I pay with half dollars, dollar coin, and two dollar notes all the time. I have been doing it for years, and being in a small town, it is unusual to find anybody that doesn't know what they are around here. It would be nice if every CRHer would start spending the coin. I have found a number of times it sparks actual interest and curiosity that has been hiding inside people, but they were "too afraid to ask"...
I like to get “gold” dollars from the bank and give them out to panhandlers. No shortage of homeless urban campers in my area! Reed.
I have been spending the Presidential Dollars and the halfs that are duplicates for me. I enjoy getting smiles and questions from clerks who are often times overworked and under paid.
I spend my duplicates halves and dollars all the time. Most recipients are actually delighted, even if they have never seen them before. I am very patient and cheerful when they have to verify these are "real" money. Perhaps I will get someone interested in collecting or rekindle an old interest? Only on rare occasions do I encounter a grump.
Like others have said, I'll sometimes pay with halves, dollar coins, etc. rather than just dump them all back at the bank. The banks around here don't usually carry many halves, so after going through them I may not even have enough to roll up a full roll to drop off, so I'll just keep a few in the car and spend them here and there rather than swipe the debit card for a buck or two. Haven't really got any comments about it anywhere, except one gas station said they can't take it because it won't go through their sorting machine. Still I think it's pretty cool to use and spend stuff most people don't see every day. I remember when I was a cashier it was always kinda cool when people brought in stuff like that. I've also spent some stuff like old V nickel and buffalo nickel culls that I didn't need or want.
I always think it im more fun to spend Ikes, you have to be about 50 years old to remember these as a circulating coin (and they barely circulated then). Some of the fast food cashiers PARENTS weren't born yet when they stopped making them.
I routinely pay with sacs/presidential dollars, SBAs, Kennedy halves, Ikes, and $2s. Most people are either excited or indifferent. One time I had the cashier stare at the change, hand it back to me in utter confusion, and tell me to just take my bag of pretzels for free.
I used to pay with half dollars. One time in a Chinese take out, as I was leaving, I looked back. The staff was diving into the cash register and arguing, I presume who would get them
