Why are Americans so stubborn about $1 coins? (1 Viewer)

[Scott McGillivray]

I LOVE the coins! Bring on the $5 coin! Like other have said, I rarely have much cash on me anyway. I tend to use my debit card for everything. I like having some change in my car that occasionally surprises me by being a goodly sum!

Oh...and the stripper thing? Not a problem (uh...according to a friend of mine). You just toss the coin at the appropriate target *ahem* and if you hit the mark, you usually get a poster of her or something. Again...this is what my "friend" tells me. :b

 

[Francois Caron]

But strippers all across America would revolt if dollar bills were replaced by coins...

Not necessarily. The lowest bill we now have is the five dollar bill. So guess what the stripper gets!

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Both federal tries at getting them started were doomed from the start. All they have to do is to STOP printing up the paper ones, it should take about 18 months, and the whole mess would be over.

Glenn

 

[Nathan*W]

I was just about to post that, Glenn! The Fed screwed up by not halting production of the paper $1 at the same time as the new gold $1 coin came out. Since the average person will be resistant to change, they will stick with paper until it's not an option anymore.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Not necessarily. The lowest bill we now have is the five dollar bill. So guess what the stripper gets!

Nothing (sometimes)!

 

[Jay Heyl]

About 25 years ago I remember reading of a study the government did into what needed to be done to get people to accept $1 coins. The conclusion -- which seemed pretty obvious to me -- was that they needed to stop printing $1 bills. 25 years later they've melted down millions of Susan B. Anthony coins, who knows what they're doing with all the Sacagawea coins that no one is using, and they're still printing dollar bills.

If I were in charge, I'd stop printing $1, $5, and $10 bills, and mint a $5 coin to go with the current $1 coin. The smallest bill would be a $20. The average $1 and $5 bills last about 2 years in circulation; the $10 bills lasts about 3 years. Coins last about 30 years in circulation. Bills cost about four cents to produce. $1 coins cost about 10 cents to produce. The coin costs 2-1/2 times more, but lasts 15 times longer. The economics seem pretty clear.

 

[Steve Owen]

Ugh. At any given moment, I've probably got probably 5-8 $1 bills in my wallet.... maybe more. I can't even imagine lugging around coins instead. Too much of a pain. I've got no problem with $1 bills. The endless heavy coins is one of the things I hate about traveling in Europe.

Now pennies on the other hand... is there ANY reason to have those around any more? Round everything to the nearest 5 cents and be done with it.

-Steve

 

[Glenn Overholt]

But Steve, the rest of the world walks around with dollar coins in their pockets. Ok, I haven't asked anyone that lives in another country if they like it or not, but I think that they live with it. You could always buy a coin purse!

Glenn

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Ugh. At any given moment, I've probably got probably 5-8 $1 bills in my wallet.... maybe more. I can't even imagine lugging around coins instead. Too much of a pain. I've got no problem with $1 bills. The endless heavy coins is one of the things I hate about traveling in Europe.

Now pennies on the other hand... is there ANY reason to have those around any more? Round everything to the nearest 5 cents and be done with it.

I think I'd also rather see the penny go away than the dollar bill. But then one would have to wonder why in the hell our monetary system is based on units of 1/100 if the smallest divisible amount is 5/100.

When I pay cash for something, I don't want to get back a big handful of change for amounts approaching five dollars.

By the way, you all seem to be forgetting that before the 1979 Susan B. Anthony coin, there were other dollar coins, the immediate predecessor being the Eisenhower coin which was first issued in 1971. Even though it wasn't a real "silver dollar", it was large and heavy and so it had the "feel" of a dollar. But I wouldn't want to have a handful of those in my pocket instead of single bills in my wallet.

 

[JamesHl]

I never cared for the new dollar coin. Maybe if it had a better design.

Of course, when the selection comitee is so biased that 4 of the 5 finalists are from the same freakin' person, what do you expect? Maybe if we got to vote on the coin or something...

