, shopping malls, hotels and other public places which will all need modification. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has also criticized the decision. NFB President Marc Maurer said, “Blind people have developed ways to identify denominations by folding bills in different ways. The ruling argues that the blind cannot handle currency or documents in the workplace and that virtually everything must be modified for the use of the blind.” During the trial U.S. attorneys argued that resizing the currency could cost up to $228 million in initial costs and $52 million annually. Just adding a raised numeral would cost $45.5 million initially and $18 million annually. An additional $70 million to $90 million would be needed for public education for any changes, the government estimated. The district judge, James Robertson, has given the government 30 days to present possible solutions to the court. The government has 10 days to appeal based on financial and administrative burden. NAMA is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2006. The organization is the national trade association of the food and refreshment vending, coffee service and foodservice management industries including on-site, commissary, catering, & mobile. Its membership is comprised of service companies, equipment manufacturers and suppliers of products and services to operating service companies. The basic mission of the association, to collectively advance and promote the automatic merchandising and coffee service industries, still guides NAMA today as it did in 1936, the year of the organization’s founding. December 12, 2006 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
First Look
