The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld a lower court ruling that the Department of the Treasury is required to make U.S. paper currency accessible to the blind; although the most recent changes to the higher-denomination bills have made various denominations of currency more distinguishable by people with limited vision, all the bills remain the same size and have no tactile features that distinguish the bank note denominations.

I’ll agree with the basic proposition that making major changes to the bills yet again would probably be a bit of a pain, but surely the Bureau of Engraving and Printing could punch some little holes or make some raised dots on the existing bill designs without compromising their usability in existing vending machines.

Tyler Cowen offers some tentative answers.

Ars Technica takes note of a new deal between Coinstar and Amazon.com that will let you exchange your pesky coins for Amazon.com gift certificates at face value. Where was this service last month, before I lugged all my change from Jackson to Durham in Ziploc bags?