US may try yet another dollar coin

Scott Elfstrom

I’ve only ever gotten Sacajawea dollars out of the DART ticket machine here in Dallas, on the unfortunate occasions when the only cash I had on me was larger than a dollar bill.

xENo → www.mentallyretired.com

I actually sold a dollar coin for $5 once.

Sucker.

Chris → today.icantfocus.com/blog/

I just don’t understand why we waste money on making news coin money. The old ones aren’t broke. Is there a shortage? Probably not.

The last time I say a show about counterfeiting, coins were never a hot target. I can understand the need to keep the design of paper bills moving; but coins?

Feaverish → www.feaverish.com

I only get them as change for the MAX light rail here in Portland.

Stephen → mekosh.org/

I can’t vouch for everyone, but I always seem to have a wad of $1 bills in my wallet. I get most of them from breaking a $20 for something little (like milk), but they’re handy when eating out. I’d have a half a pound of metal in my pocket if all of those $1 bills were $1 coins. The only benefit of coins is that they don’t wear out as fast as bills.

On a side note, I worked as a valet for a 4-star hotel one summer. After fetching a guest’s car, he dropped three large-ish coins in my hand for a tip. Thinking he tipped me $0.75, I half-assed a “thanks.” I didn’t notice until a while later that the coins were three Sacajawea dollars.

Jordan Moore → www.devotedfreak.com/

I have thirteen that I received as change from a local Wal-Mart during the first week they were available. I can’t stand carrying heavy change, so I’ve never spent them.

So why is the government trying this again? Because “The Treasury estimates that it has earned about $5 billion in seignorage profits from the quarters so far.” Do you want to guess how much they’d make from the new dollar coins? I’d rather not…

stevo

Coins last signifigantly longer than those dirty old $1 bills, therefore millions of tax dollars are saved in not having to constantly produce new ones.

Don’t like carrying around all those heavy coins - try getting rid of those pathetic pennies. I lost count of how many times my pockets were weighed down with coins yet when I pulled them all out there was barely enough to buy a drink.

Kyle → www.digitalovertone.com/

I’m pretty sure banks and government institutions (particularly post offices) give them out as change. Metro North does, and probably Amtrak too. I thought the MBTA did as well, but I may be wrong. It’s been a while since I haven’t had a pass.

Adam Michela → www.axentric.com/

I think all money should be coins.

That way I’d never spend any ;)

The only time I get those gold dollars is when putting a $20 into the do-it-yerself car wash thingy. They sit in my car indefinately.

Michael Newton → mike.eire.ca/

Americans don’t seem to like change. (I just realized the pun there as I typed it.) They rejected the $2 bill, they rejected Susan B, and now they’ve rejected Sacawagea.
Take a look at Europe. I was living there when the Euro came in, people happily dumped their 300 year old currencies!
I (a Canadian) can’t imagine what it was like without our $1 and $2 coins. Wake up America, use your coins! You’ll never look back.

Timothy → veryraw.com

I love dollar coins. I ask for them at the bank on the rare occasion I get in one. The best part about using dollar coins (particularly the volkswagon sized Eisenhower dollars) is watching the cashier find a place in their drawer for it.

My father uses 50 cents pieces to break toll booths on the highway. He thinks its funny.

My friends say my affinity for coins has something to do with the desire to have gold, silver and bronze pieces in my pocket. I swear I haven’t played D&D since high school though.

Andyk → www.ipodx.co.uk

I know coins weigh quite a bit, but trust me, you get used to them. in the UK we have coins for 1p, 2p,5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2 and a special £5 coin.

We like to refer to our coinage as “shrapnel” ;)

ghani → mischieftodata.com

I’m an American who moved to the UK, and i love the “shrapnel” versus bills — it’s always a nice surprise when you realise that your coat pocket of money is actually about 5 quid, whereas in america it would be about 75 cents. And as someone pointed out, the coins last much longer.

Ron

The only way the dollar coin will ever be successfully received by the public, is if we drop the printing of the dollar bill.

This is exactly what Canada did with the “loonie” - then the “twonie” followed suit, and I have heard that a C$5 is in the works.

The life span of a coin is 20+ years. The life span of a dollar bill is 24 weeks.

The economics is just too easy to figure out, which is why the Congress didn’t get it.

John Nick → tomphillips.co.uk

It would be great if the U.S. Mint conducted usability studies before settling on a design.

Both the Susan B. and the Sacagawea were derided upon release as too similar to existing coins.

Why not go with something thicker (rather than bigger) like the superb English Pound? It has supremely satisfying heft and is easily discernable by touch when rifling around in one’s pocket.

But why stop there — why not put a hole in the middle? They’d be instant fashion accessories, as well as further increasing the in-pocket-identifiability.

Two observations about the CNN article:

1. Interesting that they went out of their way to NOT include the word “Sacagawea” — were they worried about the spelling? I got mine off the U.S. Mint FAQ page.

2. Funny that they mention Republicans snatching up Teddy Roosevelt coins — I realize he was Republican, but at this point his legacy is as a staunch environmentalist. Can’t imagine the father of the National Parks program approving of drilling for oil in Alaskan wildlife areas.

