The End of Money

Has anyone read this book out there?  It looks pretty interesting.  Here is a link to an excerpt from the book. It looks like it might be an informative read.

Edit: I have now read this book.  It's a pretty good read.  It gives you a good perspective on money and monetary policies, and just exactly how a cashless society would work.  3.5 stars out of 5.

Fear of $1 bills?

So, I had an interesting experience earlier this week.  In addition to my accounting job, I also deliver pizzas a few nights a week.  Now in our delivery area, there are nice areas and not so nice areas, and then there are down right scary areas.  I delivered an order to a home in the "not so nice" area and the guy's order was $21.37.  He gave me two $20 bills.  I said, "So I guess your change will be $18.63," and proceeded to dig into my back pocket for my "$20 bank" I get from the store to make change on deliveries.  It's got two $5s, nine $1s, and $1 worth of coins.  As I'm pulling the little bag out, the guy says, "Just give me $15."  OK, so I pull out the two $5s and start to count out five $1s and the guy says, "Never mind, just give me ten."  So I was very happy.  I just got an $8.63 tip, instead of $3.63. But I could tell the guy really, really did not want five $1 bills in his pocket.  In fact it was worth at least $5 to him NOT to have any ones!  And of course, he definitely did not want the coins either.
Delivering pizzas now for almost 2 years, 3 or 4 nights a week, I've delivered hundreds, maybe even thousands of orders.  I can count on 1 hand the number of times, someone has wanted coins for their change.  Most nights I don't even use my $20 bank for change.  And I've never used the coins on a delivery order, except maybe 3 or 4 times total.
If I had to guess, probably 65% of the orders are paid by credit card, and the other 35% with cash.  So that puts it into better perspective.  But when I'm actually in the pizza store and someone comes in to pick up and pay for their pizza, I always have to dig out the coins to use as change.  Maybe it's just the retail environment that conditions people into believing that they must get their change to the exact penny.  But if I run out of pennies, I don't get more from the safe, I just round off everyone's transactions after that, and nobody ever complains or says anything.
Seriously people, with stories like this, it's quite obvious that the penny is completely and utterly useless, and the majority of people (at least those that pay cash for their pizza deliveries) do not want them!  Let's get rid of them now, and everyone will be happier and richer!