# What to do with dollar coins **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852 "2010-03-09T14:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/81 "2010-03-12T15:37:23Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > [QUOTE=kayaker] > > cash registers do not have a place for dollar coins, so they are a pia. Personally, I think this is the real reason every effort to popularize US dollar coins has flopped. If they stopped making pennies and maybe nickels, there would be room in the till for dollar coins. Stores would start using them to give in change, and presto- they’d be in circulation. [/QUOTE] Depends on the model of the cash register. Some have a single-piece, solid plastic coin tray with a set number of places, but others have a coin tray with movable dividers, so the operator can customise the coin tray to change the size of the places, or to change the number of the places. It’s a more versatile design, and can accommodate adding dollar or two dollar coins to the mix. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/82 "2010-03-12T15:44:40Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Here, everybody moved peaceably over to the £1 coin and no one seemed to complain about the demise of the £1 banknote, which is no longer accepted. I think some people’s heads would explode if they lived in Britain, where major redesigns or phasings in and out of coins and notes happen every few years. Just looking at the coins in my pocket, most of them did not exist in their current form, or at all, in 1980 and none of them were around when I was born. Notes have also gone through several redesigns and changes of size. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/83 "2010-03-12T16:01:25Z")
I think the dollar coin would find much easier acceptance (and there would be an available slot in cash drawers) if the US simply gave up the penny. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/84 "2010-03-12T17:15:35Z")
I’m all for dollar coins. I wish they would abolish the penny, nickel, dime, and $1 note. That would leave plenty of room in cash drawers and people’s pockets for half-dollar coins, $1 coins and $2 bills. I also agree that paying a debt in a large quantity of a small denomination is jerkish. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/85 "2010-04-09T01:24:46Z")
One dollar today is worth about the same as a quarter in the mid-'70s. Did everybody then bitch and moan about how awful it was to deal with a pocketful of quarters? ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/86 "2010-04-09T02:52:28Z")
Icelandic coins ares plastic and float. I wish we could make our coins with recycled plastic. So much lighter. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/87 "2010-04-09T04:53:21Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > …the manager will not let us cash out with any coins, ever. They have an armored truck service that takes all the cash to the bank, and as part of the service, they give the restaurant plenty of coins, so they don’t want any more.. Sounds like you have a jerk of a manager, and a seriously poor excuse for an armored truck “service.” ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/88 "2010-04-09T14:37:42Z")
I keep around $25 - $50 in dollar coins in my car at all times. I find them incredibly handy for paying the toll to my mom’s house on the turnpike. It’s $1.25, two coins, easy-peasy. ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/89 "2010-04-09T15:07:27Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > I’m confused. How is it a dick move? He owed you money, and he paid in full using legal tender, is that right? I mean, as long as it’s gov’t backed and not funny money, what’s your problem? [pedantic] No, dollar or any other coins are NOT legal tender for all debts public and private. FRN’s are, coins are not. This means that you can’t show up to your mortgagor, ex-wife, buddy/loanshark/bookie, etc with a dump truck full of pennies, peg your righteous indignation meter and say “Ha! I paid you! Have fun counting!” They can tell you to Eff off and pay in legal tender. Show up with a dump truck of dollar bills though, and they’re SOL. If they refuse a legal tender payment, they have a bitg problem pursuing future effort to collect a debt. [/pedantic] IANAL Edited - aparently I should have found a cite. Turns out coins are legal tender. Pay no attantion to the man behind this curtain.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal\_tender#United\_States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States) I could have sworn that a debt paid in coin was somehow not binding on the party recieveing they payment. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/90 "2010-04-09T23:40:04Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > This is a joke right? You’re teenage children turned down $25 in free money because they were dollar coins? Christ man, mail them to me. Do you have any idea how much it costs to mail a teenager? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/91 "2010-04-09T23:49:17Z")
I got a hundred dollars in brand-new [Millard Fillmores](http://www.coinnews.net/images/2010/Millard-Fillmore-Presidential-1-Dollar-Uncirculated-Coin.jpg) at the bank today. I’m going to leave the house each day now with four of 'em in my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/92 "2010-04-10T00:48:12Z")
Dude, 50 bucks in real money and you complain? Why would you even hesitate to use them? Have you had bad experiences? I really don’t get it. Of course YMMV ---
**Author:** ![happydays546](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f14d63/32.png) [@happydays546](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happydays546)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/93 "2010-04-10T01:09:17Z")
Ok you guys are stupid! Not all of you (I think), but save them! They will become very rare and the price will go up on them in the next five years, because they are no longer being printed you will have a good time spending the money in five to ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/94 "2010-04-10T07:41:24Z")
> [@happydays546](#): > > Ok you guys are stupid! Not all of you (I think), but save them! They will become very rare and the price will go up on them in the next five years, because they are no longer being printed you will have a good time spending the money in five to ten years. OK. Can I sell them to you? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/95 "2010-04-10T08:23:45Z")
> [@Twoflower](#): > > Personally, I think this is the real reason every effort to popularize US dollar coins has flopped. If they stopped making pennies and maybe nickels, there would be room in the till for dollar coins. Stores would start using them to give in change, and presto- they’d be in circulation. When I was working a concessions counter at a theater, I always liked getting dollar coins rather than bills; coins are easier to count at the end of the night. It’s hard to double-count a coin, but it’s easy to double-count a bill. Kept the ledgers nice and clean. It’s the same reason I always thanked that guy every night that paid with a $50 or a $100 bill- made the report at the end easier. ---
**Author:** ![happydays546](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f14d63/32.png) [@happydays546](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happydays546)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/96 "2010-04-10T20:26:26Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > OK. Can I sell them to you? Sorry but no. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/97 "2010-04-11T00:18:47Z")
> [@snowmaster](#): > > Edited - aparently I should have found a cite. Turns out coins are legal tender. Pay no attantion to the man behind this curtain.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal\_tender#United\_States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender#United_States) > I could have sworn that a debt paid in coin was somehow not binding on the party recieveing they payment. You might have remembered something from an outdated source. For example, my 1960 vintage World Book tells me that dimes were legal tender only up to the amount of $10–and only until 1933. That date seems significant, being when the U.S. monetary system was removed from the full gold standard. Since banknotes were supposed to be “redeemable in lawful money”, the removal of gold coins and bullion from circulation meant that coins denominated in amounts of $1 or less were the only lawful money that continued to exist, since most paper currency isn’t actual money, but a promise to pay the bearer in money. So the only way for it to be possible for a person lucky enough to have a $100 bill to redeem it, after 1933, would be to make it legal for the money to be paid out in silver dollars, quarters, dimes, and so forth. It does seem slightly ironic that $100 in dimes is, strictly speaking, legal tender, but in 1933, $11.00 in dimes–undoubtedly worth far more than $100 today–was not. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/98 "2010-04-11T00:31:42Z")
Where I live, we have $1 & $2 coins as standard currency. At the end of the day I dump these in a jar at home and every couple of months roll them up while watching Lost or something and bank it. Usually ends up to being around $500. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/99 "2010-04-11T01:00:39Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > When we first got $1 And $2 coins in Canada there was the same sort of reaction. Now, everybody’s over it, and it’s just money. This. And now when I go stateside to do a bit of shopping I _hate_ dealing with fiddly piddly dollar bills. They go in my coin section of my wallet. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852/100 "2010-04-11T02:40:00Z")
Tried a dollar coin in a vending machine this evening. The machine is at least a few years old, had a bill-acceptor, and nothing that said it took dollar coins, so I wasn’t sure. But it took it, no problem. I’ve had bills rejected by this same machine before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-dollar-coins/531852.md?page=6)