I got a George Washington dollar coin in change from a machine today.
I’ve never seen or even heard of a Washington dollar coin. When did this come out?
Thanks! I take it has not resulted in much uptake to replace $1 bills?
That has some value as a collector’s item … take it a coin shop and see if you can get 75¢ for it.
I know that sound snarky, but it is true … it’s the intent of the Mint that folks keep these in fancy collections … but the truth is, as investment value, they’re only worth the metal’s scrap value.
I’m still not sure how they’re planning on ending the program. I would hope that they’re not planning on putting anyone still living on a coin, but what about dead presidents after the first living president? Like, if it were ending right now, they couldn’t put Carter on, but would they end with Ford, or do Reagan too? And when Carter does eventually die, do they just give him one then?
No, sadly the program was extremely unsuccessful – only collectors wanted the coins, and very few ended up in circulation. Originally they were given to banks as ordinary currency, but eventually they stopped that program and the only way to get the most recent issues has been to order them directly from the mint.
The original plan was that the program would end once it reached the first living president, which at the time (and still today) was Carter. However the outcry from people who really wanted a Reagan coin was great enough that they went ahead and issued it this year. My understanding is that the program is now completed, although they might issue additional coins as other presidents die.
I started collecting this program at the very beginning, and have at least five of every president. Originally I got $25 rolls at the bank, but I ended up in an autodelivery program with the mint, which is how I was pleasantly surprised to receive the Reagan dollars. The coins I don’t save from my rolls I use in ordinary transactions (I use an all cash budget except online, so I had plenty of opportunity). I also gave out a lot of gold dollars to homeless people asking for spare change.
I didn’t collect as an investment, I did it because I like coins and presidential history. That’s why my collection is ordinary circulating coins and not special proofs.
I believe the primary user of $1 coins is the vending machine industry. The vending machines where I work will accept and dispense Sacagawea dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars, and Presidential dollars. However, the half dollar gets no love, even though a soda at work costs $1.50, and even though the machine has a coin slot large enough to accept a half dollar, they just slide right down to the reject tray.
That can’t possibly be true, technically the coin is legal tender and is thus always worth face value apart from any special collector value.
Huh? Yet another dollar coin failed to attract the attention of the American public? The next one will; I’m sure of it!
About five years ago, I got a bunch of dollar coins every time I went to the bank, and did my best to keep them circulating. I gave up after a few months.
There’s no way American will adopt the dollar coin until they stop printing the paper ones – like every other country does. I am really curious why the US doesn’t do that. The obvious answer is that no politician wants to risk losing the next election by being the guy who forced dollar coins down America’s throat. But is it a politician’s decision at all? Can’t this decision be made by the same guys who decide other design questions about the money?
Except for the William Henry Harrison coin, which will only be issued for 32 days, and the Grover Cleveland coin, which will be issued twice, in non-consecutive order.
And of course, one of the historical problems with dollar coins has been them getting easily mixed up with quarters. Whose bright idea was it to fix this by pressing a dollar with Washington’s face on it?
IMO, the biggest problem with the dollar coins is their size. Suzies were called ‘Carter’s quarters’ because they were about the size of quarters. Sackies were the same size. AIUI, the reason for the size was so that they would work in vending machines. Unfortunately, their size resulted in confusion. If dollar coins were the size of, say, dollar coins, I think they would be more successful. Only, they wouldn’t work in vending machines. (Yes, and we’d really need to get rid of paper dollars; but I think a dollar-sized coin would be successful even without that.)
Makes no difference. Sackies were, too. I think people would respond better if they could feel how big the coin is.
No. We only get $1 bills and coins in change, and retailers (except vending machine owners) prefer $1 bills as they’re lighter, so they don’t order $1 coins.
No, people would whine that they were huge and unwieldy and impossible to use (not without some cause IMO). They do that with 50 cent pieces that are half the weight.
The current size is just fine. If you don’t confuse quarters and nickels or dimes and pennies, you have even less excuse to confuse quarters and dollar coins. The current dollar coins are actually a good bit larger than quarters, and thicker and heavier and plain-edged and a different color.
The opinions of individual people don’t matter. They’ll take whatever the cashier sticks in their hand. A larger dollar coin would just magnify the negative qualities that lead retailers to avoid the coins. They’re even larger and heavier, so it becomes even more of a chore to order them and distribute them.
(If it was up to me, I’d go non-circular rather than huge. Something like Canada’s would be better than what we have now (it’s already pretty close, just make it slightly 11-sided), but what we have now is just fine if we decide to make that the only choice.)
There’s over 1.3 billion minted, unwanted dollar coins waiting in storage at the Federal Reserve in case the US ever decides to get rid of the dollar bill.
Of course!
I like using dollar coins. I always keep some in my watch pocket where I can get to them easily without having to dig out my wallet. When my supply runs low, I buy another $1000 box from my bank. I do wish they weren’t so similar in shape to quarters. The gold ones are easily distinguished so I don’t hesitate handing them to a cashier; the silver ones I use mostly in vending machines.