Identifying Money
People who are vision impaired often find it hard to identify the correct money when paying with cash. This fact sheet provides tips for identifying coins and notes as well as listing some strategies to make money handling easier.
On this page:
Identifying Coins
Coins can be identified by their shape, size, weight and edging. Learning to identify coins by touch takes practice but the more time you spend practicing, the easier it will become.
Silver coins (20c, 10c and 5c) are milled and when you run a fingernail around the edges of these coins, the vibration of the nail is heard and felt. These coins increase in value with size. Some older silver coins have their milling worn away and feel smooth around the edges.
The fifty-cent coin is easily identified by shape. It has twelve sides. Older fifty-cent coins have eight sides.
The one-dollar and two-dollar coins have edges that are both milled and smooth. When you run a fingernail around the edge, the vibration of the milled section is differentiated from the smooth section, which the nail slips over quickly. The two-dollar coin has a mostly smooth rim alternating with small sections of milling. The one-dollar coin has a mostly milled rim, alternating with small sections of smooth rim.
Coin Holders
These flat plastic holders hold five gold coins. They hold coins firmly and fit easily into a pocket or handbag. The two-dollar holder holds a total of $10. The one-dollar holder holds a total of $5. You can easily slide each coin out by just using your thumb.
Small holes in the coin holder allow you to attach a cord and then tie it to a handbag or belt. If you carry a full two-dollar holder and a full one-dollar holder, you have $15 in change, ready to use.
Identifying Banknotes
Notes can be identified by sight and by touch.
Sight
Notes can be identified by the bold numbers in the top right hand corner and also by their colour. Make sure that you have enough light to see the numbers or colours properly.
The 100-dollar note is predominantly green. The fifty-dollar note is yellow. The twenty-dollar note has reddish tones. The ten-dollar note is blue and the five-dollar note is pinkish/purple.
Touch
In Australia the notes become longer as they increase in value. The five-dollar is the shortest note. The 100-dollar note is the longest.
A Cash Test is a small tactile device that can be used to identify notes by their length. Blind Citizens Australia (Phone: 1800 033 660) issue Cash Test and its accompanying instruction cassette free of charge.
Strategies for Paying with Cash
The key strategy is organisation. Organise your coins and notes in good light before your next shopping trip. Some of the strategies people find helpful are:
- Some people keep only five-dollar and twenty-dollar notes in their wallets. They pay in multiples of these notes to the nearest $5 above the price of an item. This allows them to receive their change in coins only, and it makes it easier to check.
- Put notes or coins of different denominations in separate pockets, or wallet or purse compartments.
- It is worth investing time in choosing a suitable purse or wallet that has separate sections for notes, as well as a coin section that opens wide and has a secure clasp.
- Some men use one trouser pocket for their gold coins and another trouser pocket for dropping their change into. They use the gold coins for purchases and sort out the change from the other pocket when they get home.
- Bank notes are easier to manipulate if they are kept flat and stored in a sectioned wallet, or each denomination is paper-clipped together.
- You could ask the bank not to give you 100-dollar notes. Then you don't have to carry them around or accidentally confuse them with notes of lesser value.
- Some people avoid the need to sort silver coins by storing them at home and, on the next visit to the bank, having them changed into one-dollar and two-dollar coins.
- Ask people to count out, or identify the change they give you.
Take as much time as you need to count out your money before your purchase and also to put away your change. Don't be intimidated by the impatience of others.
Contact us
Call: 1300 84 74 66
TTY: 02 9334 3260
Fax: 02 9747 5993
Website: www.visionaustralia.org
Street Address
NSW and ACT: 4 Mitchell Street, Enfield NSW 2136
Queensland: 37 Kent Street, Woolloongabba Qld 4102
Victoria: 454 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong Vic. 3144
Vision Australia is a living partnership between people who are blind, sighted or have low vision. We are united by our passion that in the future people who are blind or have low vision will have access to and fully participate in every part of life they choose.
This page last updated: 20 February 2007