I use them I've actually even had a few Eisenhower dollars come through when I still worked at the grocery store.
Back in '21, you could have bought a LOT of cokes for a buck. My earliest recollection, early '50's, Cokes were a nickel each (but you had to have return bottles). You're right, time goes by FAST!
They must circulate somewhere, at least for a little while. The small dollars are given as change in change machines when you change a $10.00 bill. Company cafeterias use these.
Most of the dollar coins I have my wife brought home from her beauty shops. She sold them and retired a few years ago and doesn't bring me change at all.
People actually spent Ikes in the early 70s and I swapped them out of the till, for no particular reason I guess, and their circulation ended. I should go spend them! Just for the reactions I'd get for a buck. I've hardly seen a dollar coin since, maybe a couple at most. If you're anywhere outside the US, dollar coins or their equivalent are all you'll see.
Received 2 Susan B. dollars last week from two different places. Lots of folks, younger especially, have never seen them and hand them out at 25 cents I'm suspecting.
I was in Montana in 1960 and in Alaska in 1963. You were as likely to get a silver dollar in change as get a paper dollar.
If you want them you have to ask. Check with your local 7-11 cashier, probably has a few in the till they want to get rid of,bank tellers usually have them too. They don't give them as change because most people don't like them. My Bank teller offered me 2 rolls of Sacajawea dollars today. I bought them. One roll was Solid 2000 P's in GREAT condition!
The Metro kiosks here give them in any change dispensed over $1. I paid for shipping at the post office the other day and pulled out a big sack of coins. The postal worker said to me, "Oh you're not going to pay me in dollar coins, are you?" I said, "No, of course not. These are half dollars."
From what I have read, Morgan silver dollars circulated in the western United States, but not elsewhere. I have also read that freed slaves liked them because their value was obvious. Dollar coins have been popular only on a sporadic basis. The pre Civil War gold dollars were popular because their value was evident. The dollar bills that the banks issued needed a scorecard. The early dollars saw some use, but given grades we see today, most coins in VF, their use was limited. You seldom see one that is worn down to VG or Good. For whatever the reason, the U.S Government has never found the right formula for a one dollar coin.
I can sense you folks don't believe me. https://peopleplacesandthoughts.com...e-and-only-official-currency-is-the-us-dollar