After much fanfare earlier this year, I have yet to come across a new golden dollar coin. Is anyone circulating these coins? My assumption would be that people are hoarding them, thinking they will be collector’s items some day. (A foolish thought in my opinion.)
Should I be so inclined, I suppose I can just go to my neighborhood bank and get a roll of these coins and start using them?
(Incidentally, about a year ago I got the urge to trade in forty dollars in for Two-Dollar bills, and had endless joy in circulating them, but not surprisingly, they still don’t show up in everyday transactions.)
I’ve gotten one, that was about 7 months ago, that’s the only one I’ve ever gotten or really seen. I did keep that one though just to have one. but I couldn’t tell you what happened to them though, but I suppose people just don’t like them, I know I don’t.
There was an article about it in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago. Part of the problem was that banks, thinking demand for the new coins would be as low as for the Susan B. Anthony dollars, ordered very few of them. The government then began shopping around for some other way to get the coins into circulation, and made a deal with Wal-Mart. When it turned out the coins were in high demand, the banks cried foul and begged for more.
The only 3 Sacagawea coins I have gotten were in change from Wal-Mart in the first few weeks of circulation. I still see the coins in the cash register drawers at Wal-Mart, but I have not been given any for several months. Probably WM would give you coins in change if you asked for them. Banks, most of which now have plenty of the coins, will exchange them at face value, but some coin dealers charge $1.20 to $2 or more.
I htink you’re right in that folks are hoarding them. I got a roll from the bank (admittedly I was looking for a mule) and I really like them and haven’t spent any.
I get sackies* all the time. Whenever I need stamps I go to the stamp machine in the company cafeteria and get them as change. I also occasionally buy one stamp with a $20 note so that I can get 19 sackies at once. I make it a point to spend them freely, since I think they’re neat and the only way to get them into circulation is to… well, circulate them!
This is exactly my experience. When I asked my bank to give me a few dollar coins for a check I was cashing, they told me to ask Wal-Mart. So, sure enough, next time I found myself at WM, I asked for my change in “Sackies” (although I may have used the phrase “one of dem fancy golden dollar coins”–when in Rome, you know) and thus received the first and only such coins I have yet seen.
Our change machine at work (which changes 1’s and 5’s, is supposed to even change 10’s and 20’s but hasn’t for weeks) used to give out nothing but quarters. Now for a 5 I get $1 in quarters and 4 “sackies”. I’ve been known to get $30 in 5’s just to get the sackies – I circulate them, too.
If the government wants people to use the new dollar coins, why on earth are dollar bills still being printed and circulated? It seems like a little friendly coercion is in order…
I’m talking out of my ass here, but I think that part of the problem with this is that the dollar coins and dollar bills are issued by separate entities. Dollar coins are issued by the federal government (as per the constitution, IIRC), whereas Dollar bills (“Federal Reserve Notes”) are issued by a quasi-private entity, the Federal Reserve Bank.
um, the banks are out of them? over the summer, back home, every week when i’d cash my pay check, i’d get a roll (20 dollars worth, or maybe 25…i forget), and use it as tip money, or whatever. the bank had them each and every time. and no one looked at me weird when i spent it.
now working as a cashier, i see them maybe once or twice a week. i really wish they’d catch on.
i encourage each of you to get a roll a week or paycheck or month and just use them as tip, or when you buy coffee, or a newspaper. why not? unless you like touching ass-pennies or dirty bills, that is…if you get a roll of the dollar coins, at least you know where they’ve been…
Americans simply don’t like dollar coins. This was proven in the late 70s with the Susan B. Anthony coins (which admittedly had a terrible design going against them too). I know that every non-American will now respond and tell me how wonderful it is to have a coin rather than a bill for one’s base (single) currency, but Americans are just stubborn. Plus, if dollar bills stop being circulated, how will people tip strippers? Tipping with coins isn’t quite the same, and $5 is too steep.
. So, the Canadians simply love dollar coins? And do the English love the one pound coin?
No one likes change(so to speak). The governments in many countries around the world simply looked at it from a dispassionate viewpoint, studied the economy of savings, and issued coins to replace their banknotes in the value-range of (US)$ 0.75-2.50.
Ultimately, this will be the fate of the US $1 banknote.
The two-dollar bill is also alive and well at Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, who is pictured on the $2 bill. The ticket vendors will often give you your change in $2 bills and/or nickels.
Like Johnny L.A., I buy golden dollars at the bank or Post Office and circulate them. I feel like I’m the only person in America doing this. Store clerks (or people behind me in line) typically comment on it or ask if they can trade me a dollar bill for the coin.
I still have never seen a dollar coin. I keep waiting, but all I keep receiving are dollar bills. I must have twelve of the suckers in my pocket. I wish someone would pass a few my way so I could put them in my change jar. It would be a much more efficient way of saving.
I work in a bookstore, and see them every once in a while. Maybe once a week or so.
Speaking of new coins, I saw the Virgina quarter for the first time today. It features a ship with lots of rigging. Pretty cool, I approve. The nicest since the Connecticut tree quarter, IMHO. (Worst is the Georgia butt quarter.)
Tipping with coins isn’t quite the same, and $5 is too steep.