New $1 coin- would the changes make YOU use them?

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I'm kind of surprised so many people are so against dollar-coins.

I think paper dollar-bills suck.

Somebody mentioned how annoying it is trying to use it on a vending machine.
No f'ing joke. It's just annoying.

Paper $1 bills are just dumb.

Pretty much agree with metetron on his arguments (except that bit about coins in the little pouch in the wallet...just not my style).


Somebody pointed out that $0.25 has been our largest commonly used denomination coin for quite some time.
So long that I suspect a dollar is now worth less than a quarter has been for quite some time.


So, basically this is the equivilent of going 25 or 30 years back in time to 1975 or something and us having a paper-bill for quarters.
It's just stupid.


Also agree that abolishing the penny is a good idea but evidently there's some significant resistence to this from a nation full of penny-lovers.

Saw a story about this on CNN a few months back and it was stated that each penny now costs $0.03 to make.

I believe the country is losing millions of dollars just from the cost of minting all those damn pennies.

If losing that much money to keep some stupid 'penny tradition' alive isn't a ridiculous waste then I don't know what is.

Yeah yeah...so what's a few million bucks here or there for our country that spends X amount for education or defense or the Iraq war or whatever?
Big whoop.
Well, it seems there's a sick amount of stupid mis-spending from our govt. Save a few million here or there by getting rid of the stupidest of the stupid and it can actually start to add up.

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The U.S. no longer uses the gold standard, though.

Thus, the currency that they issue constitutes an interest-free loan AFAIK. Even if costs them 3 cents apiece to issue pennies, might a typical penny remain in circulation long enough that the 1 cent interest free loan can be turned into more than 3 cents?

[By-Tor]

I will use the new dollar coin...




...as a ball mark...




...when I lose the Sacagawea dollar I use currently.

[gusmahler]

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"Coins:

10 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, 2 dollars"


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By eliminating the penny and nickel, prices could not increase by only .01 or .05.



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First, how often do items on sale get reduced by only .01?

Second, of course they could change by .01 or .05. The only effect is at the cash register. And that effect is only felt if you pay by cash (which is becoming more and more rare each year.)

[Stellastarr]

When would you ever use a $500 dollar bill? Poker players would love it, but when would a normal person be using it. Unless you are out buying 60 inch plasmas and rolex's everyday, there is no use for a $500 bill. That's what your credit cards are for.

[gusmahler]

I don't understand why vending machine companies, and the companies that make self-pay kiosks (like at the grocery store and at Home Depot), don't adopt the dollar coin as the primary way it gives dollar sized change. That simple change would dramatically increase the usage of dollar coins. (The same goes for those machines that automatically dispense change at the grocery store.)

The current problem with the dollar coin is that few businesses have them in their drawer. So you never get them as change. If you never get dollar coins, you never spend them.

But if the next time you went to the grocery store, you got 3 dollar coins in change after you paid for your groceries, you'd be more likely to use them next time you go grocery shopping. And once people start having them from grocery stores and vending machines, other businesses will start to get dollar coins as payment. They will see an incentive to stock dollar coins to give as change.

The other problem with the dollar coin is psychological. Adults are used to a handful of change being, for practical purposes, nearly worthless. With dollar coins, a handful of them can quickly add up. But once the dollar becomes more widely circulated, this belief would change.

PS the new dollar coins have a bad design. Because it is not as golden as the Sacagewea dollar, is nearly the same size as the quarter, and has the same President as the quarter, they are too easily confused. Also, the writing on the side of the coin is very hard to read.

PPS I had to go to three different banks to find the dollar coin. And that branch refused to give me more than two rolls (and the teller got a talking to by his boss for even giving me two--the limit was supposed to be one). So the formula for making the dollar coin successful includes preventing banks from placing the coins in circulation?

[gusmahler]

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Dollar coins will also save the vending machine industry tons of money in repairs that the dollar bill readers need each year.


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Versus the cost of a bill reader, is it much cheaper to retrofit and service a coin drop in order for it to accept a new coin (and not accept slugs)?

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I thought that the Presidential dollar, the Sacagewea, and the SBA dollar all have the same electronic signature? If so, the SBA has been around for 28 years. They've had plenty of time to adopt their machines to accept them.

I have to go grocery shopping tonight. I'll see if the self-serve kiosk accepts the new dollar coin.

[CrazyEyez]

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PS the new dollar coins have a bad design. Because it is not as golden as the Sacagewea dollar, is nearly the same size as the quarter, and has the same President as the quarter, they are too easily confused. Also, the writing on the side of the coin is very hard to read.

PPS I had to go to three different banks to find the dollar coin. And that branch refused to give me more than two rolls (and the teller got a talking to by his boss for even giving me two--the limit was supposed to be one). So the formula for making the dollar coin successful includes preventing banks from placing the coins in circulation?

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Yeah this is pretty much a disaster for a variety of reasons. Apparently they are just going to try and trick us into circulating them by making us think they're quarters.

[loose passive]

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When would you ever use a $500 dollar bill? Poker players would love it, but when would a normal person be using it. Unless you are out buying 60 inch plasmas and rolex's everyday, there is no use for a $500 bill. That's what your credit cards are for.

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Buying drugs or weapons is where the $500 bill would be used most.

[gusmahler]

I tried the coin in the grocery store self-checkout and it worked.

BTW, here's a picture (yes, the lighting is terrible. I was trying to experiment with macro photography):





If there's a coin they need to get rid of before the penny, it's the half-dollar. I had no idea they even made them anymore until I wandered into a coin dealer one day. But it's a nice size, though:

[grinin]

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I had no idea they even made them anymore until I wandered into a coin dealer one day

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yikes, me either. Really, they should simply make the half dollar size the new $5 coin