We had no problem swapping $1 and then $2 bills for coins in Canada and then tossing the penny. Many people think inertia is a reason not to change things.
I’ve only gotten them from vending machines. In particular, machines that accept bills higher than $1. I’ve never seen a machine that actually gives out bills in change, so giving out dollar coins is better than quarters.
At college, I figured out they were recycling the same dollar coins over and over, and so stopped putting them back in the machine. And, low and behold, they started giving me quarters. This was quite useful, as the washing machines only accepted quarters. So I just bought a coke with a $5 and got change every time I ran low. Very rarely I would get a dollar coin or two.
The post office stamp machine, on the other hand, never seemed to run out.
Oh, I’m not saying the retailers should be listened to, just that they have a perfectly rational reason not to switch so long as the government is too timid to stop subsidizing their cash-handling costs. If I had to pay by the pound for money, I’d want everything to be paper.
You’re aptly named, at least.
Interesting. . . It sounds like nobody privatey really uses them, but they’re foisted on us by vending machine companies. I wonder if Coinstar machines accept them. Has anyone found a company/machine that would not accept them?
Tripler
I have a couple of Eisenhower Dollars I need to do something with.
I actually found one (rather, my 4-year-old daughter found one) in my car the other day. She was delighted. I have no idea where it came from, though. I have no memory of recently receiving a golden dollar.
Anyhow, back to your post, the thing is it’s a Catch-22 for me. I absolutely would use them if other people would just use them. I far prefer them to the dollar bill. But I just can’t use them, because I don’t get them. I’d have to take a special trip to the bank if I wanted a pocketful of dollar coins, and the things still confuse some people.
And, yeah, definitely get rid of the penny and probably the nickel. These days, I just leave the pennies behind.
Yeah you get them as change when buying transit tickets in NYC. I don’t get why they are supposed to be better than bills. I’d rather have some ones in my wallet than a pocketful of heavy jangling coins.
I get them when I use vending machines. They are nice to have for the next time using a vending machine, unless you get a thrill from that moment of truth waiting to see if your bill is going to be accepted.
Shame on them. Good hygiene requires a change of drawers frequently.
Addressing several things above:
CoinStar machines accept dollar coins. Which is where any dollar coins I get go immediately. People who want more change in their pockets are demented. I’d go the other way and get rid of all coins. Print polymer bills down to the 5 cent level.
Screw coinage!
The coins are legal tender and should be legally accepted anywhere in the US.
Please forgive this brief hijack…
I was in Cyprus earlier this year and stopped at the vending machine kiosk when our group was touring an historic site. I was gobsmacked to find that a bottle of (generic) water was only 50 (Euro) cents. Six reasonably-sized bottles of water added up to just three Euros. In the US, they would have been at least $2.00 each.
Strictly speaking, “legal tender” only applies to debts. So owners of stores (or vending machines) are perfectly within their rights to say “we don’t take dollar coins / $100 bills / cash, period–debit or credit cards only”; you are attempting to buy something, but there is not yet a debt. However–IANAL–I am pretty sure that if you’re at a fancy (i.e., non-fast-food) restaurant and you’ve already eaten your meal, you are legally entitled to pull out a sack full of Sackies when the waiter brings you the bill.
The stamp machine at the Post Office gives change in dollar (and maybe half dollar) coins that nobody wants. I assume the government wants to get these coins into circulation since they bothered minting them for no apparent reason. I can see a justification for the use of quarters until there isn’t any point left in pricing in less than one dollar increments, but that’s about it, get rid of every other coin, round all prices to the nearest two bits* and end this penny pinching nonsense.
What the hell, make a 12.5 cent coin if they have to and round to the nearest bit.*
**I don’t recall anything but anyone ever consider the binary ‘bit’ name to be related to the piece of eight?
I started a thread years ago about dollar coins. Some dude borrowed money from me. He eventually paid me back with dollar coins, twenty or fifty or some horrible amount. I was pissed off and didn’t hide the fact.
I use credit cards for many purchases, but like to tip with cash. Right now I have $180 in my wallet. I can’t imagine carrying 180 coins.
It was fifty bucks. Heh.
In my household, it seems that the tooth fairy gives out in gold dollar coins. Otherwise I don’t find them in circulation much.
You’re Mad.
Seriously, good hygiene requires a change to coins and polymer bills rather than those bacteria infested reeking rags. The smell of money? When it’s cotton, it’s the smell of ass.
I’m thinking about countries with even higher denomination coins. Such as Japan with their (roughly $5.00) 500 yen coin. I think that has reached the point of being big enough to annoy even the reasonably well-off to lose. Drop a quarter and it rolls under the machine? Most would probably give up on it. A $1.00 coin? probably more would than not. A $5.00 coin? I’m betting most people physically capable would be on their knees reaching under the machine.
And speaking of coins minted that nobody uses, how about 50 cent pieces? I see that over 3 million were minted last year, and I’m betting that they are used far less often than even dollar coins.