Carl, about the cash register - when I worked retail in university, the cash drawers were as you descibed - a series of fixed dividers, so there was only room for pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. We rarely got 50 cent or dollar pieces - if we did, they went straight to the bank, since there wasn’t room in the cash drawer.
Now that we have toonies and loonies, the dividers in the cash drawers are not fixed - there are slots for the dividers, and each business can customise the drawer depending on the distribution of the coins they get. I would think if the new US dollar coin catches on, the merchants would use this type of drawer.
(And, one thing you need for the new coin to catch on is an easy name for it: the Sacajewa? don’t think so. Our one dollar coin quickly got christened the loonie, since it has a loon on the back. When they came out with the two dollar coin a couple of years later, the “twoonie” or “toonie” was just a natural extension. (Although I tried to persuade my friends it should be called a “doubloon.” All my efforts accomplished was to confirm my nerdiness in their eyes.))
The big problem for me is that much of my change goes into vending machines, and none will take the Gold Dollars for quite some time. The only place I know of that you can always get Susan B’s is the stamp vending machine at the local post office. It accepts Susan B’s and gives change in them, but it is the only maching I have seen that does so. - MC
MC, the p.o. is the only machine that gives Suzies as change, but I suspect that many machines will accept them as payment. Don’t confuse the two concepts.
My guess is that the main reasons non-PO machines won’t give Suzies as change are: (1) They don’t have any Suzies to give out, and (2) They aren’t smart enough to accept $5 bills to begin with.
I’ve never seen a machine other than at the P.O that accepts Suzies. They always say what denominations they accept, and its almost always either nickle, dime and quarter or just quarters.
Thanks for the link, Mjollnir. According to it, the pronunciation I learned was the creation of someone who never met Sacagawea and apparently changed the hard “g” to a soft “j” arbitrarily. L & C also had a creative approach to spelling her name - but at least they agreed on the hard g.
I agree with jti - it is a mouthful and the coin needs an easy name if it’s to be a success. I like “Janie” - but will it catch on? Sacky? Birdy? Any other suggestions?