I had to read this to see if it was really true http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/?flash=yes&action=directShip Basically I can buy these coins and then spend them. The kicker is if I use a credit card I get free miles.
People used to buy the max amount (ie max out a card), get the rewards (ie miles or 2% cash back) and then just deposit them in the bank and then pay off their card and start the process over again. (http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/bargains/deals/free-money-uncle-sam-scam) The mint got wise to this and added the line about the intended purpose of the program. That's not to say people aren't still doing this.
i could be wrong here but i thought that cards that get miles are exempt with the mint because of the miss use of a few. My card gives a small reward but its nothing to go hog-wild over. i usually order a 250 box every other month and spend them around town. I thought from reading last years article on the miss use is that customers or a new customer that starts ordering massive amounts - it will draw a flag also i see that the mint has changed ordering policy on the Pres coins from a limit of 2 boxes each to 4 boxes every 10 days. so go figure on that one ??
I ordered one box last week, I plan on putting probably 5 rolls away and spending the rest. The 2010 Sacagaweas are selling for a few dollars over face on ebay, but not enough to really make much for all the hassle and fees.
I'm on my 2nd box of NA $s (09 & 10). I look through them for the higher grades then spend them every day. People are taking them and no longer asking questions or giving me strange looks any more. I think they are starting to be accepted but stores are sending them to the banks instead of giving them back as change. Bruce
You can order them closer to Christmas time and then use them for this Coinstar deal that comes around: http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/arcmessageview.php?catid=74&threadid=965813
I order them, inspect them for errors, then turn them in at the bank saving my local merchants the trouble. Anybody............... Please tell me the last time you saw ANY dollar coin slot in a cash register drawer, full of dollar coins just waiting to be dispensed as change? And I'm not referring to the random few that get spent and you have to ASK for them as change but a specific slot full of dollar coins the same as the quarters. Until that happens, these are simply NOT going to circulate and the US Mint is foolish to think that they will. BTW, they are not losing ANY money over this deal since they pull darn near a 75 cent profit off of each direct ship coin they sell.
Lee - your probably right that a good portion do go back to the bank, but on the other hand. Many cashiers often say when I'm spending dollar coins and halves that they are going to take these home, or I'm gonna give these to my kids or i haven't seen these in a long time. I bet alot dont want give them out because they want first dibs on looking at them after the shift. i knew one cashier that all the halves i spent at the store went home with her for whatever reason. If customers cant see them in the cash drawer they cant ask for them Now if they are never out there - how are most going to know just like one lady in the check out line behind want one. She has never seen one but have heard of them. So she traded her dollar bll for one when i was spending a whole bunch at Walmart. Snowman
That would be today! I went to the Mint gift shop during lunch to get a National Park proof set and they don't use dollar. They only use the current release President dollar.
Neither scenario your describe addresses circulation and merchants have not incorporated this coin into their daily business transactions. My, or your spending them, does not constitute circulation since if merchants do not give them out, they go right back to the bank! A DOLLAR COIN has never been used as a regular form of circulating coinage aside from random coins spent or as tokens used in Casinos. And they never will until the paper dollar goes away. Mom and Pop stores is one thing but large corporate merchants must order their coinage and cash through private contractors and why on earth would they order dollar coins when paper coins cost less to deliver? Spending these coins in an attempt to get people aware of them and hoping that customers will ask for them is simply an exercise in futility because until merchants actually start "using" them, they will simply languish in Federal Reserve Vaults until someone in government says enough is enough and either introduce legislation to stop the waste in producing them or stop the production of paper dollars. Kennedy haf's are a bit of a different story in that these are commonly used at Native American Gambling Casinos to pay off one dollar blackjack bets. They are cheaper than ordering your own customized half dollar tokens.
