# Does the (possible) new dollar coin have any hope for success? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440 "2005-04-27T21:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/21 "2005-04-28T13:33:26Z")
heh…“Is that a roll of Sackies in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?” see, that’s funny because the gold dollar comes in rolls of 20–that’s about 3 inches…OK, I’ll go now ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/22 "2005-04-28T13:38:18Z")
Well, I want a $.25 bill because it’s such a pain having 5 in quarters weighing down my pocket when I do laundry. Actually a .05 bill would be good too, since lugging around all those nickels isn’t fun either.[/sarcasm]Dollars aren’t worth enough anymore to warrant being a bill. Inerta alone will keep the bills going, if they trashed them, we’d switch over to coins easily and not look back. I have a couple of theories on currency. The first is the Cuppa Joe theory. You should not have to go to your bills to get a cup of coffee, that should be firmly in the realm of spare change/coins. Coffee is going to run you at least $.75 to $1.50, you would need way to many coins to pay for it without a dollar coin. A $2 coin is probably a good idea. The second is the Gumball theory. If you can’t afford to buy a gumball from a machine with it, the currency is too low value to exist. Good bye pennies, nickels and dimes, round every transaction to the nearest 1/4 dollar and let’s all get on with our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/23 "2005-04-28T13:51:35Z")
Sarcasm aside, the fact that the government won’t do what it takes to have a real dollar coin means that I, and millions of others like me, DO have to carry 20-40 quarters to the laundry every week. The big washers at my laundromat take 14 quarters, 14! I have to plunk down another dozen to get 2 dryers running for an hour. It’s crazy. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/24 "2005-04-28T14:00:27Z")
14 quarters?! Mine take 2. I can do three loads of laundry and dry them for $2.50 tops. Dollar bills are too light and easy to get rid of. Your Cuppa Joe theory falls in the face of Starbucks, and the Gumball theory will just spur inflation, as every merchant and bank rounds **up**. The needs of the poor strippers outweighs the needs of people who do laundry every time! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/25 "2005-04-28T14:07:59Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Sarcasm aside, the fact that the government won’t do what it takes to have a real dollar coin means that I, and millions of others like me, DO have to carry 20-40 quarters to the laundry every week. > > The big washers at my laundromat take 14 quarters, 14! I have to plunk down another dozen to get 2 dryers running for an hour. It’s crazy. Hmmm, then if we could just get the laudromat cartel to start making washing machines that accept $1 coins, the whole thing just…might…work! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/26 "2005-04-28T16:10:25Z")
So, is there any chance of having a [David Rice Atchison](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/atchison.htm) coin? Maybe a small one? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/27 "2005-04-28T16:35:59Z")
Notes: 1. There was no Kennedy dollar coin. The Kennedy coin was a 50 cent piece that replaced the Franklin 50 cent piece. Same size, etc. Got “collected” too much and fell out of use in circulation. 2. People keep forgetting the Eisenhower dollar coin. Minted from 1971-1978, some with extra silver content for collectors. Only caught on with casinos. Same size, etc. as old silver dollars IIRC. I got 2 SBA’s in change from the Post Office a couple weeks ago. Indeed, a horrible design. (Nothing personally against SBA though.) Prefer Sac.s more. The _real_ solution is to make more durable dollar bills (out of plastics). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/28 "2005-04-28T16:54:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Notes: > > 1. There was no Kennedy dollar coin. The Kennedy coin was a 50 cent piece that replaced the Franklin 50 cent piece. Same size, etc. Got “collected” too much and fell out of use in circulation. The Kennedy half-dollar is the coin I was think of. Those things are freakin’ hubcaps! ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/29 "2005-04-28T17:01:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s the only way it will ever fly. But we can’t take dollar bills out of circulation…how can you stuff coins into the g-string of a stripper? 😃 Write her a check, man. Or an IOU, so she has to stop by your place to collect on it. (Presupposing the stripper in question is female) ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/30 "2005-04-28T17:06:29Z")
- - - I feel it should be pointed out that the real purpose of these specialty coins is not to _replace_ what is already in circulation–the point is that by making them “special”, the US mint is encouraging hoarding, which basically translates into profit for the currency as a whole. Whever any given quantity of money is removed from circulation, it drives up the value of the remaining money. And also–often the mint (through the post office and banks) sells “special commemorative sets” for much-more-than-face-value of the money included. You want to encourage _REAL_ hoarding, helk—they should put nude pictures of playboy bunnies, different types of marijuana, or Star Wars characters on $100 coins and bills… ~ ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/31 "2005-04-28T20:23:41Z")
