Well, it’s easy to not have to think about race when it doesn’t affect you every day, isn’t it?
I do like the idea of an MLK coin. I would much rather see that than a parade of dead white males, influential as they may be. But I guess that makes me a “reverse racist” (news flash: there’s no such thing!) as well as somebody who doesn’t want to honor a group of people (presidents) who, frankly, have been honored enough. I also think that if the rest of the world is smart enough to figure out dollar coins, we should be. Maybe it’s just because I barely carry around any money (don’t you guys have debit cards?), but I find dollar bills awkward. A dollar is such a small amount that I don’t like dipping into my wallet for it; I keep my dollars in my coat pocket with my change.
Of course there was also the widespread public opposition to eliminating the dollar bill, combined with limited availability of the dollar coins. My bank had them so rarely that I quit asking for them. If everyone who liked the dollar coins actually could have gotten them, you would have seen a lot more in circulation and things might have ended very differently. Recalling the money is supposed to be a convenient medium of exchange, I have to say that the idea of a paper note worth so little really strains the notion of convenience. Why the heck are people so attached to a paper note that, together with about 10 others can buy…a couple of combo meals at a fast food joint? Or, barely, a round of drinks for two people? Give it up, people. It’s not your grandfather’s dollar anymore. It’s your grandfather’s nickel. And we’re still making 'em! It’s like we’re in Elbonia or something.
Or in a similar vein: [ul]
[li]It costs 50c to stop at a gas station and use the air and water machine. That’s two–count 'em–two quarters, our highest value circulating coin. The flagship of our vast and impressive array of coins, you might say.[/li][li]If you collect all 50 State Quarters, you’ll have $12.50, or just about enough to buy a couple of value meals at a fast food place.[/li][li]A quarter will get you 7 1/2 minutes at a UCLA parking meter. Or by now, perhaps 3 3/4 minutes–haven’t been there in a while.[/li][/ul]
I agree with your Cuppa Joe theory, but I think the Gumball Theory needs to be adjusted a bit: The 25-cent gumballs we see to day are much bigger than the little ones you used to get for a penny. I think a ten-cent denomination is useful–it’d be about like a penny used to be, or somewhat less.
I really am amazed that there’s such a defensive position about dollar bills. Britain has had nothing that small in paper for a couple of decades (well, excepting Scotland ). And that is, as far as I know, typical for ‘modern’ currency setups - taking the Euro as the obvious leading example.
I certainly don’t understand why it’s a big deal to carry a few coins with you, while sorting through stacks of paper is apparently a joy. (Possibly the small size of our pound coin helps.) On the other hand…maybe tipping conventions are (in all seriousness) an important factor?
I like the idea of a dollar coin. The main problems I see is that they need to come up with a size that will distinguish itself with the other coins already in circulation.
And the devices that we need the dollar coin for the most (vending machines, parking meters, washers & dryers) need to be able to accept them.
You assume that having a pocket full of Sackies is the only real alternative to $1 bills.
If Sackie and $2 bill production went up, and $1 bill dropped from circulation, I doubt you would end up with only a bunch of Sackies to lug around. You would more likely have many $2 bills and maybe a few Sackies.
OK, get rid of the $1 bills. I walk into the convenience store on campus, and I buy… a single Starbucks Frapachino (or however the heck you spell it) and that puts me back roughly a $1.50. I pay with the smallest bill I have (because I’m in a hurry to get to my biology class and flirt with the cute girl who sits next to me, after all) and that bill is… a $5 bill. (I’m assuming that if you thought the $1 bill is worthless, you don’t think highly of the $2 bill either) So I get $3.50 in change… all in loose change. Now I’m running accross campus to get to class, sounding like Clint Eastwood in a Sergio Leone film as I desperately try to hold my pants up against the massive weight of metal that I have loaded them up with.
How is this better than $1 bills?
And, to be perfectly honest, the best reason to keep the $1 bills is probably also the best reason not to change them to the new style like we did all the denominations of $5 and higher… Tradition. The bills have looked like that for so long, mostly everybody just likes it that way.
