# The newest Dollar coin
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 10, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374 "2024-05-10T18:04:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/41 "2024-05-11T00:09:03Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#):
>
> No doubt you’re right in this case, and I know this is the BBQ Pit and all, but I wonder if every new coin venture is an automatic profit.
As long as you can get people to collect it instead of spending it.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/42 "2024-05-11T00:18:52Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#):
>
This was 30-35 years ago. The pound coins were worth a pound, which IIRC was worth about 1.75 USD, about the same as two Aussie dollars.
I’d use a 5 USD coin.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/43 "2024-05-11T00:22:27Z")
> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> So, do people have jugs filled with change including 1 euro coins? That would get expensive fast. Lots of people here just chuck their change into a jug, maybe trading it in for real money when it fills up, maybe just starting on another jug.
There’s nothing more American than people literally throwing money away while complaining about the government forcing them to do it.
What’s especially ironic is that the same people who complain about dollar coins, because they just throw away all of their coins, also rant against getting rid of the penny.
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#):
>
> But with everyone using cash less and less in favor of cards I think it’s really becoming a moot point to some degree.
Definitely true. I do still use cash occasionally… but the last time I needed to actually make an effort to get cash was over five years ago.
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### Author:  [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/44 "2024-05-11T00:23:28Z")
The diameter of the loonie is the same as the U.S. Susan B. Anthony and presidential dollars. And the Canadian quarter is the same diameter as a U.S. quarter.
Somehow we never confuse a loonie for a quarter. It may be because the loonie has a polygonal edge.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/45 "2024-05-11T00:23:59Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#):
>
> The smallest Euro bill is €5 and it hasn’t resulted in any issues. There are €1 and €2 coins and in my experience they are commonly used.
Same in Canada, where the smallest bill is $5. Aside from the usual small contingent of whiners who resist any change, there were no issues with adoption.
> [@RitterSport](#):
>
> So, do people have jugs filled with change including 1 euro coins? That would get expensive fast. Lots of people here just chuck their change into a jug, maybe trading it in for real money when it fills up
Again, this is an imaginary problem that doesn’t actually exist in Canada or Europe. I hardly ever use cash any more but when I did, the $1 and $2 coins never accumulated because I spent them. That’s, like, what you do with cash. The real problem would have been with pennies but we dealt with that by getting rid of them.
As for distinguishing the different coins, the $1 coin (affectionately called the “loonie” because it bears a loon on the reverse side) is larger than the lower denominations and is uniquely gold-coloured. The $2 coin is also uniquely two-toned, being silver with a gold-coloured insert.
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Larger than a quarter and it’s too big/heavy for people to carry comfortably.
Another imaginary non-problem. The $1 loonie is larger than a quarter. It weighs 6.27 grams (the quarter is 4.4 g). Let’s go nuts and assume you have five of them in your pocket – I don’t think I’ve ever had that many at one time, but let’s assume. That’s a mass of 31.35 grams, or 1.1 ounces. I don’t think that’s going to cause your pants to fall down. 🤪
By way of comparison an iPhone 14 weighs 172 grams, which is considered light for a smartphone. You could have 27 loonies jangling around in your pocket and they still would weigh less than the phone.
No, the reason Americans don’t want $1 and $2 coins is the same reason they shot at metric road signs.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/46 "2024-05-11T00:30:49Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#):
>
> He said that historically speaking, the public always hates anything new in the design of their cash, so the Treasury just sort of assumes “eh, there will be outrage, but eventually people will get over it.”
This is true of many things, but the consequences are very different depending on the details.
When the mint changed the design of $20s, people had no choice but to go along. They got them from their ATMs and eventually the old bills were taken out of circulation. Everyone had to get used to them or just stop using cash.
But dollar bills still exist and people prefer them. Even if they somehow acquire a dollar coin, it’s a low enough value that a person can just dump them in their change jar (thus keeping it out of circulation) and only years later cash them in at the bank or a change kiosk.
I’m sure that if the mint discontinued dollar bills, people would whine for a while and then get over it. But as long as the bills are still around, the resistance will persist (as it has for the last 40-something years).
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### Author:  [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/47 "2024-05-11T00:36:07Z")
> [@robby](#):
>
> I had to look up the coin in question to see what you were talking about. This appears to be it:
No, it can’t be. furryman was quite mildly ranting about the newest Dollar coin. The coin in your link was issued in 2007. Or is a 17 year old coin considered new in the coin world?
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/48 "2024-05-11T00:37:10Z")
nm… ninja’d
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### Author:  [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/49 "2024-05-11T00:46:31Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#):
>
> The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has stated that discontinuing the dollar bill in favor of the dollar coin would save the U.S. government approximately $5.5 billion over thirty years primarily through seigniorage.
The _annual_ federal budget is over $6 trillion. That amount isn’t even a rounding error over 30 years.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/50 "2024-05-11T01:04:05Z")
> [@flurb](#):
>
> That amount isn’t even a rounding error over 30 years.
So what? The federal budget is basically the sum of a very, very long list of items, most of which individually are each seemingly too small to worry about. $183 million a year would buy a lot of school supplies for America’s benighted public school system, for instance. Other governments seemed convinced that the cost savings are worth it, and as noted above, all the reasons being offered for why dollar coins are a bad idea are basically imaginary.
> [@Heracles](#):
>
> Somehow we never confuse a loonie for a quarter. It may be because the loonie has a polygonal edge.
