I would like to get everyone’s take on the new dollar coins the mint is trying to pop on us.
Personally, coins annoy me. Right now I just go home and stick all coins in a jar until I have enough to get BILLS again, so that they can fit into my wallet and not jingle-jangle in my pocket. I know that if they ever abolish the dollar bill I’ll just walk around with 5’s and have a jar of dollar coins in my room.
So do you like the idea of the dollar coins? Do you like the idea of walking down the street, carrying 10 dollars in coins and sounding like a pirate fresh from a raid (arrr).
Get used to the dollar coin. Someday there will be no new bills. Personally I like it. Have you ever tried to put a bill in a vending machine? I have had to try up to 7 to get 1 to get accepted. When you REALLY want a soda, do you always have 7 bills?
Of course, the new coin is a ripoff of the loonie, but what the hell…
I like the sackie. I’m looking forward to seeing them in general circulation.
Actually, there have been $1 (US) coins for a long time. The sackie is just the latest version. Before the sackie there was the suzie, then there was the “silver” dollar, then there was the silver dollar that actually was made of silver…
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
I kinda like it myself if only because it was so damn hard to get one! I live in Flint, Michigan and couldn’t even FIND one until I drove to St. Louis the other day! Sheesh.
I feel your pain, xploder. The U.S. Mint and the Federal Reserve are doing a lousy job getting them into circulation. It’s easier to find a Susan B. Anthony dollar than a Sacajewia dollar.
Remember the big stink made about how Wal-Mart got special government privilege by being the only non-banking entity to get Sacajewia dollars? Well, as it turns out, this was only a one-month-long special promotional deal. At the end of February, Wal-Mart had to turn all of its unused Sacajewia dollars back in to the Federal Reserve!
Actually, the Susan B. Anthony dollar was an even bigger rip-off of the Loonie. Take a look at the rim around the Susan B. Anthony dollar – you’ll see a clear picture of an 11-sided polygon stamped into the metal. This is modelled after the same 11-sided polygon used by the Loonie.
In fact, originally, the Susan B. Anthony dollar was going to be shaped like an 11-sided polygon, just like the Loonie is. However, by the time the legislation made it through congress, vending machine manufacturers had convinced them to make the coins round and to reduce the 11-sided polygon shape to a picture of an 11-sided polygon. Grumble grumble lousy stinkin’ lobbyists.
well, as I mentioned at MPSIMS, I got my own “sackie” out of a vending machine by inserting a dollar bill and then pushing the coin return button. (I guess the machines cannot return a dollar bill after it has accepted it.)
I like dollar coins. They’re easier to spend in vending machines and on buses and trains.
I’ve tried, but I can’t get used to dollar coins. I always exchange it for a bill if I get one. Then again, I’m not one that gets used to change easily.
(I re-read it and realized it sounded like a bad pun.) (change…get it?) :rolleyes:
MaryAnn
I’m into superstition, black cats, and voodoo dolls (<—written in case Ricky reads this board)
Ah! Without that clarifying second paragraph, Maryann, I honestly would’ve thought you meant “change” as in “loose change”. No, really.
Personally, I like the idea of a dollar coin because it’ll reduce the government’s cost of making cash in the long run. A dollar coin costs 4 times as much to make as a dollar bill, but it lasts 20 times longer.
Heck, with the old Susan B. Anthony dollar, you didn’t even have to spray-paint your quarters gold to make them look like dollars. They already did. George Washington’s wig even looked like Susan B. Anthony’s hair at first glance.
Which is one of the other nice things about the Sacajewia dollar. She’s in 3/4 profile with a baby on her back, which makes it really hard to confuse her with Washington on the quarter.
I do agree with the vending machine stuff… it’s a total pain to have to go through like 10 bills to get one that works. However, seeing as I only use vending machines once in a blue moon I still don’t think it’s worth it to carry heavy change. I’m a guy, so I normally carry the change in my pocket. Maybe I’m just anal or something but having change in my pockets all the time drives me buggy.
I’ll just go get my coin purse ready. Or maybe i can get one of those little rubber squeezy things that hold change… you know what im talking about here?
I’m a big fan of the Sackie. I like coins. Having spent many years working in restaurants, I’ve learned that wet coins still work in machines. Wet bills do not.
I also feel the dollar is rapidly becoming “small change.” It seems I only use dollar bills in vending machines and to make change any more. Since coins are cheaper in the long run than bills, it only makes sense to me for the Treasury to save what they can.
And while the Susan B. was doomed from the start, I don’t understand how the Sackie looks much like a quarter. Sure, they’r eboth made of metal, but I think they’re about as different as a quarter and a nickel. YMMV, of course.
God…I can’t STAND the idea of a dollar coin. I’ll go thru my list of pros and cons:
PRO:
Work well in vending machines
Cost factors (cost vs. circulation)
CON:
Heavy
No place for them in my wallet
Noisy
Heavy
Fall out of your pocket when you sit down in cars
Heavy
Easy to lose
The idea of the dollar coin is just something I can’t quite get my mind around. I’d support a movement to get rid of the metal quarter, and go back to the paper quarter, as well, though, so maybe I’m just a fanatic. Also, when are we going to get around to getting rid of the penny? That thing has been sucking up government resources for wayyy too long now.
Truth does not change because it is, or is not, beleived by a majority of the people.
-Giordano Bruno
I like the coins, but I don’t want to see dollar bills go away anytime soon. The coins are convenient in a lot of cases, but I’m in the habit of keeping a few ones folded up in my pocket, and I like peeling them off the stack to pay for my lunch.
Another nice consequence of the coin–I do close-up magic as a hobby, and the sackie will be great for coin transformations.
Dr. J
“Seriously, baby, I can prescribe anything I want!” -Dr. Nick Riviera
Incidentally, to help the “golden” dollar live up to its name, the U.S. mint will be issuing special Sacajewia dollar coins minted out of 22 Karat gold some time later this year. (The mint has been stamping out 22 Karat gold American Eagle bullion coins since 1987, with the same design on the front as the old Saint Gaudens double-eagle $20 gold coin minted from 1908-1933.)
Of course, these gold golden dollars will cost substantially more than a dollar.
Now wouldn’t that be a pisser? You drop your sackie in a coin slot and then realize it was a 22kt. one? Everything goes into slow motion. “Noooooooooooo…!”
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry