I love the dollar coin. The reason I love it, is because the dollar bill costs more than $1 to keep in circulation. How crazy is that?! The dollar coin will last for decades, but the dollar bill typically can't make it much more than a year, before it must be destroyed and reissued. We will eventually switch to a dollar coin.

if more vending machines took a dollar coin, im sure it will be popular. really, people are only interested in coins that can be used, thus making the quarter king.

Because they're heavy, take up too much space in my pocket and how exactly am I supposed to get that thing in a strippers g-string (Hygienically at least).

Seriously, dollar coins would be ok if there were either a) abundant two-dollar bills
or
b) two-dollar coins.

Getting four onsies as change weighs a ton in your pocket.

@wring: Vending machines DO take them all over the place. Well, at least here. Soda machines, snack machines, and even subway machines take them.

Because they made James Madison look like a zombie, and the Mint perpetually fails to make the dollar coin easily distinguishable from the quarter.

Bills weigh less than 1 gram. The coins are officially 8.1 grams. $56 in coins is a pound, where it takes $454 in paper money.

Man, I don't even keep pocket change on me, I dump it in a large tin on my desk and eventually turn it into real money. Dollar coins'd just be lost in the shuffle with the quarters and pennies whereas the bills fit nicely in my wallet, light and not-so-durable.

I mean, they're great for Ren Fairs when you want to walk around with a bulging sack of gold-like coins, but other than that? Dollar bills are the way I go.

@JKinNYC: ic, not so much around where I live.

@louisb3: Ha ha...he does look like a zombie!

The answer is easy...who likes carrying change...no one. i don't even like carrying paper money. Credit and debit card baby!

They aren't that heavy. The problem is they aren't RECOGNIZEABLE. the "golden" color tarnishes quickly, and in a pile of quarters it looks too much like a pile of quarters, and in a pocket of quarters it feels too much like a quarter. Probelms with the Susan B, and problems which remain because they decided to make the new dollar coin mechanically equivelent to the 1979 turd.

Look at the Euro on how to do a 1 euro and 2 euro coin well.

I hate the dollar coin because my laundry machine will not take it.

I love the dollar coin. It makes visiting the States feel more like home (Canada).

@nysports: Yep. Plus, by not carrying cash, I don't have to lie to bums by saying I don't have any change.

@nweaver: Or, for that matter, Canada's loonie and twonie.

Canadians were using all of these same arguments in the late 80s when we switched to dollar coins. But as soon as they were widely distributed the change (pun!) turned out very successful, and a few years later the two-dollar coin was introduced.

@bnpederson: I do the same thing with my heavy pockets of change. Just imagine how much more valuable your little savings tin will become! They other day I rolled a small jar of the remnants of "broken bills" and wound up with nearly $200.

It was like free money I tell ya.

They should make them rings. That might peek peoples interest. Making them lighter as well, and would make them easier to stack also. When you get mugged in the street all your rings will go flying out, thereby distracting the mugger. Anyone else getting at what I'm saying here.

The Loonie and Toonie rule!

One day I went thru the coach (sofa)in our company media lounge and found over $80 in change!

That coach pays for lunch more times than I'll admit.

It's just badly designed.

Comparison between the UK Pound coin and the US Dollar coin is instructive. They look quite similar, but the former has a much weightier, well-cut look, while the latter kind of looks like an arcade token.

@NickRB: I'm with NickRB. I like the dollar coin. People complain that vending machines don't take them. Well, the vending industry very quickly put dollar bill validators on their machines and didn't bitch about that; what's the difference? People say they look too much like a quarter. Personally, I'm not retarded and can tell the difference between silver and gold coloring, as well as the design on the front and the back. I have tons of dollar coins, and have never had one tarnish and become indistinguishable in color from a quarter. As for visually impaired people, both the Sacagawea and the presidential dollar coins have smooth edges, whilst the quarter is reeded; they can feel the difference. I do think we need to ditch the dollar bill, and either increase circulation of the $2 or ditch that and use a $2 coin. It is too expensive to continue to use $1 bills, and it's only going to get worse. And to everyone who will bitch about us not honoring George Washington if we get rid of the $1 bill I say "he's on the quarter".

