[QUOTE=Debaser]
Yes, I would have been pissed if I had to break a ten just for six cents of change.
Yes. I regularly drop amounts like $.36 into the “take a penny, leave a penny” jar. If something costs $9.94 at a drive through, I would hand them a $10 and drive up to the next window. It’s not worth waiting for six cents.
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To you, no, and that is fine. For them, a cashier is not in a position to say; in many companies a cash drawer out of balance by even as little as pennies is grounds for discipline.
Yeah, I’d be happy if we dumped pennies, too. But until they do, fork them over and don’t complain to anyone but your Congressman.
Someone brought up a good point - what are the strippers going to do without $1 bills? Someone must bring this up in a session of Congress someday before it’s too late.
I’m resurrecting this thread to point out that the U.S. Mint has updated its website with actual images of the coins. The portraits aren’t really that bad-looking (although John Adams looks like he’s making a kissy-face). George Washington goes into circulation January 15.
[QUOTE=jshore]
The Susan B. Anthony dollar failed for good reason…i.e., it was too close in size and look to a quarter, which made it very easy to mistake for one. However, I think that the Sacagawea failed mainly because the mint just didn’t stick with it long enough…And, in fact what that article says about it tends to support this point:
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I loved the coins but my bank NEVER had them in stock. Of course no one used then so they coined less. Now they’re harder to find so less people use them. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
[QUOTE=Spoons]
They’re not, although they are about the size of a washing machine.
The post at which my remarks about coin counting/rolling machines was directed, however, implied that the reason that dollar coins were not popular was because banks didn’t want them due to the time and effort (“bother,” I think, was the term used) required to count and roll them. I was just pointing out that banks (not consumers) would likely use machines for this task. Perhaps I should have added, “because of the volume of coin involved.”
I don’t think anybody would expect you to have these machines at home. Not unless you have, say, $200,000 in quarters that must be rolled by noon, when the Brink’s truck is coming to get them.
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My wife owns a store and change is a real pain. Our bank will not count them in real time; they ask you how much you have, count it at the central bank, then make adjustments later. Often when we get rolls of change from the bank they are off a coin or two (in either direction). We just keep track and the bank reimburses us. A reliable coin counter for the store is prohibitively expensive, so we count by had ever night. We have more pennies than any other coin, even though we are in a state without sales tax. Getting rid of pennies would be really nice.
Apropos of nothing, there are really only two US Presidents that really deserve to be on the money, as in it’s an oversight to leave them off: Geo. Washington & James Madison. The rest of them are optional (yes, even Jefferson, & I love Jefferson). I’m not sure Madison, architect of the Constitution, would care that he’s been ignored, but it’s kind of silly that he has, really.
As for putting the likes of Millard Fillmore & Gerald R. Ford on the money (Congrats, Gerry! You died in time to get in on this!), :rolleyes: whatever. It’s just an attempt to render officeholders icons. We should, rather, put artists on the money: Duke Ellington, Satchmo, maybe Samuel Clemens.
[QUOTE=mobo85]
I’m resurrecting this thread to point out that the U.S. Mint has updated its website with actual images of the coins. The portraits aren’t really that bad-looking (although John Adams looks like he’s making a kissy-face). George Washington goes into circulation January 15.
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Crap those are ugly coins!
Is it just me or do Adams and Madison look like they were drawn by Edward Gorey?
[QUOTE=ralph124c]
Like those nifty (pre-Euro) seven-sided British coins?
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We still use pounds sterling in the UK, not Euros. We have two non-round coins, too, the fifty pence and the twenty pence.
Most vending machines I’ve come across (except those in post offices) do NOT take dollar coins of any kind. This is four places of employment with at least two machines each place.
They might in bigger cities than where I came up, but even the four I have at work here in Portland don’t take the dollar coins.
People actually throw pennies and other coins in the garbage? That is seriously moronic behavior. It only took me a few months of throwing my pocket change in a jar to get close to $80 and have dinner for “free”. When I was a kid, my whole family threw their change in a jar and we ended up with something like $800 at the end of the year.
[QUOTE=FilmGeek]
Most vending machines I’ve come across (except those in post offices) do NOT take dollar coins of any kind. This is four places of employment with at least two machines each place.
They might in bigger cities than where I came up, but even the four I have at work here in Portland don’t take the dollar coins.
People actually throw pennies and other coins in the garbage? That is seriously moronic behavior. It only took me a few months of throwing my pocket change in a jar to get close to $80 and have dinner for “free”. When I was a kid, my whole family threw their change in a jar and we ended up with something like $800 at the end of the year.
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Most of which came from quarters, I am willing to bet. I, too, have a change jar. I recently counted it: it had 250 pennies in it. Yeah, that’s $2.50. Woohoo. :rolleyes:
I have been keeping my eye out lately here in Toledo area. There is not one single vending machine I’ve seen in the last six months that did not accept dollar coins. Bowling alleys, college campus, malls, bars, you name it. Even machines that accept dollar bills accept dollar coins.
[QUOTE=DSYoungEsq]
Most of which came from quarters, I am willing to bet. I, too, have a change jar. I recently counted it: it had 250 pennies in it. Yeah, that’s $2.50. Woohoo. :rolleyes:
I have been keeping my eye out lately here in Toledo area. There is not one single vending machine I’ve seen in the last six months that did not accept dollar coins. Bowling alleys, college campus, malls, bars, you name it. Even machines that accept dollar bills accept dollar coins.
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Nope, very few quarters. We go to the batting cages quite often and raid the change jar for quarters. Mostly dimes and nickels, actually.
I don’t think dollar coins will really catch on unless the Treasury stops printing dollar bills. They don’t have to “demonetarize” or withdraw them, just stop printing any more. After a few years, all the paper dollar bills will have worn out and the dollar coins will rule. The dollar coins should also be thicker than quarters, like the British five-pound coin, so that you can tell the difference in your pocket.
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
Which is why the Mint should have used my suggestion and issued a series of dollar coins commemorating Playboy’s Playmates of the Year.
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Bad idea, since the obverse of those coins would be quickly worn down, mostly by guys who like to keep their hands in their pockets. . . .
Actually, the Mint tried nudity once. There was a Liberty-head coin (I think it was a dollar, and it was about 1920, but don’t hold me to either) where sweet Lady Liberty was topless and nippin’. It didn’t last long - complaints from the prigs. They kept the basic design but covered her bosom.
I don’t know what the deal is with the Mint and dollar coins. Hell, last I heard they are still printing two-dollar bills! Be honest - when was the last time you came across a $2 bill in circulation??
[QUOTE=BJMoose]
Actually, the Mint tried nudity once. There was a Liberty-head coin (I think it was a dollar, and it was about 1920, but don’t hold me to either) where sweet Lady Liberty was topless and nippin’. It didn’t last long - complaints from the prigs. They kept the basic design but covered her bosom.
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