# Where are the new dollar coins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778 "2005-05-27T16:51:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/1 "2005-05-27T16:51:29Z")
I assume there are millions of folks hoarding the new Sacagawea (sp?) dollars, cuz I never see them. Also, why did they make it quarter-sized? Isn’t that what killed the Susan B Anthony? They need to make dollar coins thick and not silver (the thick golden british pound coin is a great example). ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/2 "2005-05-27T16:54:13Z")
“Sackies” are both larger and thicker than a quarter. And they’re gold, not silver colored. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Gene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Soylent\_Gene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Gene)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/3 "2005-05-27T16:56:39Z")
see…I never see them. I guess I have no idea what they look like! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/4 "2005-05-27T17:11:28Z")
> [@Soylent Gene](#): > > I assume there are millions of folks hoarding the new Sacagawea (sp?) dollars, cuz I never see them. Go to any U.S. Post Office. Buy one book of stamps with a $20 bill from the stamp machine. You are highly likely to get a tidy handful of Sacagawea dollars in your change. Sometimes, you’ll even get some Susan B. Anthony coins, too. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/5 "2005-05-27T17:12:11Z")
I’ve heard that you can get them as change from the stamp machine in your local post office. They need to stop printing one dollar bills if they want the coin to be a success. There may be political problems with doing that. There is a political lobby (zinc producers) that has opposed all efforts to kill the penny. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/6 "2005-05-27T17:19:41Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Go to any U.S. Post Office. Buy one book of stamps with a $20 bill from the stamp machine. > > You are highly likely to get a tidy handful of Sacagawea dollars in your change. Sometimes, you’ll even get some Susan B. Anthony coins, too. Right, and then you’ll take them to a store and use them. At the end of the day, the store will deposit them to the bank (because we don’t want them), which will then send them to the Post Office when they order change. And the Circle of Life is complete. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/7 "2005-05-27T17:21:50Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > “Sackies” are both larger and thicker than a quarter. And they’re gold, not silver colored. Barely. I think they’re still too similar to quarters. The only thing that helps me pick 'em out in my pocket is the smooth edge. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/8 "2005-05-27T17:27:50Z")
Well, if they stopped printing one-dollar bills, we’d certainly see more of them. Sackies, that is. My question is: Where are the new Buffalo nickels? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/9 "2005-05-27T17:34:36Z")
> [@Soylent Gene](#): > > Also, why did they make it quarter-sized? Isn’t that what killed the Susan B Anthony? IMHO, it has more to do with what **postcards** said - as long as there are dollar bills, dollar coins won’t succeed. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/10 "2005-05-27T18:32:46Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > IMHO, it has more to do with what **postcards** said - as long as there are dollar bills, dollar coins won’t succeed. The experiences of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK bear this out. All have successful one dollar/pound coins, and two dollar/pound coins, which replaced notes. They were successful because the government stopped printing the notes, and distributed enough coins to replace them. How many dollar notes are there in circulation in the US? I’d guess at least 500 million. Have they minted 500 million one dollar coins? I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/11 "2005-05-27T18:38:32Z")
Strippers hate Sackies. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/12 "2005-05-27T18:42:13Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > Strippers hate Sackies. I’m sure they much prefer pictures of Tom Jefferson, with Monticello on the back, or pictures of Abe Lincoln, with the Lincoln Memorial on the back. Indeed, so would I. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/13 "2005-05-27T18:45:32Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > My question is: Where are the new Buffalo nickels? Damn straight. I have yet to see one of these. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/14 "2005-05-27T18:46:06Z")
> [@](#): > > My question is: Where are the new Buffalo nickels? They’re out there. But first of all, coins last a long time, so it takes a while for them to be replaced. It’s not too remarkable to find a coin in one’s change that was minted in the sixties or earlier, and occasionally even the forties, so with all of those decades worth of non-buffalo nickels, the new ones will tend to be lost in the shuffle. And secondly, a nickel is a small enough demonination that most folks don’t notice them, so even if you do get a few bisonickels, you’re likely to not realize it. The first time I ever saw the new design was while I was spending one, and I had obviously recieved it before then. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/15 "2005-05-27T18:47:13Z")
> [@Flander](#): > > Strippers hate Sackies. Why, they’ve got the premade… :eek: Oh… never mind 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thirty-Nine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f0a364/32.png) [@Thirty-Nine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thirty-Nine)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/16 "2005-05-27T19:22:01Z")
I must’ve been lucky, since I spent less than two months in your humble land and ended up with some. I was in holiday in Disney World around the time when they launched the new dollar, and went to buy a soda from a machine in the carpark at Universal Studios. I only had a note, but that didn’t seem to be a problem since you guys apparently have vending machines that take them. Nonetheless, I was owed a lot of change which was duly given in the form of eight or nine Sacagawea dollars. I’m guessing they’d just stocked this thing up with newly minted coins. I had no idea that a dollar coin was remarkable, but kept at least two because they were shiny. At any rate, it’s cool to get loads of pristine gold coins falling out a machine… makes me feel like a modern day pirate. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/17 "2005-05-27T19:25:47Z")
My aunt voted for feeling like we’d won the lottery when we bought tickets for the train (Metro North) to New York City with cash and got change in the form of “loads of pristine gold coins falling out a machine”. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/18 "2005-05-27T19:53:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Barely. I think they’re still too similar to quarters. The only thing that helps me pick 'em out in my pocket is the smooth edge. They had to make the Sackies the same size and weight as the Suzies because all of America’s vending machines were already programmed to accept the Suzie. Thus they had to distinguish them from the quarter some other way, so they made it a different color. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/19 "2005-05-27T19:59:57Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > ``` > How many dollar notes are there in circulation in the US? I'd guess at least 500 million. Have they minted 500 million one dollar coins? I doubt it. > > ``` The answer to your second question: Over 1 billion dollar coins were minted the first year, 2000. And no one cares. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778/20 "2005-05-27T20:01:25Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > … because all of America’s vending machines were already programmed to accept the Suzie. Eh? Stamp machines in post offices, to be sure. Some other odd kinds, as well (the aforementioned machines at Disney World). But for your dime-a-dozen soda machine or candy machine? Those never accepted Suzies in significant quantities, right? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-the-new-dollar-coins/305778.md?page=2)