Today, we’re looking at the Alicia Klein Taxi Wallet. It’s an interesting little bifold.
This wallet was created and sold since 1987, the one reviewed is a Tangelo color. It’s called a taxi wallet, mainly because it deals a lot of coins. In the day, when credit cards we’re portable beyond a store, taxis would receive and give a lot of change which is why this wallet has a large coin pocket. Sewing is what you would expect. Nothing fantastic. It’s obviously mass manufactured, which isn’t a bad thing. Snaps. All right.
In the back, there are no particular features here, but in the front, we have a flap. When opened it takes us into our first major area. It is a gusseted coin slot with a lot of room. Behind it, we have a card slot which is the primary location for card storage.
When the wallet is snapped close we look at the top. We have, if you squeeze the wallet, the ability to put cards in. But I find it to be less functional once the wallet begins to take on more cards, coins and cash. The ability to squeeze the wallet reduces, to a point where you can’t and then you’re forced to fish out cards which is not easy.
When we unsnap the wallet we have two billfold pockets. We have one in the front and one in the back. These will handle all of your cash needs. Of course, you could put additional receipts, additional cards in here as well. There’s a lot of opportunity for things to be put into the billfold area.
I placed eight cards in there, six coins, and ten notes. All the currencies work, that was really nice to see. From a minimalist perspective, four cards is about right, reasonable carry is six. The company recommends eight or more cards, but that would be at the expense of cash. From a quality perspective, it’s designed in the USA and manufactured in China. This is Italian leather, which doesn’t necessarily pass the smell test but should handle the wear and tear.
In the gusseted space for coins the snap portion that’s on the inside is a bit rough, so you wouldn’t want to put cards in this pouch. A number of manufacturers will actually put some fabric over it to protect items placed in the pouch.
The rounded edge at the bottom makes inserting the wallet into your pocket easy to do. However, there’s a chance the flap could get caught on the pocket and pop open. That’s something we see with wallets that have flaps which aren’t secured.
It measures 3.9 x 3.5 x .7”. That’s right. That’s .7” before it’s actually filled, a bit thicky, and it weighs 57 grams. Despite all of that, I like the idea of the multi-functionality of this wallet as it gives the impression it can hold a lot. But the reality is that some of the most functional features like the slot at the top become unusable in practice once the wallet has cash and other cards in it.
No lets now get into the final score. For quality a 3, price a 3, features a 4, usability a 3 and perception a 3. That gives us a final score of 3.1 out of 5.
If you've ever seen a "taxi wallet" it was made when you needed to carry coins to pay for taxi travel, but has persisted to this day. The Alicia Klein Taxi wallet looks like it has loads of capacity, but falls short.