I personally LOVE the golden dollar coins! I used to give them as tips before I replaced cash with my credit card. I think our monetary system needs a bit of a shakeup.... get rid of the dollar bill & replace it with the golden dollars!
I REALLY like the idea because people would start losing them like they do quarters! And as a person who's hobby is metal detecting.... my hobby would be a lot more fun if I were finding golden dollars like I find quarters. I have already found perhaps 20 dollar coins since they first came out (probably lost by kids whose parents gave to them for the novelty aspect.*shrug*

I always carry one around with me as a flipping or knuckle-rolling coin. :)

I hate them. I hate them because I have no where to put them,. Leather wallet? Not a farking chance. Pockets? Hey cool, I just lost a Dollar by sitting down. Multiply by 5.

Like hell I'm gonna carry a change purse.

@Kezzerxir: I think so, but in order for that distraction to be effective, you'd have to be able to run very, very fast.

And maybe be blue.

I don't hate it at all, and use it frequently. I am one person, though, in a country that can't handle change.

I love the dollar coin. Coins last longer and cost less in the long run (as you don't need to constantly take in old bills and burn and print new ones). Coins are environment friendly. It is much easier to clean coins at home (money is a great way for germs to invade your house!).

Of course they weigh so much more and you can't really carry them in a wallet. However I usually don't care more than 5 or 6 singles at a time so I think I can deal with 5 or 6 coins.

Maybe the coins won't get rid of dollar bills, but I do think it should help to reduce the need for them. If only vending machines and older machines had a simple way to add a dollar coin accepting part.

I like the idea of the dollar coins. seems old fashioned and fancy.

BUT, I don't like to use them because it seems like there are so few in circulation that when you go to use them, you have to point out its worth to the cashier. "THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE DOLLAR."

Merkans are retarded. Inflation made the dollar go down in value so much that nowadays, a dollar is pocket change.
- "The stupid dollar coin looks too much like a quarter". How about making it ***BIGGER***????
- In order to encourage it's use, FORCE people to use it. Stop printing dollars. Mint them instead.
- Then do deuces.
- I love $1 and $2 coins: whenever I rummage through my fanny pack pocket (I wear spandex all the time), I often come with a handful worth $15-$20.

I'm highly confused that this post even exists. Here in Canada, we've been using a $2 coin for over a decade. The Euro has coin-based denominations that are worth *much* more than $1 US.

Is everyone in the states just massively irrational about their money? That might go a long way to explain why this site even exists, really. ;)

The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin didn't fare well; why does the Mint think these coins will do any better? I hate 'em already, and I haven't gotten one yet.

I think we should bring back the old-fashioned pocketwatch-looking coin holder! see pic --> [www.abc.net.au] How trendy would it be to pull on a chain & whip it out & dispense coins from it on the spot!

I'd use them if parking meters took them. However, in our town, they have installed the parking machines that take credit cards, which are more convenient than coins ever were. I hardly use quarters at all now.

My friend works in gift shop for tourist in Montreal (Canada). Every time American tourists complain ''you didn't give me all my change.'' he has to point out, in their hand, 2$ and 1$ coins, which replaced bills in circulation year ago. Most tourist keep them as a ''souvenir'' afterwards.

In the long run, government saved a lot of money using coins instead of bills. A coin lasts a lot longer than paper bill.

And even, if you don't like handling coins, once you realize, that less taxes get wasted. It should help.

Once the dollar bill is phased out, the dollar coin will be accepted.

It's really that simple.

I lived abroad for 5 months, and loved that the primary currency was handled in coins. The largest coin was a 10 shekel, worth about $2.50. The smallest bill was a 20, worth about $5.

I loved being able to reach into my pocket to buy lunch, things were quicker and easier. That aside, it is better for the economy due to the costs of printing money every few years vs. the cost of minting coins that last for 30 or more. It could lower taxes!

Look at the "basic" version of the US cash register. It has coin spaces for pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. One of the problems with keeping dollar coins is that when the cashier gets a dollar coin, he/she puts it under the tray, along with the other things they won't be returning to people as change (large bills, checks). At the end of their shift, the dollar coins all end up along with that stuff, in a pouch at the back of the store, ready to go to the bank.

Making the dollar coin really useful requires not just making it acceptable to vending machines, but also getting stores to return them as change.

