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It’s a survey. It goes to IMHO.
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[sub]Sackies are coooool.[/sub]
Um, I’m just wondering, if Sackies became more prevalent would we suffer inflation? I mean, as someone else said, they don’t really consider change worth keeping. If people started viewing the dollar as just another piece of change could that cause problems?
Whoa! I wish I lived near you. I’d be doin’ some serious dumpster-diving. I pick up any and all spare change, no matter how dirty, sticky or crusty. I’ve been doing it all my life. I almost got run over by a car when I was eight because I saw a nickle in the middle of the street while crossing and just had to get it. I save all the coins I rescue and roll them and take them to the bank and put them in my little savings account. Everybody in my family does this.
Regarding the Sacajawea Dollar: I love the things. Feels so terribly medieval to carry around a jingly, jangly handful of shiny “gold” coins! Heavy? Yeah. Inconvenient to lug around? Yep. But way fun. I did hate the Susan B. Anthony Dollar, though. Looked too damn much like a quarter.
You Yankee freaks :). Our carwashes run on quarters (except the ultra-expensive automatic mirror-remover ones–they take $1 and $5 bills, too). How much does it cost to wash your car?
I don’t like 'em. I try to avoid carrying change–it scratches the knife blades.
I’ve seen 31 Sackies since they were introduced: 5 we got when they came out just to see what they were; a roll of 25 (still unbroken) that my uncle gave me as a graduation present; and one that my dad found in a vaccuum cleaner at the carwash.
I’ll throw in on the side of loving the things. I hardly ever get them, but they feel incredibly… money-like. There’s something really pathetic about a wad of ones, and really satisfying about something hard and golden. Tear a bill in half? No sweat. Deform a coin? Bit harder. Heck, if you want to talk about practicality, we should be well on our way to a cashless economy.
Despise 'em.
racinchikki wrote
I’m on the other side of that transaction. I’m sick of buying stuff at the post office and explaining to the clerk that I want real money for change.
If you really want to compare a “sackie” to something golden try hefting a US $20 gold piece; it makes the sackie uh, seem cheap. They did get the color down fairly well, though.
I bought a roll to put away, and spent another 25 for funzies. I haven’t seen one since. Oh Well.
I give it a C. If you want a real dollar go get yourself a Peace dollar. Big, heavy, beautiful and made of silver. The Ikes and SBAs were both pretty bad. But if you want status I’d advice against having a pack of ones, twenties are the minimum. I think the sackies will we just eye candy for a long time. I think Americans will really resist it.
Ain’t seen no Sackies, but loonies and toonies are cool.
As are pound coins (I love the writing on the rim!)
Now U.S. bills, those are weird. They’re all the same! If you’re not squinting at your cash you can’t figure out what you’re spending. Those are a pain.
Just my 2 bits (or maybe 8 nyuk nyuk nyuk)
Somebody mentioned the Sackies the other day, and I said to my wife that I never got any of them, then I realized I haven’t gotten many of the new 5$ 10$ 20$ bills either, because I hardly use cash any more. We have a debit card for the checking account, and if a store doesn’t use credit cards we just don’t shop there.
If I have $40 in my pocket it’s unusual. And we live in a small town, I wonder how it would be in a city.
I’ve got over $100 worth in a drawer. I go to the post office (the only place I’ve ever seen them) and deliberately put too much money in the stamp machine in order to get sackies as change. Soon, I’m going to take them somewhere for a big purchase and freak out a cashier.
I don’t know whether I hate them because I’ve never seen one. Not even at the post office. Where are they hiding?
If they do catch on, I have a feeling they will affect my spending habits badly. When I pay for things with coins, I have an unfortunate tendency to feel like I’m getting them for free.
I hate them. With a passion. And I think that when people complain about ones making your wallet too big, I call fraud - these are just people trying to come up with an excuse. Its completely placebonic (real word?). Experiment:
Put 5 one dollar bills in your wallet. Sit down.
Put 5 sackies in your pocket. Walk 5 city blocks, and ignore small children who claim they hear Santa’s sleigh bells.
Tell me which is more annoying.
And all of this without even mentioning the possibility of the complete collapse of the exotic dancing industry.
I don’t know if I should be disappointed or not. I took the time to vote at the US Mint site for the front and back designs before the Sackie was released (I didn’t vote for the final back design), and I haven’t seen a single one in circulation.