JCRogers / Buddy13 → www.overt-operations.com/ari/

I’d love a hole in the middle. It’d remind me of those awesome Japanese coins. In fact, I’d like it if we were more innovative with our money in general. Clear plastic parts, holograms, holes, different shapes (imagine a hexagon-shaped coin). Then there wouldn’t be a problem identifying things. And for the clear plastic part, how easy would it be to put a little braille on there. Blind people have a hard time distinguishing bills (i.e., they just have to trust that someone is telling them the truth), it might be nice for them if they could be that much more self-sufficient.

robertm

One and two dollar coins work quite well here in Canada. Once you’ve accumulated more than a few it’s quite easy to remember to unload them the next time you’re paying a cashier. Plus they are very handy for most coin-operated machines.

Chris H.

Having lived in Australia for 3 years, where they got rid of their $1 bill and replaced it with a coin, I found the coins quite handy. I’ve been wishing American’s would wake up and do it, too.

There are several arguments for a coin vs a bill:

1- coins are cleaner. While any money isn’t that sanitary, coins harbor fewer germs than bills.

2- I spent less on crap when I had $1 coins. Like someone else said, it’s a nice surprise to find you have $10 in coins, where as $10 in bills just gets spent, typically on crap. That always made my gambling trips more fun.

3- Economics - $1 coins, while more expensive to produce, have a longer life span than a $1 bill (which the Treasury says is 22 months, btw). When the lifespans are figured, the cost of a $1 coin is much, much less.

4- Accurate, reliable coin mechanisms are less expensive to build than a bill validator. Coin mechanisms are less prone to jamming than a bill validator. Coins are easier to mechanically count and dispense than bills. All of that leads to more reliable vending machines that cost less. Which, while won’t lead to lower soda and snack prices, will lead to fewer price increases over all.

But the $1 coin replacing the $1 bill will never happen in the US. Why? Because American’s complain too much, and Congress is too full of wimps to just do it. Our congressmen are all too afraid of their whiney constituents to do what really needs to be done. Which is why we aren’t on the metric system (far superior) and why the $1 coin will never take off.

Tim Buchheim → www.tim.buchheim.name/

They should just go back to making the Eisenhower dollar. That was the last dollar coin which the public actually liked.

The Susan B. Anthony was a huge mistake. As everyone knows, it was far too similar to the quarter in size. Why was it so small? Probably to make vending machine companies happy. Not that any of them added dollar coin support to their machines anyway, aside from the US Postal Service and a few transit companies. The coin was also a really ugly design.

The Sacajawea dollar is a very nice coin, crippled only by its small size. It was designed to be compatible with the SBA dollar. Why? Vending machines again. But given the lack of vending machines which use the coin, I think this was a stupid design constraint.

They should just go back to the Eisenhower dollar’s form factor and ignore the vending machine companies. Or if they don’t want to make it that big, they should at the very least make it bigger than the Kennedy half dollar.

And why not bring back the Eagle (along with the Half Eagle and maybe even the Double Eagle) while they’re at it?

anonymous coward

what are the patrons of exotic dancing establishments ::cough::stripclubs::cough:: going to do? How do you tip with a coin? people will think you are being SUPER cheap and giving the lady a quarter!

amorson → www.techmount.com/

I got lots of the from the stamp machines in San Francisco. I actually got more than 20 of them stashed somewhere… I guess they might be valuable one day.

brian → bw.watchtan.com

I’d be more interested to see something like the 1 euro coin than the Eisenhower coin. I can’t see myself carrying around 10 eisenhowers, but 10 euro coins, sure. And maybe a 2 dollar coin while we’re at it. that way I can carry around a few of each, and not burden my pocket with a bunch of 1’s. The Brits and the euro folks had the right idea there.

Mike

A dollar today has the same buying power as a quarter did in 1974. People did not mind carrying around quarters back then. They really have no reason to complain now.

Andrew

I think the best thing to do would be to discontinue the $1 bill (not collect and destroy them, but let them come out of circulation naturally) and instead redesign a new $1 coin. The Anthony dollars are to hard to distinguish, and the Sacajawea dollars tarnish and are too small. Screw the vending machines-just have them modified to accept a $2 bill and give out dollar coins as change. New veniding machines would accomodate the coin, and old ones could be retrofitted.

People wouldn’t have to have masses of dollar coins in their pockets-the government could promote the $2 bill (which they still make and are still readily available-just ask for them at the bank), which could take the place of the $1 in popular consciousness.

Further consolidation and savings could be obtained by decreasing quarter production and increasing productions of half dollars.

We’d have to produce alot to get people to realize that they aren’t rare and stop hoarding them, but in time they’d be accepted as normal currency (say about 3-5 months).

We will never change our money of our own free will-the government will have to do it for us. Many politicians, I think, fear a backlash if they were to do this, but I don’t think there would be. People would get used to it and move on, like they did when the $5-$100 bills were changed.

It’s a good idea-call your senators and representative.