The Sakagawea (Golden Dollar) coins do circulate a lot, but because it is so new and because it was so heavily advertised most people collect them. Not a problem for the government because any money taken out of circulation is profit to them, but it causes us major problems at the bank. When the coins first came out we were not allowed to order enough from the Federal Reserve to cover demand and yet the government kept advertising more and more, increasing demand when there already was insufficient supply. Everyone would yell at the bank claiming it’s OUR fault that we couldn’t give them the new coins (the same is true of the state quarter program, don’t get me started on THAT!). There are several (mostly larger national) companies that specifically promote the use of the new dollar coin. The United States Postal Service also goes ga-ga over them (they were one of the biggest proponents of the dollar coin concept). The vending companies also prefer them because the machines handle coins easier than bills. The $2 bill is not currently in production. There was such an over-abundance of the 1970’s vintage bills that they have (IIRC) only run a new batch once in the late 1990’s to fill in the inventory.
I still say that the penny has a use for several years to come. Eventually, however, inflation will bring all prices up to the point that 1 cent will be meaningless. Cash register makers should start designing their machines to have an option to automatically round out purchases to the nearest 5 cents to prepare for the day when it becomes necessary.
Why do you bother to have different names for the coins anyway?
in australia:
5 cent piece is called: “5 cents”
10 cent piece is called: “10 cents”
20 cent piece is called: “20 cents”
50 cent piece is called: “50 cents”
etc…
also, all our notes are the same size, just different colours. and we migrated to plastic notes a long time ago which saves huge amounts on replacing old notes.
Here is my “two cents.” I like and hate pennies. I like pennies so I can get an even amount of money back. I hate them because if I don’t have any pennies in my pocket, I will end up getting some mixed change (“silver coins” and pennies) back anyway. It’s a strange paradox.
Another strange thing I like about pennies is the mixed change I hate to receive from the purchase can help me later. The pennies there can help make even change when you make a purchase later. But, sometimes I still don’t grab enough pennies or even any spare change to get the even money I want back when I make a purchase and the pennies end up in piles everywhere. It is very annoying.
It’s another strange paradox.
In short, I am on the fence. Pennies are a paradox. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not.
I know this was meant as a joke, but please, people, don’t even think of using a penny in the fusebox… Firefighters are overworked enough as it is. The fuse blows so the rest of the wiring in the house doesn’t, and if the wiring blows, it’s likely to burn down the place.
If your fuses are continually blowing, then you need to either decrease the load on that circuit, or get the whole circuit re-wired to handle the load.
I’m hoping that they won’t replace the dollar bill with a coin. Coins are much heavier and harder to store. I never carry any coins with me because I have nowhere to put them. My wallet does not have a change compartment. They also make noise when you walk.
The U.S. Mint or The Bureau of Engraving and Printing said that one reason that they introduced the coin was to reduce costs. Coins cost more money to make, but they last much longer. Blahedo was correct about people keeping the coins as a curiosity. They hope that people will eventually use them. If they are truly better, I believe that people will prefer to use them instead of bills. Therefore, one-dollar bills will not need to be forcibly withdrawn from circulation.
Some believe that we won’t need currency in the future, and that all transactions will be done electronically. I all ready do this for most of my purchases. I get all of my utilities paid automatically and use my atm card whenever possible. They will need to make the process much faster, however, to make it work for all transactions. I always hate to see someone whip out their atm card at Carl’s Jr.
This is all old-hat to Australia. The one-cent and two-cent coins were discontinued about a decade ago. No missed them for a second.
The smallest Australian coin is now the 5c. Prices, however, still include cents. Petrol is 78.9 cents a litre, eg. when you go to the cashier the fill comes to $45.89. This is automatically rounded (up or down) to $45.90 for cash payments. If you’re paying by EFTPOS or credit card you pay exact cents.
Once again the US trails the rest of the civilised world. Reminds me of the inane desperation with the US clings to Imperial measurements (on the retail level). Why didn’t these go overboard with that shipment of tea?
How about the American system? The Imperial system is a completely different set of units, many of which have the same names as American units. For instance, I believe that an imperial gallon is larger than an American gallon.
The US measure of gallons and “capacity” is usually referred to as “U.S. liquid measure” in most charts. Just as the British is referred to as “British imperial liquid and dry measure.”
bmoney said
You might add that an Australian one-cent coin is worth about US 1/2 cent. WE quit selling things priced in half-cents about 150 years ago. Giving up something worth less than a cent isn’t hard.
Note: the above is a facetious reply. The US cent coin is, of course, in need of being dispatched to oblivion.
(edited to fix formatting)
[Edited by Arnold Winkelried on 07-17-2001 at 12:45 AM]
I don’t think so. I’m only 36, and I remember when US 1st class postage was 8 cents. It’s since gone to 10, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, and now 34 cents. Never in all that time have I ever seen or heard of a contemporary 20-cent coin.
Before 1959, none of the US or Imperial measurements were exactly the same. In 1959, a compromise inch was reached, and the US avoirdupois pound was slightly reduced to match the Imperial avoirdupois pound. (I’m not sure how US and Imperial Troy pounds related.) In weights greater than the pound, however, there is still a difference:
US Pounds Imperial
-- 14 1 stone
1 hundredweight 100
112 1 hundredweight
1 ton 2000
2240 1 ton
Volume measurements are completely different. The US system has two different volume measurements, “liquid” and “dry”. (The names are traditional, and not always entirely accurate; ice cream, for example, is measured in “liquid” pints and quarts.) Neither one corresponds to the Imperial units.
A US liquid pint is 473.179 cm[sup]3[/sup].
A US dry pint is 550.61 cm[sup]3[/sup].
An Imperial pint is 568.26 cm[sup]3[/sup].
As previously pointed out, because we Aussies no longer have one and two cent coins, prices ending in “.01" and ".02” are rounded down to “.00". But my pet hate is sad bastards with no life who insist on filling their car to ".02” worth of fuel. Well guys, you’ve reallly screwed those multinational petroleum comapnies! Grrr.
