The vending machine industry would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars so its machines could handle new currency that blind people could use if a new ruling on U.S. bills is enforced.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson ruled Tuesday that the current bills discriminate against blind people. He ordered the Treasury Department to find a solution.
“If the government is mandated to change U.S. currency, there would be a tremendous financial impact across a number of industries, including the automated vending industry,” said Jim Brinton, a director of the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA), a trade association of the food and refreshment vending industry.
There are 7 million food and beverage machines in the United States, and 1.5 million of them accept both $1 and $5 bills, according to NAMA.
The vending machine industry would have to spend an estimated $200 to $300 to retrofit each machine, Mr. Brinton said.
“I couldn’t afford to spend $300 per machine. I simply wouldn’t be able to do it,” said Mr. Brinton, who is also the president of Evergreen Food Services Inc., a vending company in Tukwila, Wash.
The American Council of the Blind filed the lawsuit against the government in 2002, saying U.S. currency should be redesigned to help blind and visually impaired people distinguish among denominations.
“We’re not deliberately setting out to overturn American industries,” said Melanie Brunson, executive director of the American Council of the Blind in Washington.
“We wanted the government to add accessibility [to the U.S. currency], and we wanted to make it an issue while our currency was being redesigned,” she said.
Ms. Brunson couldn’t say exactly what impact the decision might have on the nation’s industries, but conceded that “the cost to retrofit vending machines could be somewhat substantial.”
NAMA filed a brief during the trial, noting that a decision to change U.S. currency would cost the vending industry substantial amounts.
Metro officials yesterday could not estimate how much it would cost to retrofit their fare-card machines to handle new currency.
“A lot will depend on what the U.S. Treasury will do,” said Stephen Taubenkibel, a representative from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
Metro’s fare-card machines accept denominations of $1, $5, $10 and $20.
“At this point, it’s too early to tell what the impact would be on our vending machines,” he said.
Treasury has 10 days to file an appeal based on financial and administrative burden.
Government attorneys argued during the trial that changing the size of currency could cost up to $228 million in initial costs and $52 million annually to make currency in different sizes.
The least expensive change, adding a raised numeral, would cost $45.5 million initially and $16 million annually. The government estimated it would have to spend an additional $70 million to $90 million in public education for any changes.
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) criticized the decision yesterday, saying it misinforms the public about the abilities of blind people. The organization of blind people has more than 50,000 members.
“This ruling puts a roadblock in the way of solving the real problem, which is the 70 percent unemployment rate among working-age blind Americans that severely limits our access to cash,” said NFB President Marc Maurer. “The ruling will do nothing to alleviate that situation.”
Blind people have developed ways to identify denominations by folding bills in different ways. Readily available machines identify paper money as well, the nonprofit said.
Mr. Maurer said the decision hurts public perception of blind people’s capabilities.
“It 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.”
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