Get rid of the dollar bill (and the penny too, why not) and yes, the dollar coin will take off.
A dollar’s worth of pure gold made into a coin the thickness of a dime would be about 1 millimeter in diameter. About the same diameter as the thickness. This would be rather difficult to handle, to say the least.
–Mark
I think you’ve misunderstood the premise here … the coin dealer will be selling the coin for $1 … therefore, he will be buying the coin for 50¢ … the mark up is for overhead and margins.
I have a German postage stamp right here with a face value of five “billion” Deutschmarks from the early 1930’s … it’s worth today is about 35¢ retail … it’s fairly common and there’s not much demand for copies. Also, it can’t be used as postage in German today.
But the dollar coins are worth their face value. Banks will give them to you at face, and you can spend them at face.
That’s Germany, and as you said “it can’t be used as postage in German today.”
No US coin dealer will offer less than face for a US coin. Of course, many times for something common, he wont offer to buy it at all.
But at US State Quarters [dot] com, they’re worth $1.99 …
No, they’re priced $1.99. They’re worth $1.
That may be true for you, but to someone who needs that specific coin to complete their collection, then it’s worth $1.99. Remember, in a retail environment, there’s a mark-up to put a specific coin on the shelf. If the dealer has to buy the coin from the bank for $1, then to make it available in his shop he has to charge $2 … the value is added through the dealers activities.
The worth of dirt is almost nothing, but a building lot nominally is priced at $100,000.
How does this have anything to do with a dealer BUYING a dollar coin that’s legal tender for less than face value. And frankly if he could convince someone to sell on those terms id say he was unethically taking advantage of a mentally challenged person.
A number of people seem to understand correctly that the reason why several one dollar coins have been tried, is to lower the cost of manufacturing cash for us to use.
The reason why no dollar coin is ever again likely to be found desirable, is because of inflation, really. Way back when, a dollar could buy a LOT. If you ended up with as many as four of them in your pocket (before exchanging them for a five dollar bill), it was a very unusual day.
Now, it’s very common to go about your day, and if you haven’t converted completely to credit cards or electronic payments of other kinds, you’ll likely end every day with a wad of dollar bills to carry around, due to getting change for things. The problem with dollar coins isn’t the challenge of recognizing them, or even of getting coin operating machines to convert to using them.
The problem is to make it tolerable to have a pocket full of them.
I grew up with dollar coins, and I loved the idea of them. But I also found out after the dollar coins were issued once more, that they are just a pain to deal with, just like all pocket loads of change are.
Over here many people collect £2 coins. Some of the less common ones will fetch as much as £25. The ones with errors on fetch four times that.
I thought the reduced buying power of a dollar is exactly why it should become a coin. It circulates frequently and is more durable than a paper bill, and often, things sold in vending machines cost $1 or more.
The real reason for the lack of adoption is easy. People are used to dollar bills. When the U.K. coinified the pound (and then the 2 pound coin), or Canada their dollar, it only “won” by retiring the paper versions.
I think we should have dollar and 2 coins… or even more interesting, the “ten bit” coin ($2.50)
And we should get rid of the penny and the nickle. The dime should probably also go. The last time the US retired a coin it was the 1/2 cent coin which at the time had the buying power of around 10 cents today.
Canada also has a $2 coin.
Honestly, I find the “lobbying” explanation the most plausible. IIRC there is only one company which makes the paper used in US banknotes, and the $1 bill is the one with the shortest life (thus highest need for replacement.) deprecating the dollar bill would put a serious dent in Crane and Co.'s bottom line, and I’m sure they have at least one congresscritter who will go to bat for them.
Yes, the program has ended. Thus they will issue no more Presidential $1 coins. Thus Carter, the Bushes, & Obama coins won’t be issued at all (unless Congress passes another bill ordering it).
There is one paper mill which makes the special paper used to print dollar bills. It’s located in Massachusetts, and provides jobs. So for many years, MA Sen. Ted Kennedy was a big opponent of eliminating the dollar bill (and thereby eliminating those jobs in his state). With him gone, it’s more likely that this will eventually pass.
The US Mints/Bureau of Engraving would be glad to take over decisions on this. But Congress won’t allow that. After all, control of the coinage has a major effect on the taxpayers – it was a major issue in several Presidential elections (see W J Bryant and the “Cross of Gold” speech).
Ten bits would be $1.25. A quarter is “two bits” because the new US dollars were analogized to the Spanish “pieces of eight” (reales), silver coins which were sometimes literally cut into halves, quarters, eighths.
If we were to have a $2.50 coin again, we should call it a “quarter eagle.” Ten dollars to the eagle.
Quite right. Dollar coins are also ideal for parking meters.
If you’re routinely accumulating wads of one-dollar paper, you’re doing something wrong. Paying for everything with $20s and just stuffing the change in your pocket?
Likewise, the zinc lobby opposes getting rid of the penny.
Many other denominations have been retired since the last 1/2 cent coin (1857), e.g. 2 cent, 3 cent, 20 cent, $2.50, $3, $4, etc.
Small change is by now basically a nuisance, round up to the nearest $.10 and start issuing $5, $10 and $20 coins.