The 11-sided polygon looks much like a circle. I think the real reason is the loonie’s unique gold colour and of course its larger size than the lower-denomination coins. The loonie and toonie absolutely stand out in a handful of pocket change.
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/51 "2024-05-11T01:20:42Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#):
>
> > [@robby](#):
> >
> > I had to look up the coin in question to see what you were talking about. This appears to be it:
>
> No, it can’t be. furryman was quite mildly ranting about the newest Dollar coin. The coin in your link was issued in 2007. Or is a 17 year old coin considered new in the coin world?
He didn’t say it was a new coin; he said it was the newest (i.e. most recent) dollar coin.
But that’s not right, either. The Presidential $1 Coin Program ran from 2007 to 2016, with four different presidential coins issued each year, followed by a coin honoring George H.W. Bush in 2020.
> **[Presidential $1 Coin Program | U.S. Mint](https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/presidential-dollar-coin)**
>
> The United States Mint honors our nation's presidents by issuing $1 coins featuring their images in the order they served in office.
The newest dollar coin is the American Innovation $1 Coin Program, which started in 2018 and will run through 2032:
> **[American Innovation $1 Coin Program | U.S. Mint](https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-innovation-dollar-coins)**
>
> American Innovation® $1 Coins recognize significant innovations or innovators for each state and U.S. territory.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/52 "2024-05-11T01:21:34Z")
> [@Heracles](#):
>
> Somehow we never confuse a loonie for a quarter.
Once here in South Carolina I got a loonie in change as a quarter. Kind of impressed that it made it that far down.
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/53 "2024-05-11T01:27:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Once here in South Carolina I got a loonie in change as a quarter. Kind of impressed that it made it that far down.
That is impressive. I never realized loonies were migratory. 😉
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/54 "2024-05-11T01:27:21Z")
> [@furryman](#):
>
> The George Washington dollar coin may be one of the most confusing coins ever issued.
Are you talking about _ **this** _ new Washington coin?
[ ](https://www.usmint.gov/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2024-american-women-quarters-coin-uncirculated-obverse-philadelphia-768x768.jpg)
If so…it’s not a dollar coin; it’s a new quarter, and the Mint is now using a different portrait of Washington on it.
> **[Quarter | U.S. Mint for Kids](https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/about-the-mint/quarter)**
>
> The quarter is the United States 25-cent coin. Quarters are made by the U.S. Mint.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/55 "2024-05-11T01:27:51Z")
I use cash so rarely now that I’m completely out of touch with current circulating ones. It was only this week that I learned that there is a [bat quarter](https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/america-the-beautiful-quarters/national-park-of-american-samoa) (and felt sad because I don’t have one).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/56 "2024-05-11T01:28:44Z")
I still say that Canada needs to introduce a $5 coin, with a picture of an albatross on it. So it can be the Goonie.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/57 "2024-05-11T01:31:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Are you talking about _ **this** _ new Washington coin?
It’s the one [linked by robby above](https://www.usmint.gov/coins/coin-medal-programs/presidential-dollar-coin/george-washington).
The gold color should be a giveaway, but it looks like it can be worn off fairly easily:
[ ](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/obverse-reverse-us-george-washington-dollar-coin-isolated-background-close-up-macro-photo-details-one-usd-126139599.jpg?ct=jpeg)
ETA: One giveaway is that the $1 coins lack a milled edge (which the quarter has). So they can be distinguished fairly easily by touch, if not by sight.
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### Author:  [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/58 "2024-05-11T01:34:26Z")
Any savings from the dollar coin has probably already been eclipsed by the cost of all the advertising campaigns to convince people to use dollar coins. Remember that weird commercial with George Washington’s head voiced by Michael Keaton?
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/59 "2024-05-11T01:49:17Z")
No, but the fact remains that other countries are saving money by going to $1 and $2 coins, unless you believe that they don’t know how to do accounting. Another justification for the coins is that with inflation, those denominations once reserved for paper currency are becoming more commonly used in vending machines, parking meters, etc, and coins are much easier for machines to deal with. The fact is that a dollar today is worth roughly what a quarter was worth in 1980, so there are really multiple reasons to demote it to a coin while also eliminating the penny.
Rising costs were also the reason that many of those same countries eliminated pennies, something the US Mint still can’t get its head around despite those things being essentially worthless. Costs may still be recorded down to the cent, but when paying cash, the amount is rounded up or down to the nearest nickel. This is not just a convenience for the consumer, but another cost-saver for the government – when pennies were eliminated here almost exactly 14 years ago, it was costing the government about two cents to mint each penny.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2024, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-newest-dollar-coin/1001374/60 "2024-05-11T01:59:05Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> Rising costs were also the reason that many of those same countries eliminated pennies, something the US Mint still can’t get its head around despite those things being essentially worthless.
I don’t think that resistance to getting rid of the penny is coming from the Mint; it’s coming from Americans who either (a) feel that the penny is useful, (b) are worried that, without pennies, somehow people will be getting ripped off, a few cents at a time, with prices getting rounded up to the nearest 5c increment, or (c) don’t want the tradition of American pennies to end.
Also, it doesn’t help that the company which supplies zinc blanks to the Mint has been actively lobbying to keep the penny.
> **[Penny debate in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_debate_in_the_United_States)**
>
> A debate exists within the United States government and American society at large over whether the one-cent coin, the penny, should be eliminated as a unit of currency in the United States. The penny costs more to produce than the one cent it is worth, meaning the seigniorage is negative – the government loses money on every penny that is created. Several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress would have ceased production of pennies, but none have been approved. Such bills would leave the five-c...
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