Modern $1 coins just plain suck

I think I just said it and here's why.

What is the real use of a modern $1 coin? The mint just keeps pumping them out and NOBODY uses them in day to day commece.

I have yet to have someone give one to me in change and if they did I would not really want it.

Look at it from a cashiers point of view. You have slots for cent through quarter. The extras are used for annoying half dollars, the occasional dollar that no one really wants and usually keys to areas of the store (I know this from past experience).
Currency is lined up $1 through $20 with an additional slot. 50's and 100's usually end up under the drawer or immediately dropped in the safe.

What does a dollar really buy these days? You can get a bag of chips at the gas station. In my case a small bag would be 99 cents plus tax. That's $1.05. So if I give them 2 dollar coins they have more clutter and I get back three quarters and two dimes. My change goes into a bin - theirs is just a headache.

Now, if I get something that comes to, let's say $5.19 do I want it ALL in change. Hell no. Give me four nice, foldable singles and 81 cents in change.

Yes, you get your "errors" and some nice coins for a collection but why even try and circulate the things? The public has shown since the Ike that they just don't fly. If you're going to make a larger denomination coin start at the $10 level perhaps. People might actually use those as long as they get paper in change.

Anyone else feel this way? ... and if you don't please tell me why and when was the last time you got one in change or actually spent one.

 

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I like them for small purchases. Today i went to the dollar store to get something, i knew it was going to be $1.05 so i brought five cents with me and a dollar coin. People give them to me as tips where i work every once in a while.

you would still get 95 cents back with 2 one dollar bills. It's not really clutter if there's a spot in the till for them.

 

I don't see any point to your arguments. I feel that coins for small purchases are superior to paper in concept and practice. They are also the seeds for coin collections 100 years from now. The Treasury might consider getting rid of the $1 bill. In practice, I probably get and spend more halves than $1 coins because I like them, but the idea is the same.

 

On my trips to the UK I really loved the 1 pound coin. I found it very handy for smallish transactions. I don't know why we can't get a 1 dollar coin to work in the US. I guess people are just too used to bills.

 

I think that's the only way they will ever get a $1 coin to work.

 

clembo:



Personally, I welcome anything that brings us some new coin designs. Heck, I don't even have to like the designs, just let's make some change to our small change!!!


The dollar coin will work if we do as Canada did and stop printing singles, but until the US government eliminates the $1 bill, your point is spot on. Noone prefers the coin to the bill, and our government is famous for lack of action towards progressive issues such as these.

Does anyone remember in the mid-1970s when Canada switched to the metric system? I remember starting to see signs here in Illinois that had both SAE and metric measures. I remember them starting to teach it in schools. Unfortunately, the Carter administration came and the metric initiative (for lack of a better term) stalled. Now here we are in the 21st century and the only country in the world that still uses the old SAE measures. Chances are that this push to make a US dollar coin will also die the same death simply because we can kill it through indifference and inactivity. I think you can count on the $1 bill for years to come, clembo.

 

We need real men on our dollars!

 

I would just as soon have dollar coins as opoposed to dollar bills.......I have a trifold wallet, which means each bill is three times its original thickness.....ends up being thick with dozen or so singles a five and a ten

A soda cost $1.25.....spend two bills, get three coins, or spend two coins and get nothing....

personally i think it is cheaper in the long run for the gov't. Why waste money printing easily worn out currency when coins will suffice.

 

I agree that it is pointless to have a dollar coin as long as the dollar bill is printed. I hope that the dollar bill is eliminated because a dollar doesn't get you as far as it once did, and I don't feel it belongs in my wallet. Whenever my wallet gets really fat, it's becaue I got a whole bunch of ones in there that almost always add up to under $10 - nothing too substantial. I always find myself trying to get rid of dollar bills.

I know you may think that if they eliminate the dollar bill, your pockets will get really heavy with coins. Not as much as you think. By eliminating the dollar bill, an extra bill slot will open up in the cash register, perfect for the $2 bill (they still make those). This will drastically lessen how many dollar coins you will get in your change. My wallet will be fat with $2 bills instead, which is twice as good as $1 bills, and everybody can stop arguing until the U.S. starts minting $2 coins.

 

Thanks for the responses so far everyone,

Seems I'm alone here but that's cool I did start this thread to discuss.

For starters, there are currency collectors too. Yeah, I happen to be one of them.

That aside should we just change the design of the $1 note every year? Wow, we could do all of the Presidents, they're wives and children!

So, let's say we get rid of the lowly $1 note. Would we EVER have to make a $1 coin again? Gotta be billions floating around by now in the hands of "non collectors" that saved them because they "would be worth something some day". Sure, just like circulated Bicentennial quarters. Only about 1.6 BILLION minted and still worth a quarter circulated.

Do they "bring people into the hobby"? Yes, for all the wrong reasons. Main one is that people that don't collect get ripped off buying "rare" dollars. See it on ebay and in the coin mags all of the time.

Is that how you want to promote the hobby?


Hey, I know I'm going all over the board here but it does make it interesting.

clembo

 

I think that a lot of people save $1 coins right now because they rarely see them, so when they do they think they found something special. If people start seeing them regularly in daily monetary transactions, I think they will realize they would be better off spending the coin.

 

I actually like the new $1 Presidential error coins, the regular ones are pumped out in the millions but I think these will be the ones to own. If the mint is forced to change the edge lettering then these may be the only year they are produced.

 

I find it absurd - name me any modernized country that has around the same economy status as the US. Let's say, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, the rest of Europe, Japan etc.

These countries all have coins of approximately 1 dollar or greater and on the other hand in the US, even half dollars prove to be difficult in circulation from what I read. My view is, if half dollars don't even circulate well enough, I don't see why dollar coins even circulate.

 

About two and one-half hours ago.

 

golden dollars make me want to hurl

 

I actually spend them too, but I have to make an extra effort to acquire them in order to do so.

So if I don't make the trip to the bank and ask for them, I don't spend 'em.

 

get rid of the dollar bill and pump up production of the $2 bill.
i carry around halves and ikes all the time and my pants havent fallen off yet

 

I just had a curious thought that maybe ikes and kennedy halves are like fruitcake. When someone gives ya one, you're not necessarily thrilled, and after a bit all you can do is pass it off on someone else.

 

You gotta admit though, the arguments "it's too big" and "it looks too much like a quarter" aren't as effective as they once were.