US aims to relaunch dollar coin

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper


According to an AP story that moved Sunday, the U.S. Mint estimated it would save $500 million per year switching from dollar bills to dollar coins.

Gatekeeper

Except that the Mint won't switch, they'll just add dollar coins to the mix, which is why they'll fail.

This is where I disagree with DanS and others. I don't think Americans have shown a preference for bills over coins, per se. They've shown a preference for stasis over change, which is hardly surprising. If the Mint wants dollar coins to work, they're going to have to withdraw bills.

[Imran Siddiqui]

No, we've shown a preference for bills over coins. That's why I have a big ass coin jar, because I hate carrying the ****ers around.

[Bill3000]

Uh. How about freaking discontinuing paper dollar bills if you want to introduce dollar coins successfuly!?

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


Except that the Mint won't switch, they'll just add dollar coins to the mix, which is why they'll fail.

This is where I disagree with DanS and others. I don't think Americans have shown a preference for bills over coins, per se. They've shown a preference for stasis over change, which is hardly surprising. If the Mint wants dollar coins to work, they're going to have to withdraw bills.

I've made my argument on this before, but it's essentially Rufus' taken one step further - who cares what the preferrence of Americans is? If the Mint/Treasury Department want to have a dollar coin, recall all the bills and strike the damn coin already. You don't neen to hold a freakin' referendum on your currency, and you didn't every time they decided to come up with a commemerative quarter or when they changed your $20 bill, for example.

[Elok]

Oh, but we might turn to using LIBERTY DOLLARS! No, wait, those are coins too. Plus they're backed only by lunatics with no concept of how money works. Never mind.

[Dinner]

If they look and feel to much like quarters then they will fail for the same reason the Susan B. Anthony silver dollars were rejected by the public.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DanS
The bottom line is that credit cards have at least one less step (the PIN number stuff), so are better.

You are forgeting the print paper reciept, tear off paper reciept, give paper reciept to costumer, find pen, give pen to customer, have costumer sign paper reciept, and put paper reciept in cash register steps.

[GePap]

You spend less if you pay in cash regularly, because you know exactly how much you are spending and you can feel the lowering levels of cash in your pocket. Plastic makes spending money easier. Ergo you save less.

I never go drinking while paying with plastic.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
No, we've shown a preference for bills over coins. That's why I have a big ass coin jar, because I hate carrying the ****ers around.

Yeah, I did, too, when I lived in the US. But that was because I regarded coins as worthless, not because I hated metal money. And what was "worthless" varied with my income; as a grad student, I only set aside pennies; as a new professor, I threw nickels and dimes into the mix; once I'd been working a while (and once I oned my own washer and dryer) quarters got set aside, too. Why? Because I can't buy a single thing I want with a lone penny, nickel, dime, or quarter. But a dollar? That's different, at least for me.

That's why in Singapore I still set aside $.05, $.10, and $.20 coins, but carry around $.50 and $1 coins.

Not that I want to take anything away from anyone who has a bizarre, pathological loathing for round metal objects...but you shouldn't generalize it to the US as a whole.

[:) Smiley]

Originally posted by Oerdin
If they look and feel to much like quarters then they will fail for the same reason the Susan B. Anthony silver dollars were rejected by the public.

second that. one big advantage coins have over bills is that you can tell which one you've got without looking at it.

[snoopy369]

Americans do NOT like carrying around coins, most that I've seen (and I work retail, so that's a lot) either leave coins if there's a tip jar, or go out of their way to give exact change so that no coins come back to them.

Fundamentally it's probably how we carry our change that's the reason. We carry thin wallets, and prefer to keep those THIN. You can carry a lot of $ bills while still remaining a very thin wallet ... but several dollars in coins would just kill that. That's why we don't want them...

Taking the $1 bill away is indeed the only way you'd get people to use them ... but why should you make people do something they don't want to do Remember, this is a DEMOCRACY (or a republic ) not a police state

[Jon Miller]

I keep all my coins in sacks.. then I use quarters for laundery.. and just get larger and larger ammounts ofr the rest.

I generally try to give tips/etc so hat I don't carry around coins.

JM

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
It's no different than the country specific euro coins. If the shape and color remains the same, the actual picture won't matter much.

but the euro coins have their value in big numbers on the common side

compare






my short experience last summer in the US was dramatic. i ended up giving my all change to cashiers and telling them: "there, take as needed"

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
Yeah, I did, too, when I lived in the US. But that was because I regarded coins as worthless, not because I hated metal money. And what was "worthless" varied with my income; as a grad student, I only set aside pennies; as a new professor, I threw nickels and dimes into the mix; once I'd been working a while (and once I oned my own washer and dryer) quarters got set aside, too. Why? Because I can't buy a single thing I want with a lone penny, nickel, dime, or quarter. But a dollar? That's different, at least for me.

That's why in Singapore I still set aside $.05, $.10, and $.20 coins, but carry around $.50 and $1 coins.

Not that I want to take anything away from anyone who has a bizarre, pathological loathing for round metal objects...but you shouldn't generalize it to the US as a whole.

No, its not because they are 'regarded... as worthless', it's because I don't want to carry around bulky coins in my pocket. Most American males, in my experience, do not. It's why the dollar coin hasn't taken off. Because we like our bills. We don't like carrying around coins.

[Jon Miller]

Id on't even like to carry arround bills..

JM