It seemed like it had the potential to succeed where the Susan B. dollar failed. It was large and the edge wasn’t milled. It was a different color and had a different feel to it. But lately I haven’t even seen it–in circulation at least.
Does anyone know whatever became of the Sacagawea Dollar? Was it a success? Was it a failure? Etc…
They’re still around. Some of the Coke machines where I work take them, and the US Postal Service vending machines give them as change.
The best guess as to why they’re not especially common is that dollar bills are still around, too. Bills are somewhat more convenient, at least to the American way of thinking.
Robin
I wasn’t aware anything had happened to it. I have several. Two things, IMO, keep it out of wider circulation:
You can get them at a bank if you want them.
Slight tangent: When traveling in Australia last year, we used several as gifts for people who went out of their way to do something special to help us. They were well-received, especially by a couple of younger folks when they found out that each gold-colored coin was worth two Australian dollars.
Never, never, never buy stamps from the vending machine at the Post Office; you will end up with a lifetime supply of those damn Sacagawea dollars.
The Mint is still hyping them: Golden Dollar Coin. Although the slogan,
does seem a little defensive.
I get 'em as change whenever I buy a Caltrain ticket from the vending machine…along with an admixture of Susan B. Anthonys.
There have been long, acrimonious non-debates on the issue in GQ, but the upshot is this: Americans see no reason to drop the dollar bill, not to mention that plenty of us find bills more convenient than walking around with great gobs of change, so we won’t use any dollar coins if we don’t have to.
Most vending machines can’t take them.
Most people won’t carry them.
Most banks don’t order them (these things need to get to the banks, y’see, and due to the above points 1 and 2, they anticipate little demand, which creates little demand – though that didn’t stop the banks from getting pissed off when Wal-Mart got their dollars in before the banks did).
Burn Sacky burn. The reason they’re a dismal failure is the same reason the Anthony ones were. People don’t want a dollar coin.
And for all you who love 'em to pieces, more power to you. Trade 'em amonst yourselves and revel in the joy of it all. But don’t be trying to to push your nasty ways on the other 99% of us by banning dollar bills.
And damn the government for forcing them on us everytime we do business with them, at the post office for example. I’m surprised the IRS doesn’t give tax refunds in Sackys.
Canada has introduced both $1 and $2 coins in recent decades. We had the same qualms going in as Americans do with the Sacagewea. It’s too heavy in the pocket, vending machines have to be redone, there’s no spot in the till for it, yada yada yada. But they suceeded. The reason? The mint pulled all corresponding bills out of circulation ASAP. That is the only way to get a new piece of money to be universally accepted. Until the U.S. Mint pulls the dollar bill out of circulation, the Sacagewea will end up like the Susan B. and the 50 cent piece: you’ll only see it when your wierd old aunt gives you one as a gift.
I use them every day. There are two change machines at the station where I begin my daily commute. One takes dollar bills, the other takes anything up to a $20. The second of the two spits out Sackys which make getting your tickets from the machine indescribably easier. I actually use the coins as currency and sometimes find myself carrying them in lieu of dollar bills. I don’t know why i do save it is a reminder of my wonderful times spent in Europe where, typically, any denominaiton up to 5 (francs, DM, whatever) was in coin.
We should do away with the one-dollar note.
A paper bill lasts only 18 months, while a coin lasts about 18 years. Add it all up and we could save a sack of money if that sack was filled with coins.
Plastic notes is also a good idea al la Austraila and Thailand. Neither will get very far though. All US banknote paper is made by Crane and Company and they are proteced by the Kennedy Clan.
Another marginally useful purpose for dollar coins is at Faire, when you don’t want mundane paper money. Fill your pouch with coin of the realm, and Lady Visa or Master Card in case you come across something expensive you must have.
The mint isn’t making them in any large quantities anymore. The same thing happened to the SBA dollar. Production went from 300 million, to 30 to 3 in three years. Although they did make some in 1999 because the stock pile of those 333 million were finally running out. The same thing is happening to this one.
It can fit in the cash register although people usually use that last place to keep their rolls. When I worked register I kept the rare Kennedy half dollars, the occaional SBA dollar and the extremely rare Ike dollar as well as my coin rolls. But people, as a whole, just don’t feel any real need to change. In fact we love our green backs. And if I had a dollar for every time someone refused to change to something that would be cheaper or more efficient I could buy a nice big gas guzzling SUV.
I think pennies are more useless than dollar coins. I guess it’s kind of ironic that in order to get rid of my pennies, I buy stamps at USPS vending machines.
Ask Susan B. Anthony.
I see them from time to time, but don’t know what I’d do if I actually got one.
Precisely. If the Treasury Department would stop printing one-dollar bills, they’d all be out of circulation within a couple of years, and five years from now, no one would even remember the paper versions. In fact, people would be saying things like, “Gee, it must have been a real pain to have to try to feed a paper dollar into a vending machine, especially after it had gotten all crumpled in your pocket! How did people put up with those?”
As I understand it, however, the Treasury folks are prohibited, by law, from eliminating the one-dollar greenback.
Heck, I love the things. I don’t have to feed paper money into a vending machine; I can just drop a coin in.
And since it costs ninety cents to call home, I wish Verizon would install pay phones that take them. It would make life a lot easier.
Robin
I get them from the bank all the time. Yesterday, I got 18, but only because the vault was closed for the evening. I would have gotten 50. I have encountered exactly one bank (out of maybe 10 I’ve tried) that didn’t have any. But then I went to the bank down the road and got 100 no problem. It’s usually a snap to get them from any bank, although I have heard they’re harder to get in the midwest.