I find dollar/loonie/pound coins terrible useful in places where I ride a lot of public transit. It gives you something to do with them, for starters, and I'm typically carrying some kind of coin pouchy thingie. (Even if you have a monthly pass, they still come in handy.)

But when I'm in not-public-transit places, they seem to mostly just hang around my pocket for ages and ages and annoy me and force me to take them to the bar just to get rid of them.

I always get a roll of dollar coins when I get into the bank after payday. Businesses in my area in Wisconsin seem to be use to them, don't even flinch when I pay with them. It's not until I leave the area I have to remember some people haven't seen them before.

As for them falling out of the pocket, I just leave them in the paper roll and remove them one at a time when I pay. They never fall out that way, and not too heavy either.

Like many of us, I don't carry coins ever. I got a stash of coins in my desk that fund the company vending machine, and a stash of quarters in the car for parking meters -- that's it (aside from the Coinstar donation of n% my pennies). If 100% of retail was credit card friendly, I'd never have a coin.

@Stephdmonkey

Amen! That's why I never have them. I love 'em--they're shiny and pretty and I just generally think they're spiffy. But I never actually go to the back to get cash, I hit an available ATM or get change back at the grocery store. Plus, like others have said, I'm pretty sure vending machines around here don't take them.

I use them. I also use 50 cents pieces and I love Two Dollar bills. I get what I'm buying and entertainment value from using what is increasingly odd money.

Sometimes I have to explain that they are real, so I ordered some material from the US Mint.

More info: [www.usmint.gov]

People hate the dollar coin because they don't like change (no pun intended). They will continue to use dollar bills so long as we have them. The government should just discontinue the dollar bill AND the penny and not give people the choice.
For people receiving tips it might be it might be a burden having a bunch of coins instead of singles but then I always round my tips up to the next five anyway.

If dollar coins are small enough to be tolerable, they'll get confused with quarters. If they're big enough to be distinctive, people will hate carrying them around.

The only way I can see to really make these the main form of one-dollar currency is to just stop printing one-dollar bills (while still acknowledging the validity of those bills already in circulation, of course).

@Thaddeus:

I actually had to explain to a new cashier at the store that a two dollar bill was real. She'd never seen one and actually called the manager over. She told him I was trying to pay with these two dollar bills and his reply was, "And? Just take them." He rolled his eyes, smiled at me and walked away laughing.

I love the idea of a $1 coin. After traveling abroad and using $1 and $2 coins, I definitely think we should go that route. I usually always carry change in my pocket. It was great when I could pull out some change and pay for lunch or dinner with it when I was in Germany. It would take quite a while to do that here. Plus it's way more economical, the dollar bill loses so much money because it has to be re-printed so often, anyway this country could save or make money should be taken seriously.

Wait until you drop 2 Susan B's into a parking meter. You lose 2 dollars and get zero time.

Canada has done well with one and two dollar coins. Any change under five dollars almost always gets returned to you as coinage.

I only use cash once every 2-3 weeks. Coins are heavy and a pain to carry. If only we were like Japan and could pay everything with our cell phone :-D

Go Canada! For recognizability, they should just go bimetalic. No way you miss "this coin is two colours," and think it's a quarter.

@overbysara:
"you have to point out its worth to the cashier. "THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE DOLLAR.""

It also goes the other way, I have had cashiers give me change, and point out, "THIS IS A DOLLAR." I like the $1 coins, but if we are still explaining it it each other, I don't see how it will ever really catch on...

Get rid of the penny coins and round all purchases up to the nickel and you have the spot to use for the dollar coin in the cash registers. That way you eliminate the extra cost of producing the dollar bill and the penny.

$1 and $2 coins had no problem catching on in Canada. A day out shopping and paying cash I normally end up with less than $20 in change in my pocket which is no heavier than my keys. You guys are making a mountain out of a mole hill. You guys should accept the $1 coin and push for a $2 coin. Personally, I think the next step in Canada should be eliminating the penny.

Have you ever tried paying at McDonald's with dollar coins? I tried this a few years ago with a Susan B's and half dollars. The cashier didn't know what I had given him (he thought the entire stack was half dollars), so did his next door neighbor cashier. It took the interjection of a manager who realized what the cashier had in his hand to figure out that I had paid with all coins (and the manager swapped out paper bills for the coinage).

Same way with $2 bills. Amusing to carry but you get looked at like your head is on backwards.