I used to scoff at the people who claimed the SBA was too similar to a quarter. “Nearsighted fools!”, I thought.
About 2 years ago, the USPO gave me a few SBAs for change. After that, I went to a fast food joint for a quick meal. Stopped outside of it to buy a paper. Absentmindedly grabbed a quarter out of my pocket and attempted to put it in the machine.
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
Wouldn’t go in. Snapped out of my stupor and gave some attention to the problem of putting the quarter in the slot.
Clunk. Clunk.
Bent over and examined the slot for jams. Saw none.
Clunk. Clunk.
Finally looked at my hand and realized I had been trying to insert an SBA for the past minute.
Went inside, feasted on the extra-large crow burger special. Kept my mouth shut after that.
See, that’s part of the problem right there. Folks, they’ve minted hundreds of millions of these things (91 million so far this year, 1.29 BILLION in 2000). They are NOT collectible! There are too many of them for them to ever be worth any more than a dollar! Stop with the hoarding! Go spend 'em!
Two quick additions in response to Max.
First:
Well, my friend is a bartender, and he collects them. He’ll buy them out of the tip jar, and he gives them to his little nephew. Same with the state quarters. I’d imagine a huge percentage of this country’s sackies are in the sock drawer of 8 year olds. I don’t have a problem with this.
No, don’t go spend them. This is exactly what the government wants. People, you shouldn’t be motivated to go spend sackies. You should be motivated to buy what you need/want.
Consider the following statements:
“I’m going out to buy a sweater.”
“I’m going out to spend my sackies.”
Its a slight difference, but I think a lot of people just want to find a reason to spend them just to look different.
I see it a fair amount because it’s used as change for mass transit around. The unhappy thing is that the golden metal (is it brass?) tarnishes very quickly into a dull brown.
The concept is, I think, terrific. The mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing keep trying to downplay rumors of the single’s retirement, but face it, folks, it’s inevitable. If they were smart they’d retire the five as well.
Jingle jingle jingle? Sheesh, don’t you have problems, chump. Ever heard of a changepurse? Of course not, 'cos we’re American and haven’t needed them. But other countries have 'em and they work fine.
Japan, for example. Japan uses coins for its 100 and 500 yen denomination, which in purchasing power are pretty close to our $1 and $5. There, men’s wallets came with small changepurses.
An intelligent currency system would: can the penny, nickel, one dollar and five dollar bills; issue five dollar coins; and rotate designs frequently to honor lots of folks. The state quarters are a good start.
Oh, and I’d get rid of the $100 bill as well, since it’s such a magnet for counterfeiting, tax avoidance and crime.
Here in NYC they tried a “smart card” cashless system a few years ago. It failed. It just wasn’t quite ubiquitous enough - the problem is that although New Yorkers are probably conceptually pretty open to the idea, it won’t really catch on until it can be used in taxis, newsstands and food carts. It’s gotta be all or nothing - otherwise, why fuss with it?
Count me among the ranks of Sackie-thwarters. Despise extra change in my pocket, and a change purse just won’t cut it. Don’t want the extra bulk.
Oh god, its getting worse! First, they tell me that large coins will be less bulky, and won’t make my wallet bulge with all those ones. Personally, I’ve never had a problem with a fat wallet, and the people I know that do have that problem, its usually because they keep every piece of paper ever given to them, and not because they get 9 ones as change for their ten when they buy a stamp.
Then, when I’m walking circles because my left leg is 10 pounds heavier than my right leg because I had the audacity to buy those stamps from a vending machine, they say to just get a wallet with a COINPURSE!!! Can you imagine the posterier pain derived from cramming 9 sackies into a small piece of cowhide, and then sitting on that? The comparison between the size of a wallet with 9 ones in it and the size of a wallet with 9 sackies in it makes me giddy with laughter!
So where’s the convenience, I ask? Is it more convenient to have to go out and get a new wallet that will have a little compartment in which I’ll be able to hold about 3 coins (not to mention the fact that coins cannot possibly be good for the wear and tear of a leather wallet)? Is a coin compartment in your wallet any more convenient than the actual wallet, which is already designed to hold paper money?
I guess I just don’t get it. I understand the government saves an incredible amount of money with dollar coins, but they’d save just as much with plastic bills (like in Australia). Not to mention that plastic bills would actually save space in my wallet.