# Whatever happened to dollar coins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823 "2001-09-20T16:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gruven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9a28c/32.png) [@gruven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gruven)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/1 "2001-09-20T16:47:39Z")
A year or 2 ago they were supposed to be the next big thing. In that time I’ve seen one. Where did they all go? Did people stash them all? And if so, isn’t the mint going to produce more? I thought they were supposed to become common, but as it stands, I’d feel weird paying for something with one…if I had one! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/2 "2001-09-20T17:01:22Z")
Next Wednesday at Dodger Stadium is Golden Dollar Night. All change given out that night will be in that form. It’s the last Dodgers home game. ---
**Author:** ![DaveW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DaveW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveW)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/3 "2001-09-20T17:08:37Z")
When they first came out, I used to get 10 or 20 of them every payday for the express purpose of getting them into circulation. It was hell on my pants pocket. And the clerks at stores used to save 'em, putting their own dollar bills into the cash register instead of handing the coins out as change to the next customer(s). I recall that one major grocery chain (Safeway?) was going to stop handing out dollar bills as change, opting for the golden coins instead. Dunno what happened there. ---
**Author:** ![Schadenfreude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Schadenfreude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schadenfreude)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/4 "2001-09-20T17:22:09Z")
I wish the mints would work harder at getting them ino circulation. I love getting change in Canada, where you can make $3.25 with three coins. I think it’s a bit of pride on America’s part that makes us drag our heels when it comes to changing our money. Other countries may devalue their currency, but not the USA! Personally, I’d be happy getting rid of pennies and completely switching to dollar coins over paper singles. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/5 "2001-09-20T17:40:07Z")
The ticket machines at CalTrain stations in the Bay Area use the dollar coins as change. I sure found that out the hard way - $20 for a $4 ticket, and I’m walking around like Eric Stoltz in _Rob Roy_. One fun thing to do is pay your friends in dollar coins when you lose a bet… ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/6 "2001-09-20T18:03:52Z")
According to [US Mint production figures](http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures), the Mint produced 1,286,056,000 gold dollars in 2000 and 110,167,500 through August of 2001. Assuming that the population of the US is around 300 million people, that means there are at least 4 gold dollars for every man, woman and child in America. People are hoarding them, simple as that. One link I found (which I can’t find again, consarn it) claimed that something like 800 million of the golden dollars were stashed by individuals with no intent of spending them. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: they’re **NOT** rare or valuable, people! They’re just currency! Spend them! ---
**Author:** ![Elvis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Elvis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elvis)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/7 "2001-09-20T18:20:41Z")
Metrocard machines in NYC dispense the “golden dollars”. We see 'em all the time. Spend 'em, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/8 "2001-09-20T18:21:55Z")
> [@](#): > > The ticket machines at CalTrain stations in the Bay Area use the dollar coins as change. The TriMet ticket machines here in Portland,OR use them too. ---
**Author:** ![hansel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@hansel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansel)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/9 "2001-09-20T18:21:58Z")
The U.S. keeps doing it wrong–that’s why it never catches on. When Canada introduced its dollar coin, the mint simultaneously withdrew the dollar bill from circulation. Banks stopped giving out bills, so stores stopped receiving them as change, so stores had to switch to the coin, so consumers had to switch to the coin. Once the coin was in general circulation, vending machines started appearing that would accept them. The switch worked so well that a couple years later, the Canadian mint replaced $2 bills with coins, to the same effect. Unless the U.S. mint withdraws the bills from circulation, simple inertia will keep people using what they know, and the coins will remain an oddity. ---
**Author:** ![jonfromdenver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/10 "2001-09-20T18:30:10Z")
i get them from the postage stamp machine. buy some stamps, get some gold coins. i do slightly hesitate to spend them, but only because they are perfectly sized and weighted for good flipping, not because they have any extra real or intrinsic value. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/11 "2001-09-20T19:12:25Z")
I’m always embarassed to use them. I usually just save up enough to make a trip to the bank worthwhile and then change ‘em into green money. Or I wait until I’m able to fill a kettle with them, dress all in green and tell passers-by to "stay away from me pot o’ gold." 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/12 "2001-09-20T19:29:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Schadenfreude \* > \*\*I wish the mints would work harder at getting them ino circulation. I love getting change in Canada, where you can make $3.25 with three coins. > \*\* How does _that_ work? Do they have a $2 coin? Regarding the OP, I say good ridance to bad rubbish. I can’t stand dollar coins. I have enough shit in my pockets to worry about putting a source of spending money in there. I have a wallet for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/13 "2001-09-20T19:37:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Munch \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Schadenfreude \* > > \*\*I wish the mints would work harder at getting them ino circulation. I love getting change in Canada, where you can make $3.25 with three coins. > > \*\* > > How does _that_ work? Do they have a $2 coin? > \*\* Yes. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/14 "2001-09-20T20:19:17Z")
The U.S. Mint can’t withdraw bills from circulation since the Mint doesn’t print bills, just coins. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing makes bills per the request of the Federal Reserve. Americans seem to have a strange fixation with dollar bills and don’t like to adapt to new money, although the redesigned bills and the new quarters may indicate otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/15 "2001-09-20T20:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Torque \* > **According to [US Mint production figures](http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/coin_production/index.cfm?action=production_figures), the Mint produced 1,286,056,000 gold dollars in 2000 and 110,167,500 through August of 2001. Assuming that the population of the US is around 300 million people, that means there are at least 4 gold dollars for every man, woman and child in America.** That really doesn’t sound like so much. I probably have many more singles than that - some on the dresser, some in my wallet, some put aside for my kid’s allowance - at any time. I like the new coins, but I have to ask at the bank to get them, or they give me paper dollars by default. Also, before the Sacajawea dollars were introduced, I used to get Susan B. Anthonys from the post office machine, and often ran into trouble trying to spend them - clerks didn’t believe they were _real_ money. Haven’t had _that_ problem with Sacajaweas, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/17 "2001-09-20T21:02:06Z")
It is a conspiracy from those of us that hate them. I do my small part by refusing them if they are offered. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/18 "2001-09-20T21:09:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Elvis \* > \*\*Metrocard machines in NYC dispense the “golden dollars”. We see 'em all the time. Spend 'em, too. \*\* Hah. I have never ONCE received a dollar coin in change in either Brooklyn or Manhattan. I used to get 'em out of the MetroCard machines, too, and spend them in order to get them into circulation. I LOVE 'em…even more so after having spent of few weeks in Ireland and paid my pub bills with handfuls of one-punt coins. Unfortunately, the dollars go out, and I never get them back when I break a larger bill with a human being cashperson…SOMEONE is hoarding them, in New York, anyway… ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/19 "2001-09-20T21:09:59Z")
Refuse them? They are legal tender. If I owed you a dollar and you refused it then I would consider our transaction finished. ---
**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/20 "2001-09-20T21:19:08Z")
More than anything, it would help if the Mint didn’t make them quarter-sized. You can’t feel color in your pocket, and the smooth edges don’t help all that much. I think a coin the size of the British pound would be perfect; if not that, then a different shape (like the 20p coin, perhaps) would do the trick. You’d think they would have learned with the Susan B. Anthony… ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_The\_Bold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dale\_The\_Bold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_The_Bold)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823/21 "2001-09-20T21:56:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*…Or I wait until I’m able to fill a kettle with them, dress all in green and tell passers-by to “stay away from me pot o’ gold.” 😃 \*\* So do they stay away? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-dollar-coins/82823.md?page=2)