The US dollar coins and the Canadian dollar coins are the same size (as are the other coins in circulation, except for the Canadian twonie, which has no corresponding US coin). The poor Canucks have no problem distinguishing their quarters from their loonies: are US Americans significantly dumber than them?
I couldn’t imagine wanting to carry manky old dollar bills around. What a pain.
I found a cite estimating $600 M annually. So, close to $2 per person. Yeah, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does add up in the long run.
We’re considering ditching the penny here now. I hope the next majority government just does it. The estimated savings in Canada from doing that is $130 M annually, or about four bucks per person.
Better that than constantly repairing/replacing pockets worn out by heavy, noisy coins.
Ah, yes. My 37 pounds of coins in my pocket daily has also turned me into Quasimodo. Not to mention the extra gas consumption and tread wear on my cars. :rolleyes:
After living in Europe for 3.5 years, I came back to the US and I hate dollar bills. Give me a $1 and a $2 coin. I really liked how the Euro currency was handled.
That is why we have coin pouches.
I purchased some stamps at a kiosk, and got the damn dollar coins in change. Fifteen of them are damn heavy, awkward, and make a lot of noise when carried.
Down with coins! Back with bills!
Or, you know, I’d rather be able to use my debit card everywhere, and not have to deal with cash nor coins.
Pouches? What are you , a marsupial?
I just reached into my pocket. I have:
One loonie.
Five dimes.
One nickel.
Three pennies.
And one U.S. dime.
Or a saver of laundry change. 
If there were no dollar coins, wouldn’t the kiosk give you 15 dollars worth of quarters instead?
Well let me think about that. $12 in bills fit nicely in my wallet.
When was the last time you had $3 worth of quarters in your pocket? You’d sound like a Bob Dylan song (Mr. Tambourine Man).
The dollar coin makes sense from a circulation cost point of view but nobody wants to use them. They have all the appeal of Yap Island money.
From what I read, nobody wanted them in Canada either. The changeover was vastly unpopular when it was announced, but the government just said: “Get used to it.”
Everybody did get used to it and now the gold coins, initially dubbed “loonies” derisively because eveyrone hated the idea, are quite a bit more iconic these days. They have been in curculations now for 21 years and no one seems to miss the paper bills.
(I wasn’t living in Canada as an adult during the paper bills, so I only know the loonies and twonies.)
One $10, or two $5 bills would fit nicely in my wallet. And two loonies, or one twonie for that matter, are not very difficult to manage in a pocket. Why the hell would I carry 12 loonies?
I think the trouble is that the coins in common circulation in the US are worth relatively little – even the quarter – so that people leave them in their pockets as change, then put them into coin jars, then take their coin jars somewhere to be converted into “real” money, i.e., bills. If the US had $1 and $5 coins, then coins would have real vale, and would be spent instead of just accumulating. A $5 coin would be the most valuable circulating coin in the world, but it would not be worth that much more that the Japanese 500 yen, the Swiss 5 franc and the British 2 pound coins.
Self-checkout kiosks at groceries and change machines at laundries around here simply dispense dollar bills for change, and changer/vending companies offer cash disenser mechanisms and full bill changers. It wouldn’t be difficult for most kiosks to be fitted with a bill mechanism.
My boss is a huge fan of Thomas Jefferson who he calls our last good president. He got like $200 worth of them when they came out. He’ll give one to one of his employees if we do something good. (That makes it sound like he treats us like children which isn’t true. It’s more like a running joke.) I’ve gotten three from him so far and they’re the only ones I’ve ever seen. I spent them at the local farmer’s market.
I’ve never seen one, and unless it’s laying on the ground as windfall I don’t want them.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Canada lately, and have quite gotten used to receiving Loonies and Toonies as change. I’d be OK with it here - but you will have to quit issuing dollar bills or it will never take off.
I’d also like the dollar coins to look better. The Sackies suck, compared to the Loonie.
The dollar coin in the US won’t happen until they change the size and weight. The new President coins are the exact same size and weight as the Sacajawea…which was the exact same size and weight as the Susan B. Anthony…which was too damn close in size and weight as the quarter! The US should just tell the coin-op industry (the people who have lobbied to prevent any changes to the dollar coin’s size and weight) to suck it, and create a dollar coin much like the British Pound coin. And then get rid of the dollar bill.