 

[Tony-B]

Well, I think that the bills are just easier to carry around. Just creates less weight in your pocket.

 

[Roland Wandinger]

I never cared for the new dollar coin. Maybe if it had a better design.

Talking of design, why is it that US bills are all the same size and color?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

US Bills are probably all the same size and color because of the practice for each bank to print their own banknotes prior to the Federal Reserve system. They'd have a unified "look and feel" and the US government wanted the same.

Japan has 1,5,10,50,100 and 500 yen coins, and by the time I left, I literally set off the metal detector at the airport with my horde of money. Bills are so much better than coins, and frankly I'd love to see them minimized totally with laws on even-dollar pricing (that Japan does have, those of you that import will see 2 prices on the product, the before and after tax, after being even amount)

 

[Philip Hamm]

Coins last about 30 years in circulation. Bills cost about four cents to produce. $1 coins cost about 10 cents to produce. The coin costs 2-1/2 times more, but lasts 15 times longer. The economics seem pretty clear.

That's about it. It's our tax dollars at work here. I say ditch the dollar bill and go to the coin in order for the government to save money in a very obvious way. In Philadelphia's Septa and on NJ Transit you get dollar coins as change all the time.

The absolute best thing about dollar coins would be that they would speed up tollboths. Imagine if you could throw $3 into the "Exact Change" lanes. That would speed up traffic like crazy!

 

[Vincent Matis]

Funny you bring this topic because there's currently talks in Europe to replace the 1 EUR and 2 EUR coins with bills, taking the US$ example !
I made this joke that when you pay in EUR, you always end up getting more coins than you give the cashier

Cheers,

Vincent

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Talking of design, why is it that US bills are all the same size and color?

That is going to change. Next year, larger bills are going to be redesigned with different tints under the green and black ink. The sad little dollar, which missed the redesign of the last couple of years (because nobody bothers to counterfeit them, it's not worth the effort), will miss this redesign too.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Ugh. At any given moment, I've probably got probably 5-8 $1 bills in my wallet.... maybe more. I can't even imagine lugging around coins instead. Too much of a pain. I've got no problem with $1 bills.

This is a pretty ridiculous argument. No offense, but what the $2 and $1 coins teach you is to spend your small bills instead of breaking your big bills all the time and ending up with a wallet full of singles.

How on Earth can you end up with eight $1 bills? Even if you have to buy eight things at eight different locations that are exactly $19 each and have eight twenties, by the fourth one you just hand 'em the twenty and four singles and you have a five back. With the $2 coin, the number of singles are also greatly reduced. I rarely have more than $5 in change in my wallet, and if I have $5, it'll be three coins. Right now, I have a $2, three quarters, a nickel and a penny. All together, these weigh significantly less than my two credit cards and two bank cards, my Transit pass and my ID (Health card etc), which are what weighs down my pocket. I'm forever taking cards out of my wallet to lighten it up.

 

[John Watson]

I'm sure the bureaucratic mindermasts in Canada are planning the launch of the $5 coin as soon as they think they can get away with it.

One of the negatives is how it gives coin operated machine businesses an excuse to raise prices to an even $ amount.

Amen to the penny madness posts! One of the few decent or intelligent evolutions in human behaviour in recent decades has been the use of penny boxes at cashiers - you can pick up a couple of pennies to help pay a bill exactly, or leave your 2 cents change, and at least avoid carrying the heavy little beggars around in pockets.

 

[Tony Whalen]

I'm sure the bureaucratic mindermasts in Canada are planning the launch of the $5 coin as soon as they think they can get away with it.

Midermasts....

I'm sure they'll put out a 5-dollar coin as well.

 

[MarkHastings]

How on Earth can you end up with eight $1 bills?

This always happens to me too...

Example: At lunch, my bill was $16. I had 4 singles and a 20. I paid with the 20 and got back 4 singles...add that to the 4 I already had, and now I have 8 singles.

If I had to carry around 8 large coins, I'd be pretty pissed.