A few weeks ago someone wrote the USAToday and gave an interesting bit of opinion about the psychology of the paper dollar vs. the dollar coin. Unfortunately I don’t recall the points that were made but do recall that it came out in favor of the paper bill.
The coins – which I just went to the bank and bought 30 more of – do last waaaay longer and thus save the US tax payers a lot of money over time.
Yes, the new dollar coins are pretty cool, as are the two dollar bills.
Apparently, some of the new coins were accidentally made without the inscriptions on the side. Misprinted money always commands a premium price, so if you get a bunch of dollar coins check them to see if any are missing the edge-inscriptions!
As for me, I got a few of them at the bank a few weeks ago. They were kinda cool, but I was also reminded of why these things are going to end up failing, just like every other dollar coin before them: carrying around five one-dollar coins in my pants pocket was a major hassle. They were heavy, bulky, and I was constantly afraid that they’d roll out of my pocket while I was sitting down. In contrast, paper money is light, thin, and doesn’t get lost on you. People like dollar bills for a reason, and it’s not because we’re a bunch of stubborn old fogies. The pro-coin people need to come to grips with the fact that paper money does have advantages, and to the average consumer, those advantages outweigh the drawbacks. I mean, the fact that the coins last longer is nice, but this isn’t much of a concern for most people. Last I heard, our country wasn’t heading for economic meltdown because we couldn’t afford to keep printing paper bills.
The two-dollar bills are definitely cool, and I have a few stashed away in my jewelery box, but no one can say that they didn’t fail on their own merit. The American public decided overwhemingly that $2 bills just weren’t very useful. Same for the 50-cent piece, although you can argue that the half-dollar’s gargantuan size probably doomed it from the start.
I have one of each of the dollar coins (Suzie B, Sackie, and George) stashed away as keepsakes. If they ever discontinue the penny, I’m sure I’ll toss one in there, too.
Pretty much a waste of time, effort, and money. As has been said before, it will be nothing more than another novelty coin unless the dollar bill is discontinued.
A bar-owner friend of mine pointed out to me that dollar coins aren’t going to catch on because most register tills don’t have space for another coin. Sure, most tills have extra slots, but those slots are full of paper clips and thumbtacks and keys to the walk-in and business cards and panic buttons, etc.
So when a retail business gets a dollar coin, they put it under the till in the drawer, then when they make their next deposit they take it to the bank and put it out of circulation.
I haven’t worked in retail in a long while, but it sounds reasonable.
Canada didn’t have extra slots in the till for the coins either, but we adapted. Honestly, there’s no problem so small regarding this issue that Americans can’t turn into a deal breaker.
OK, I’m going to admit to being batshit insane about the state of America. This new coin is a conspiracy by the Secretary of the Treasury and strippers in the USA. There is no fucking way that George W. Bush would ever get a coin or bill with his image unless every friggen’ president is on a coin. Fortunately, I’ve already got plans for where to put his coin. Strippers are trying to make the minimum bill to stick in a G-String to be a fiver (maybe the $2 bill will make a comeback). Canadians have told me that there is some clever thing to be done with a loonie, but America is much more uptight than Canada. I did notice that in New Zealand, they solved the problem by selling strip club paper dollar coupons to compensate for the lack of an official NZ dollar bill. Clever, those Kiwis.
Adapted twice.
Once for the loonie and again for the toonie (however, I prefer the name doubloonie).
I’m a cashier and I’ve never seen them. A customer even asked me something about them recently.
My thoughts, though: Mr. Washington looks like a killer robot from space. I would be wary of this coin if I were you–it might “eliminate” your other pocket change.
Dollar coins good.
Need 2 and maybe 3 dollar coins too.
Must get rid of $1 bill also.
Treasury saves money.
Great to be able to by things with small amounts of change again.
It’s ridiculous to have to use 8 or 9 coins in a machine when you could use 1 or 2.
It’s a bad dream to have to try 5 or 10 times to fit a old, torn $1 bill in a soda machine, right? No! it’s really real! it’s America!!! (sad)
(yawn) same stuff as every other thread about dollar coins. I just hope people will finally be able to let go and move ahead sometime.
HOW DARE YOU! We don’t adapt… things adapt to US! We are the Shining Beacon on the Hill! We know better than ANYONE!!! You are our 51st state! (aren’t you glad that’s not the truth? 'cuz if it was, you’d have to use coins and bills that make no sense just like we do!)
The problem, as carlb stated, is that dollar coins are too much of a novelty. People see them and think “Hey, that’s a nice coin! I’m going to save it!” Unless paper dollars are discontinued, the repeated attempts to make a dollar coin catch on will continue to fall flat.
That being said, I think this coin will make less of an impact than Susan B. Anthony and Sacajawea. With the previous coins, they were all the same. With these coins, there’s going to be one for each president. That’s a lot of variations to collect. You don’t just horde away the first one you get like you would with Suzies or Sacies.
To make a long post short, they’ll be big with collectors but as far as being actual currency, they’ll flop unless the government pulls dollar bills from circulation.
Another coin we don’t need. We have 50 new quarter designs and a Susan coin that look alike and feel alike unless you use a microscope.
Guess what, if you had coins that were worth something, you’d actually get rid of them when you make a purchase. Today, it’s not even worth your time to reach into your pocket, so you wind up with 3x as much change as you should have because it just collects.
The reason the dollar coin won’t go anywhere is that it isn’t the solution to the “low value coin” problem. A dollar coin is still a low value coin. When a pocket full of coins won’t get you a sandwich or a pack of smokes, they’re low value. It’s an intermediary step that doesn’t change anyone’s behavior, which is to use bills for all cash transactions, and just puts more coins in pockets.
The answer is $.25 $1 $2 and $5 coins, and bills from $10 on up. At most, you’ll have maybe 6 coins in your pocket at any one time, and you’ll actually use them, so they won’t collect into an annoying mass.
Any new coins always pique my interest. I don’t like the mint mark and year on the edge because us boomers are getting a little farsighted in our old age and can’t read them. It will never get used, but I enjoy collecting them.
Educate me. Why would having a dollar coin be any different than a paper bill in this scenario (or any, for that matter)?
There would still be coins in my pocket. See the previous “change = bad.” Just go to multisized, multicolored bills for everything from the penny on up.
The scenario plays out when when you have only a pocket full of our usual chump change, and twenties in your wallet. Let’s say you order a double-mocha-venti frappaziccino for 3.22 including tax. Now, do you reach into your pocket and try to count out 13 quarters (which you basically need both hands to accomplish), or do you reach into your wallet and plunk down a double sawbuck? Usually the latter. And having put down your twenty, do you then fish out the 22 cents to avoid getting yet .78 more in chump change? Usually not. But if there was a chance of there being a few dollar coins in your pocket, you could complete the transaction without ever taking out your wallet. You would break twenties less often, and go to the ATM less often. What’s not to like?
Keep in mind that under the current law Bush still has to die to get his picture on a coin. 
We didn’t fight 2 wars with Great Britain just to put people who aren’t even dead on our money!