I’m pretty sure that’s a decision for Congress, not the Mint (or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing or the Federal Reserve).
In the past, people bought the silver halves and silver Ike dollars as a speculative hedge, taking them out of circulation. My neighbor a few years ago gave me three bank bags and asked me to sell the contents on ebay: one was Walker halves, one was Franklin halves, and one was Kennedy halves, all of them pre-64. I picked out the best of the best and filled out my own collection, then sold the rest for them. Turns out they jumped the gun, as the price of silver didn’t take off until some years later, but they still made a profit. They also had a bag of silver quarters, which I repackaged in $10 rolls and sold for $35-$40 a roll.
So? Did I say the Mint would be the institution to make the decision? They would implement it, however (or they together with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, if those are truly quite separate arms of the government, and you want to insist on being pedantic about it).
Yes, you can ask your local branch to order some half dollars, $2 bills, or whatever oddball denomination you need and they usually can get it for you in a few days.
As I live in Britain, where we have £1 and £2 coins, and the smallest note is £5 (worth about €6.3 or $8), but have also lived for many years in America, I have some perspective, beyond what I happen to be “used to”, of which system is better.
Mind you, very few transactions here in Britain require cash any more. Almost all my shopping is done via chip and pin debit card, and is the quicker and easier for it.
Mind you American money could also be greatly improved if the bills were only made different sizes and colors for different values. Not only would they be less likely to get confused, they would be harder to counterfeit, and almost certainly less ugly.
I’ll just have to make one once-a-year journey to the bank a planned event instead of spur-of-the-moment.
This. Which makes them worth more than their circulation value. They can still be had in the precious metals markets.
I am pretty sure the five-cent piece was not silver, I kind of think it never had any silver in it. And it seems to me the quarter and dime had some silver-plate for a few years after the sandwiching started, not just the half.
This has always been my take on it. Very few people are hanging onto half dollars, two-dollar bills, and especially not Golden Dollars.
The real reason is obviously vendors. If they don’t give you these coins (or the $2-dollar bill) in change, how else are you going to get them, and how else are they going to stay in circulation? They don’t order them (or keep them in registers) because there’s no place in register draws to keep them. Essentially, they see it as a hassle that they have no reason to invite.
Well I was in the bank today, too, and while I was there, I asked for some Susan B. Anthony dollars (“We got lots of them. Please take them!”), and few half dollars, which they had. I also often get two-dollar bills, and Golden Dollars.
I’ve never had to order any of these. I get them and use them a lot (especially the Golden Dollars). When I pay with them, I say, “I expect to get some of these back in change when I shop here again,” and it’s not entirely a joke.
I grew up very close to Tito’s and still eat there when I’m in town. They still give out the half dollars. They must have a deal with their bank.
Yeah, the deal is that they call in change orders. You can do it yourself, just phone the bank and say “I’d like to make a change order.” If you do this with halves every week, they’ll be sure to keep enough on hand for your needs. (That is unless you’re a nuisance customer, which presumable Tito’s is not.)
At Renaissance Fairs I get lots of golden Sacagawea dollars in change but no Kennedy halves. They have of course ordered them from the bank for fun. I also suspect they feel patrons are more likely to tip the musicians with the ‘fun’ and heavy money.
BTW I always spelled her name with a ‘j’, and that’s what spellcheck wants also. However the US Mint website goes with ‘g.’
My dad bought a news store in the mid 60s. I was in grade school then, but I would work the register when I was there (the store was in walking distance from home and my school). There were 5 separate compartments for change. Even then, coin dollars and half dollars were rarities, so they went in the far left compartment with other odd-ball coins. (steel pennies, Canadian coins that were caught or weren’t passed back as change, other foreign coins, etc.).
I hate being so pedantic, but the Ike dollars released for general circulation (business strikes) never contained any silver. Also, the Kennedy half was first released in 1964 so you could not have had any pre-1964 Kennedy halves.
The Jefferson nickel contained 40% silver during WWII (1942-1945). They are easy to pick out as the mintmark is very large and placed above Monticello’s dome on the reverse.
Typo on the halves. I really should proof-read. The entire bag were '64s, and I assume they bought them in the year of issue. I misremembered the Ike issue dates; I haven’t done any collecting for several years now, and memory fades, even though I had the entire set. There were silver proof Ikes, of course.
Canada has $1 and $2 coins. They get on just fine. People are resistant to change, but you can’t expect people to take up dollar coins if you still print and circulate dollar bills. Take the goddamn dollar bill out of circulation already. The latest versions of the dollar coin (Sacagawea and the aborted presidential coins) are non-reeded and shouldn’t be confused for quarters. most vending machines I’ve encountered will accept dollar coins (even Susan Bs!) and many will give change in such.
I always have on hand a couple hundred dollars of some combination of $2 dollar bills and the dollar coins. In fact the tellers at my bank save them up for me and I purchase them on a regular basis when I am in the bank.
Use them a lot. The bewildered look on the faces of the cashiers when I use them amuses me.
One of the nice things about European currencies in general is that I could rummage through my pockets and actually have enough change to buy something substantial. Like a beer. Or a hamburger. Plus I don’t have to play that stupid game of will with vending machines constantly having to insert and reinsert my dollar, fold it, straighten it, try another dollar, etc., until one works.
Both the penny and the dollar bill really need to go the way of the dodo (and should have about twenty or so years ago), but now that so many transactions are electronic, I don’t much care.
As for the comment about the dollar being ugly, all in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I find it a very distinguished, if a bit-old-fashioned, looking currency. One the flip side aesthetically, I did really enjoy the old wildly colorful (especially the 50 and 250, although there was a wacky 10, too) Dutch guilder currency circa the late 90s.
I think the U.S. has too few coins in common circulation. I liked the Kennedy halves and the Eisenhower dollars. I also think we should circulate a few trillion one-mill coins just for shits and giggles. They could be aluminum, about half the size of a cent. A guy could finally pay $3.299 for that gallon of gas!
Or get exact change from buying that gas.