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JeffMac Veteran user Sudbury, ont 350 Posts |
I was reading another topic about how much you can expect to earn as a busker. It got me thinking about when I first started busking. About a year after I started, Canada went from a 2 dollar bill to a coin. My hat would usually get whatever pocket change people grabbed when they went to their pocket. I noticed a sharp rise in my hats that year. I don't know if it was entirely the change in currency, or just that I was getting better. I was wondering if there are any of you that have been around long enough to have experienced the change to coins while at the top of their game?
Also, for you state side, do you get a lot of bills in your hat? Are they ones, or are they higher? If any of you travel both sides, it would be interesting to hear what you prefer. |
mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
Why not "prime the pump", and preload a couple of bills into your hat at the beginning?
When people are looking at your hat and thinking of adding to it, if they see bills instead of coins, they might just contribute the same. Mark. |
Eddie Torres Special user New York City 692 Posts |
I tell them not to put coins in there. In an interesting and non-offensive way, of course. I've got magic shows to do and haven't the time to put coins in a roll and take them to the bank in order to convert them into a buck... There ya go, use that. Unless you've got it so they're just trickling money, then the coin thing's less avoidable, maybe a little sign? "If you really love me, give me bills." I dunno... but, yes, coins were all I'd get when I first started. Then I just sort of learned to be more bold, and I was my silly self, and that helped me so very much. Still not as much as I'd like, but much more than counting to 12 bucks in quarters, dimes, and nickels.
Eddie
Eddie Ivan Torres
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JeffMac Veteran user Sudbury, ont 350 Posts |
I think I wasn't quite clear. I am fine with dollar and two dollar coins. I haven't performed much on the street in years. But when I did, I was getting hats that I was satisfied with. What I am asking is people who have worked where Coins, include dollars and 2 dollars, whether they find the hats better or worse; i.e. do you get a higher ratio of ones and twos to fives and tens, or do you get more 2s than 1s, etcetera.
I know, for an example, that as a bartender I found a huge increase in tips when the 2 dollar coin was released. |
mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
Oh...hmmm???
No one uses dollar coins in the states. They are too close in size to quarters, and people don't like carrying them. They also get too heavy to carry around (pocket full of change) and usually end up becoming more of a novelty than a viable alternative to bills. Mark. |
JeffMac Veteran user Sudbury, ont 350 Posts |
That they get too heavy to carry around is why I kinda figure they are better for buskers. People don't mind tossing out some coins a lot faster than bills. Plus, I don't know how you people get by without $2s. That would drive me nuts.
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mrunge Inner circle Charleston, SC 3716 Posts |
We tried the $2 bill, and no one used them. They just could not catch on as usable currency. Everyone started to save them as collectibles. You can still find them, but only at the bank. I've never gotten one back in change.
I guess we get by because you don't miss what you never had. Mark. |
nick nickolas New user Melbourne Australia 78 Posts |
I reckon when currency moves from bills to coins, hats get larger, though heavier. I have witnessed this in the U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
It's just a !@#$% when you've been working all day and you've gotta walk to your digs (probably up 20 flights of stairs) knackered with an extra few pounds of dirty metal pulling you down, knowing that tonight you've got to bag them suckers and change them for notes in assorted bars! Probably getting more drunk than you anticipated, only to have to do it again tomorrow. Oh, the joys of street performing. That's my 2 cents worth, Nick |
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