Comments on: The Sad Story of the Dollar Coin

By: Anthony

Anthony — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 18:14:45 +0000

I’m with the folks who think we should get rid of the penny, and the nickel. Both are worth more as metal than as currency – see http://coinflation.com/ – and both are relatively useless.
We should have a dollar coin with Lincoln and a $2 coin with Jefferson (making up for eliminating the penny and nickel), drop the $1 and $2 bill, and put Washington on the $10, dropping Hamilton.

By: SkippyFlipjack

SkippyFlipjack — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 08:01:02 +0000

I wish they’d make dollar coins that are the size and weight of britain’s pound coins. they *feel* like a dollar — maybe the diameter of a nickel or a bit more, but thicker and more dense. they’re easily recognizable to the touch in a pocket full of other coins. love ‘em.

By: Colin Smith

Colin Smith — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:51:20 +0000

Gotta say I don’t see the problem with coins, other than inflation making them useless. We have �1 and �2 coins. I’m assuming a �5 coin will be next as the currency depreciates further. Our 1 and 2 pence coins are actually worth more for their copper value than they are on the face value.
For those who don’t like pockets full of coins… Get a coin purse. It lets you take out all your coins in one go and the tray lets you count out the coins faster than trying to sort through them in your hand. The shape is designed to perfectly fit your trouser pocket.
e.g.
http://www.presentsdirect.com/go/Product_10579.html?categoryId=503
This particular one is four times more expensive than the identical one I got from my local leather place.

By: jiffy

jiffy — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:31:30 +0000

I’m reminded of a Simpsons episode in which Moe is shown threatening a customer at his bar and uttering the words: “Get out and take your Sacagawea dollars with you. I’ll give ya till the count of three�One�(gun shot)”

By: biosparite

biosparite — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:37:57 +0000

The Susan B. Anthony dollar made numismatic history: it is the first coin with an eagle on BOTH sides (snerk!).

By: Maynard Handley

Maynard Handley — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 05:49:34 +0000

If paper bills cost the Mint so much, why not replace them with more difficult to forge and longer lasting plastic bills?
In the absence of this step, I find the arguments provided by the Mint pretty damn lame.
I’m with MY — this is about nothing but mining interests.

By: Steve Snyder

Steve Snyder — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:30:30 +0000

We had silver dollars eons ago. Worked fine. Used by many. Looked nothing like a quarter, as far as size.
And that’s the prob. Vending machines are stuck in the Susan B. Sacagawea loop. Until you start from scratch, we’ll remain stuck.

By: Scott Carpenter

Scott Carpenter — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 02:10:33 +0000

I don’t really want a pocket full of coins either, but if you think it’s a problem to carry 9 or 10 dollar coins in your pocket, is it also a problem to carry 40 quarters? Not really, because you wouldn’t do that. The dollar today is worth the same as a quarter from N years ago. The quarter worked back then because you’d quickly drop them in a jar or “color up” to bills if you had too many. The same could work with dollar coins and higher value bills.
I like the idea above of dumping the penny and replacing its spot with the dollar coin, and dumping the dollar bill and replacing its spot with the two dollar bill.

By: wcw

wcw — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:48:27 +0000

1) Hank V said, “unto the breach,” dear friend.
2) Jeepers. All these comments about coinage?

By: TomF

TomF — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:11:13 +0000

People still use cash?

By: Christopher M

Christopher M — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:42:44 +0000

I don’t get it, where do those of who you who wear pants and don’t carry a purse or anything keep all these coins? Maybe I’m just slightly OCD about this kind of thing, but carrying nine or ten dollar-size coins in my pocket is awkward and annoying. And when I grab my wallet on the way out of the house, I don’t routinely also look for a pile of coins to carry around with me; but that’s what you’d have to do if we had only dollar coins. Why is that preferable again?

By: dan

dan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:28:54 +0000

“Generally speaking I only use bills on a daily basis. Whatever change I collect during the day winds up in my car change tray or in a monumental pile on my dresser.
I can’t stand lugging around bits of metal in my pocket.”
Thats because every coin except the quarter is not even worth carying around. I’d like to see dime as the smallest coin, and 1 & 2 dollar coins minted. You’re more likely to spend a coin if you can actually get something for it.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:48:35 +0000

> Most if not all soda machines already do, even when they don’t explicitly state it.
That is, they take the current dollar coins, which are easily mistaken for quarters… as opposed to some brilliant future design that is easily distinguishable from them.

By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:43:50 +0000

> One would have to also pass legislation requiring vending machines to take the dollar coins.
Most if not all soda machines already do, even when they don’t explicitly state it.

By: Cal Gal

Cal Gal — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:05:29 +0000

Sign me up, too, with PocketFullOCoins, but the UK experience perhaps does not apply completely because for some reason, I suppose, their penny is huge.
Still, if getting rid of the paper one dollar bill is the goal, do that first, minting lots of 50 cent pieces. People will start clamoring for a dollar coin, and make the vending machines take the 50 cent pieces.
You know, we used to have dollar coins. They were called “silver dollars” and the casinos kept them alive for years for the slots. Why can’t we just start minting those again, but sandwich them like quarters instead of making them of silver?
Their heft made them easily distinguishable from lesser coins. I think part of the problem with all dollar coins since is that, dime aside, we instictively think a dollar should be bigger than any other coin.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:53:32 +0000

> neil asked why not introduce a bigger dollar coin; actually, neil, the dollar coin before the Susan B. Anthony was a substantial sized coin with Dwight Eisenhower on it that no one wanted to carry because it was “too big.”
While I’m opposed to coinage on principal (see above) I do like the idea of differentiating by thickness. Think something the diameter of a quarter (perhaps slightly smaller) and 150-200% the thickness of a nickle.
I suppose the vending companies wouldn’t be too wild about that, though, either.
> And yes, they will have two (nonconsecutive) Grover Cleveland coins.
These mining interests really are quite insidious.

