[Chwisch87]

It has been estimated by the GAO that the switch over from One dollar coins from one dollar bills would produce a net benefit of 500 million dollars a YEAR in saved treasury costs.

I am doing my part and have switched over to one dollar coins going forward.

[JinDesu]

My local strip club disapproves of dollar coins

[adr1an]

My local strip club disapproves of dollar coins

I know what you mean... my local doesn't like it when I try and use "payWave" either....

[magkelly]

Yeah, like I really want 10 metal dollars weighing down my purse every day. Every place you go gives you dollar bills for change. By the end of a busy day I can have 10-15 dollar bills in my purse I need to condense and change for a larger bill. If all those bills were metal? Added to the regular coins you get my purse would weigh a ton. Most men don't like a lot of heavy coins in their pockets either. It can ruin the line of their pants, tear pockets over time.

You can keep coin money. I don't even carry it. I put it in a jar as I get it and save it up for laundry and splurges on camera gear, new Barbies or whatnot. Half the collector's dolls on my shelf came from saving my pennies, literally. Since I can't really afford to do that with metal dollars using them all the time wouldn't do me much good. It may sound silly but I don't like a lot of metal in my purse. Too much in the purse and my back gets to aching, seriously. I'm all for being eco friendly and for lessening government spending, but not at the cost of more damage to my spine. The only metal dollar I'll have in my purse is a 1923 Morgan dollar that I keep for luck, that's it.

[adr1an]

Our dollar coins aren't that heavy... certainly lighter than $0.50 or $0.20's (we dont do 'quarters' here...).

We ditched $1 and $2 probably 20 years back.. and yes it can be annoying when you have $50 worth of the buggers.. but I just make sure to 'reuse' or make 'exact change' with them when out and the rest goes into my "Camera Slush Fund Jar" - so its win-win... the money is removed from the houses "Consolidated Revenue" and I get to buy stuff every couple of months...

Out of curiosity - why dont the US switch to Polymer notes ? Less able to be counterfit (more security measures possible etc), and heaps more durable. The 'cost' of low-demonination paper money is that its usually high-circulation, and thus, degrades quicker and must be destroyed as its no longer legible enough to be considered 'legal tender'. They then have to produce a new note, as well as have the old ones removed from circulation and destroyed.

Switching to Polymer, you can keep your $1 bills, and reduce costs because they last 4-5 times longer than paper money in equivalent circulation.

Polymer banknote - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SteveM]

We lost our dollar in 1987 and then the $2 bill in 1996. Of course, the government named the new dollar a "Loonie"

[Jasvox]

With what a dollar can buy these days, only makes sense to convert to a coin version of this monetary unit. Now, only if we could begin to phase out the 1 cent coin...

Another idea is similar to what I see in Europe..tax is included with the price you see on the tag and usually in increments of 5 cents. This keeps the very small coins (1 and 2 eurocents) to a minimum and also keeps the need for heavy change to a minimum. After having gotten used to carrying 1 and 2 euro coins, I can say from experience I have never complained to myself or anyone else about any added weight in my pockets...I guess I am not in the habit, thanks to the need, of carrying any more "change" in my pocket when living in Europe as I do when in the States, just different denominations.

Jason

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Last edited by Jasvox; 09-01-2011 at 12:35 AM.

[pixelsaurus]

Another idea is similar to what I see in Europe..tax is included with the price you see on the tag and usually in increments of 5 cents.
Jason

NZ ditched all its shrapnel years ago. Smallest coin is 10c and rest are 20c,50c,$1 and $2. All retail pricing is inclusive of tax so the buyer sees the price before buying. When I lived in the US, I could see no sense in retaining the penny and hated the mental gymnastics of having to add tax to the retail price before payment. I could not see why such a progressive nation likes to do things hard.

[jeffkrol]

NZ ditched all its shrapnel years ago. Smallest coin is 10c and rest are 20c,50c,$1 and $2. All retail pricing is inclusive of tax so the buyer sees the price before buying. When I lived in the US, I could see no sense in retaining the penny and hated the mental gymnastics of having to add tax to the retail price before payment. I could not see why such a progressive nation likes to do things hard.

Invisible hand psychology and the need to "haggle"...

Make it $20 with the tax included..($19 item comes to $20.05 (my state) so just make it 18.96 plus tax)

or

$19.99 is much cheaper than $20

[GeneV]

With what a dollar can buy these days, only makes sense to convert to a coin version of this monetary unit. Now, only if we could begin to phase out the 1 cent coin...

Another idea is similar to what I see in Europe..tax is included with the price you see on the tag and usually in increments of 5 cents. This keeps the very small coins (1 and 2 eurocents) to a minimum and also keeps the need for heavy change to a minimum. After having gotten used to carrying 1 and 2 euro coins, I can say from experience I have never complained to myself or anyone else about any added weight in my pockets...I guess I am not in the habit, thanks to the need, of carrying any more "change" in my pocket when living in Europe as I do when in the States, just different denominations.

Jason

I don't think you will see the tax included here any time soon. Too many people want the tax to be in your face for political reasons.

I also think that many large businesses have made the same calculation about the effect of a few added cents on thousands of transactions that was made in the movie "Office Space."

[Chwisch87]

The cotton growers (our money is make from cotton) and ink lobby have pushed congress to keep the paper greenback. There is also the "save the greenback" citizens group as well but frankly folks we are talking 500 million dollars in savings per year. Thats money that could be going to NASA or Amtrak, or building a new light rail line, lets say in Atlanta.... lol.

[redrockcoulee]

It did seem strange last month in Montana buying a small item and giving a $5 dollar bill and starting to put my wallet away and the clerk gives me folding money back in my change. I was not overly keen on the dropping of the dollar bill as do not like to carry much change and the $2 dollar bill change over did not affect me as they were always totally shunned on the prairies, banks did not even try to give them out as change. But one gets used to it. The naming of the Loonie was not by the government and was the result of loss or theft of the original dies on shipment from Ottawa to Winterpeg. Personally I wished that in Canada we would officially change the name of the currency to the Loonie to stand out from the US Australia and all those other countries that use that name which I believe came from the Dutch in the first place.

However some of your citizens would want to drop NASA or Amtrak regardless and rather waste money on printing bills just cause they want to prove that the government cannot do things. If the current administration tried changing over to coin I am sure it would be labelled as part of the socialist plot to rid the country of freedoms, red meat, guns and religion

[normhead]

I found a 2 dollar bill in a drawer the other day. It reminded me of when Trudeau was Prime Minister and Nixon was President... how nostaligic. The toonie and the loonie work just fine.. although you do have to have a coin pouch with a zipper on your wallet.

[eddie1960]

Given the value of a dollar the coins make complete sense. As many pointed out we got rid of our bills below $5 ages back, not a problem at all (though having the $2 coin does make it easier) Biggest issue at the time was for retailers replacing there cash drawer liners to accommodate the new coins
occasionally i end up with $10 in change but mostly i try and roll it over every purchase. I think the US is the last major country with such a small value bill.
I know Europe has 1 euro and 2 euro coins, the UK has 1 pound coins
Counterfeiting isn't an issue with them. too expensive to produce for too little return (mind you the $1 bill isn't worth the trouble either )

[eddie1960]

If the current administration tried changing over to coin I am sure it would be labelled as part of the socialist plot to rid the country of freedoms, red meat, guns and religion