We’ve got all of these just-about worthless currency units…pennies are next to worthless, nickels and dimes just about. So why not make a clean break, and make all new currency? ($10 (old) =$1.00 (new))? Think about it…pennies would actually be worth something! The quarter would have as much purchasing power as $2.50 did, and a dime would be a dollar. Then we wouldn’t have to keep changing price tags so much. And we could make drug dealer’s profits (and others in the underground economy) cash hoiards worthless (they would have to exchange the old money, and account for it). ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/32 "2005-04-29T00:42:26Z")
> [@](#): > > …We’ve got all of these just-about worthless currency units… - - - Your solution to inflation is–more inflation–when inflation itself is the problem. It is inflation, driven mostly through government taxation that has caused money to devalue. Why not halt all federal spending on anything not expressly permitted by the US constitution, and require all US states to run balanced budgets every calendar year?.. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/33 "2005-04-29T04:52:42Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > The dollar coin idea is mindnumbingly stupid. Yeah, that’s right, every other country that has done this is entirely populated by short-sighted morons who never notice the enormous inconvenience this then puts them to. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > I like the way that $20 in singles fits neatly and quietly in my wallet or front pocket much in the same way that $20 in Sacejewia coins doesn’t Or you could just carry a $20, or 4 x $5, or … What I hate is that you invariably end up with a pocket full of unspendable 1c pieces. If you dropped them and went for $1 coins you wouldn’t notice the difference in your pocket. > [@](#): > > And it’s pretty much an American institution that strippers make their money one dollar bill at a time (excluding lap dances of course). _That’s_ the best argument against currency reform you could muster? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/34 "2005-04-29T05:19:53Z")
You should use $2 bills for strippers. They don’t look too hard at the denomination, and very often mistake them for $20s. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/35 "2005-04-29T05:29:37Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > So, is there any chance of having a [David Rice Atchison](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/atchison.htm) coin? > > Maybe a small one? We could put him on the [mill](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_336b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/36 "2005-04-29T11:49:18Z")
> [@continuity eror](#): > > Yeah, god forbid we put anyone but white males on our money. Thank you for inject race into this discussion. That was a valuable addition to our website :rolleyes: That said, I might have to issue a partial retraction. I was thinking that Susan B. Anthony wasn’t prominent enough to sit alongside the likes of Washington and Franklin. On reflection, I realize that there really aren’t that many famous American women in history. Still, wouldn’t Eleanor Roosevelt be a better choice for the first real woman to appear on US currency? But Sackajewea was just a pathetic choice. If they wanted a non-white, how about Martin Luther King? Or George Washington Carver? Or Harriet Tubman? There are a bazillion choices that wouldn’t have generated the collective shrug of indifference that the Sackie received. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/37 "2005-04-29T12:55:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s the only way it will ever fly. But we can’t take dollar bills out of circulation…how can you stuff coins into the g-string of a stripper? 😃 In New Zealand (which has eliminated $1 and $2 notes), strip clubs seem to get around that by issuing their own currency – you just buy 20 Firecats dollars along with your first drink. Not that I’d know, of course… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/38 "2005-04-29T16:17:03Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > But Sackajewea was just a pathetic choice. If they wanted a non-white, how about Martin Luther King? Or George Washington Carver? Or Harriet Tubman? There are a bazillion choices that wouldn’t have generated the collective shrug of indifference that the Sackie received. And people would be screaming for joy because they just saw a George Washington Carver coin? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/39 "2005-04-29T16:54:42Z")
I had a William Henry Harrison, but it disappeared just like that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440/40 "2005-04-29T17:08:14Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > _That’s_ the best argument against currency reform you could muster? Well yes…that and the fact that I don’t like carrying a pocket full of Sacejewia coins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-possible-new-dollar-coin-have-any-hope-for-success/301440.md?page=3)