By: Frank Schmitt

Frank Schmitt — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:03:11 +0000

PocketFullOCoins, to answer your (possibly rhetorical) question, 50-cent bill is a bad idea because it’s probably larger and only slightly lighter than five dimes.
For typical transactions, a $1 bill is more convenient than a coin, but vending machines and parking meters are two big exceptions. Parking at a meter in Vancouver, one quickly starts to appreciate the Loonie ($3/hour from 9AM to 8PM every day).
And yes, they will have two (nonconsecutive) Grover Cleveland coins.

By: Brock

Brock — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:18:32 +0000

Henry: Only up through Nixon. U.S. Law forbids putting the likeness of a living person on a coin. So technically Reagan is eligible. I guess they’re waiting until Ford and Carter die, so they can issue them in the right order.

By: JMS

JMS — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:11:02 +0000

I think the answer to the “what’s wrong with bills” question really does go back to the vending machines. As inflation pushes so many vending machine products over a dollar, it’s more convenient to put in a coin (if you’ve had that unfortunate experience of putting in the same bill over and over, or having it rejected). I think the most sensible point would be to get rid of the penny altogether. But then again, people are starting to move to using plastic for even the most “micro” transactions. One could foresee a time when this whole debate is simply anchronistic and you pay with your thumbprint or the chip embedded in your head.

By: JMS

JMS — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:10:31 +0000

By: Henry

Henry — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:00:26 +0000

ALL the presidents? I will not accept a coin with George W. Bush’s face on it. (Perhaps getting his face on a coin was the purpose of the design selection, as they knew that they couldn’t get away with using his face alone.) Couldn’t they make an exception for presidents who torture?

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:00:12 +0000

neil asked why not introduce a bigger dollar coin; actually, neil, the dollar coin before the Susan B. Anthony was a substantial sized coin with Dwight Eisenhower on it that no one wanted to carry because it was “too big.” Reviewing American views on coins and paper money only emphasizes my nasty suspicion that Europe in the 19th century got rid of all of its village idiots by sending them here.

By: Sartorius

Sartorius — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:08:45 +0000

>”Contrary to the snotty suggestion attributed above to a “wag,” the child in the basket on the Sakagawea dollar has a name…”
Yes, the Sack O’ Gawea suggestion was extremely insensitive. Everybody knows that the “golden dollar” is called a “Squawbuck”.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:00:13 +0000

Thank you to PocketFullOCoins for saying what needs to be said.
Generally speaking I only use bills on a daily basis. Whatever change I collect during the day winds up in my car change tray or in a monumental pile on my dresser.
I can’t stand lugging around bits of metal in my pocket.
So what’s the game here? Viva el fanny pack?

By: Crispy

Crispy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:41:15 +0000

We need to stick with the paper dollar bill because otherwise I would have to jam an ice pick into my skull after listening to Bill O’reilly ranting on about the Liberal’s war against the dollar bill.

By: Gene O'Grady

Gene O'Grady — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:21:49 +0000

Contrary to the snotty suggestion attributed above to a “wag,” the child in the basket on the Sakagawea dollar has a name (Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau) and was in fact a rather historically significant figure in the 19th century West. Guess he doesn’t count ’cause he didn’t write the Federalist papers.
And bonus points for any one who can name the first non-symbolic woman to appear on an American dollar!

By: DollarBill

DollarBill — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:06:43 +0000

I’m with PocketFullofCoins. I lived in London for some time and absolutely hated the coinage. The dollar bill is light, foldable, easily carried, and far simpler to organize in a wallet than coinage. You need a pretty compelling reason to completely revamp the way people handle their money.
Yet the sum total of arguments I’ve seen for dollar coins has been the following:
1.) They last longer… potentially saving the government “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
2.) Most other countries are doing it.
I don’t find either of these reasons to be particularly compelling. With respect to the first, anything less than a few billion is frankly peanuts (this is what, two Alaskan bridges?), and doesn’t really move the cost/benefit scales for me. Regarding the second, I don’t see why it matters what other people are doing – I see lots of advantages to our current system.
Am I missing some great arguments here? I see a far more compelling rationale for, say, moving to the metric system than I do for dollar coins.

By: DumbMonkey

DumbMonkey — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:45:57 +0000

I live in DC and carry dollar coins to give to the homeless – it is convenient, since they do feel different than a quarter in the pocket and I don’t have to take out my wallet in the street to give a buck to someone less fortunate. Plus it is guaranteed to be circulated at least once more.

By: Donald A. Coffin

Donald A. Coffin — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:05:03 +0000

MattYglesias (http://www.matthewyglesias.com/archives/2006/11/big_coin_wins_again/#comment) notes the apparent influence of the mining lobby. Which, if true, suggests we’re selling the rights to our monetary system as well as to everything else.

By: PocketFullOCoins

PocketFullOCoins — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:02:00 +0000

Elephant in the room time.
Could it be that people don’t WANT a dollar coin and prefer light, foldable paper to a solid, rigid coin?
American males carry their money in their pocket or in a wallet. Coins make pockets uncomfortable and obviously don’t work with a wallet.
This is clearly a plan to get red-blooded American men to start carrying purses or to hang coin pouches from their belts!
Who the heck wants more change in their pocket?
Makes more sense to make a new 50-cent bill than another dollar coin that clearly very few actually want!