I’ve been getting blasted with ads and commercials for this thing (the one with George Washington is funny as hell). It looks really cool, and I love the engraving of the Indian chick on it.
My question is . . .has anyone used the new dollar coin yet? What has been the reaction of merchants when you try and use one? I hear Wal-Mart is using them. Is this true?
Any indications as to whether this coinage will reach the same success as the 50 state quarter? Or is it destined to go the way of the Susan B Anthony Silver Dollar?
Uh, yeah. I used one today. They’ve been out there for a couple months now, ya know.
The “indian chick” on the front is Sacajawea, who helped Louis and Clark on their exploration of the New World.
The coin can’t help but be more popular than the Susan B. Anthony. Being gold-colored, it won’t be confused with a quarter so much. But they still left it pretty close to quarter-size. Seems like half-dollar size and the gold color would have been perfect. The morons.
The Sacagawea is the exact same size as the good old Susan B. for a reason. A bad reason. The mint didn’t want to cause vending machines that accept the Susan B. to have to be overhauled to accept the Sac of Gold.
Where the hell are these vending machines that accept the Susan B?
FYI: The two coins in question have a number of other physical propeties in common as well. (Weight, density, maybe even conductance or some other such nonsense.)
I’ve used a “sackie” once. I’d use them more, but they’re hard to come by. People seem to be saving them (“Socking away the sackies”?) and not spending them. I’ve heard that banks have them, but I belong to a credit union and the nearest branch is too far away. Wal-Mart has sackies, but I never seem to have a need to go there.
If they were easier to get, I’d spend sackies all the time!
I think it took a while for dollar coins to catch on here (Canada) too, but as they fazed out the bills it really took off. Is that what the U.S. is planning to do too?
as Lance Turbo pointed out, the new Walmart dollar was designed to work the same as old susan b.'s in vending machines, and apparently they did a lot of work to get the conductance the same (the machines go by weight and a scan for conductance.) The full story is at
(you have to go to “dollar pressroom” , then read the release for October 1999 about the alloy. Or go through the timeline until the “special alloy” link is mentioned.
along with a bunch of other things, and you can buy some online if you so desire. (I think I saw the home shopping network selling bags of 50 for $80 or so; hopefully the government respects people who can do simple math.)
Ye gods, where the hell do you people live? I’ve been using them for weeks. I even go to the post office and get rolls of them. Everybody here in the northeast loves 'em.
Sackies make me think of those westerns where a dude would go into the saloon, and slap a couple gold pieces down on the bar, and drink away. Quite reminiscent of the days of yore. I think they are very, very cool.
** I do have a problem though. Why have they made the new quarters and sackies so attractive, but the new bills so HIDEOUS? I think the new bills are SO lame.**
The play money in my Monopoly board game is more attractive than this crap. I understand that the new bills were designed for security, and not aesthetic reasons, but why can’t they produce BOTH results?
They obviously failed at the security tests. Here, where I live, most businesses are not accepting 100$ bills, due to a huge surge of extremely high quality counterfeits. These local fakes are so good, even pros have a hard time detecting them.
I use Sackies all the time now. They pop out of train ticket and Metrocard machines as change.
I have found that I like them much better than dollar bills. They are just plain easier to use. No folding and unfolding. No checking to make sure the denomination is right. No un-crumpling. Plus, I think that they are less “bulky” than bills. This is a purely subjective thing, but my wallet seems smaller with a bunch of sackies in the change purse than it does with a bunch of singles in the bill compartment.
I have had no trouble with spending them. No cashier has even looked twice.
As a Medievalist, flipping a gold coin to a young child and saying, “Boy! Fetch me a bag of ice, and there’s another if you’re quick about it!” has a certain appeal as well.
I don’t doubt it’s true. For some reason, New York City seems to be on the short end of the stick with the new quarters. All my state quarters I either first got out of town or didn’t see for at least 2-3 months after its release. Except for Georgia, for some odd reason, and the person I got it from might have been a tourist. The breakdown:
Delaware: Got first in NYC in mid-April, 1999
Pennsylvania: Got in Willaimsburg, VA on July 4th weekend
New Jersey: Got in the Catskill mountains in August
Georgia: Saw someone paying for a subway token with one in August, switched with her before the token clerk could take it
Connecticut: Got in late December, NYC
Massachusetts: Got in January, 2000 in Orlando, FL
Sorry about the hijack, everyone. Let me return you to the proper subject of the thread: I got my Sackies as part of my change from a MetroCard vending machine here in NYC.
WalMart stores got a special direct shipment of Sacajewia Dollars directly from the Federal Government back in February 2000. At the end of February 2000, all the WalMart stores had to give these direct-issue coins back to the Federal Government. It was only a one-month-long promotional deal.
You are no more likely to find a Sacajewia dollar at a Wal*Mart today than you are to find one at any other retailer.
Er, that should have said: At the end of February 2000, all the Wal*Mart stores had to give all the Sacajewia Dollars that they hadn’t already given out to customers back to the Federal Government. Of course.