What’s more interesting is the fact that here, the government is not perceived to have the right to make a unilateral decision and take action. Instead, the paper-dollar-lovers seem to believe that their constitutional rights would be abrogated if the dollar bill were discontinued, and most politicians won’t touch the issue. I’m sure when England discontinued the pound note there were people who complained, but their complaints were disregarded, and rightly so. In some things I think even a democratically elected government should have the power to dictate. After all, we elect the government but we also agree to be governed by it.
I’m feeling a bit snarky about this whole thing, what with mounting inflation, and the dollar being worth ever less in foreign exchange, and yet people STILL won’t give up the dollar bill. In the future, when the dollar’s worth a a quarter in today’s money, we’ll still have dollar bills–and quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, just as we do now. I’ve wanted currency reform for nearly 30 years, but don’t think I’ll live to see it.
You wouldn’t have that much metal in your pocket…just three dollar coins and a couple of quarters or so. Then you’d invite that cute girl to join you in frappucino after class, and to pay, you’d use up your three dollar coins and a bit more, and then you wouldn’t have all that change anymore. Here’s the crux of the matter: Coins are almost worthless, in that 98% of our routine small purchases require paper money. You’d need a small sack of coins to buy, say, lunch at work or a round of beers. They’re just worth too little to be of much practical use. This means that we have to reach for bills to purchase just about everything. We receive coins in change, but because they’re worth so little we tend not to use them, but rather just let them pile up. Every purchase means another bill broken and another clump cupro-nickel added to the growing pile. But if we had dollar coins, there’d be a number of things one could buy, conveniently, with just coins. This would mean that the other change in one’s pocket would tend to get used rather than pile up.
I don’t think size would be a huge problem. Canadian loonies and toonies are distinctly different from our other coins, but I don’t find them unwieldy.
If the dollar coin was to replace the dollar bill, the coins would be accepted in vending machines, parking meters, etc. in short order. IIRC, it was less than a year before manufacturers started accepting our $1 coins (and later, our $2 coins) in most devices.
$1 and $2 coins are the only cash I usually have on me. Debit is accepted almost everywhere in Canada (not vending machines - yet). If you do use cash for most things, however, there is an unexpected benefit to having all those coins. I know when my purse starts to get heavy, I taken most of the coins out and put them aside. When your coins are most $1 and $2, they add up quickly and it’s a nice little cache of “found money”.
That doesn’t mean it has to be larger than the other coins. A different choice of metals will give it a unique weight, and it can be thicker than the others (both the case with the British pound).
One problem they’d have to overcome is finding an attractive alloy that wouldn’t tarnish. One problem with the Sackie is that it doesn’t age well and tarnishes to a dull brassy greenish hue. If they could come up with something that approached the appearance of gold and would not tarnish, then they could make dollar coins about the size of nickels–small and thick–but of a bright gold color that would be impossible to confuse.
Given that the Mint is the same outfit that came up with cupro-nickel/copper sandwich coins–the ugliest coin composition in the post-silver world–I’m not too hopeful.
The golden-coloured loonies (um, Canadian dollar coin, that is) seem to be wearing just fine. Maybe if you asked really nicely we’d tell you what they’re made of.
Hey, if you guys get dollar and two-dollar coins like Canadians have, you too can give them silly nicknames (like loonie and twonie)!
As for buying your $1.50 cuppa joe, you just use a twonie for that, and get two quarters in change. Or, you use two loonies and get two quarters in change. I never tend to have much change on me, because I’m always using it up as I go. Or you can go with Cyros’ method and just dump the change into a “vacation fund” or something each night. The real problem here is the paradigm shift that would be required, and people just don’t like thinking about things or changing how they think about things.
we lost the $1 and $2 notes ages ago. No one went into meltdown.
It can have it’s up moments, you can be telling yourself how poor you are and then voila…you have $10 right there jingling in your pocket.
Our govt banished the 1 and 2 cent coins a quite while ago (my money box had to be cashed in quickly) we are about to lose the 5 cent coin, it ain’t a big deal.
). And that is, as far as I know, typical for ‘modern’ currency setups - taking the Euro as the obvious leading example.
what’s the difference?