Commodity Currency

What if we used a different currency for commodity items like toilet paper or Coke. So instead of paying $1 for a Coke you’d pay say 500 credits. Or think of it as 50 yen for a Coke.

Price is a crucial piece of information for the consumer. Commodity pricing in America loses detail because our currency doesn’t work well for discriminating products at the low end. But if you could price two items as 2000 credits and 1800 credits, instead of each being $2, you’re adding more detail back into the price. That detail just can’t be reflected with our coarsely grained US currency.

I think what happens is that commodity prices have to be inflated because US currency can’t go smaller. I think we could drive prices down if we had a new kind of currency to handle commodity pricing. Maybe this is one reason why prices go down when you buy in bulk? You’re getting closer to a true price of an individual item because our currency is equipped to handle those kinds of prices.