If you really love $1 coins, you’re probably in the minority. The U.S. Mint announced their vaults are jammed so full of the things, they’re going to pull back on producing them. Not only do they have enough hanging around, the dang things keep coming back because people just don’t want them.
The Wall Street Journal says the U.S. government has about $1.4 billion worth of the coins, and production will be suspended on making any more.
Seems everyone is hating on them, as Vice President Joe Biden said yesterday, “Nobody wants them.”
It’s not just dollar coins that are unwanted — the WSJ says more than 40% of the coins that are minted come back to the Treasury, while the rest lollygag around in vending machines or coin collections. The dollar coins are unluckier than others, having never really caught on with the public. First it was Susan B. Anthony, then Sacagawea, then a succession of four dead presidents.
“And as it will shock you all, the call for Chester A. Arthur coins is not there,” Mr. Biden said at a Cabinet-level meeting of a White House campaign to cut government waste.
The Treasury says the halt in production will save taxpayers $50 million a year.
The Buck Stops Here: $1 Coins to Be Curtailed [Wall Street Journal]
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If someone would actually GIVE ME one (I mean as change, not charity), I would use it. I never see them out in the wild. I have no problem with them, but I can’t use them if I don’t have them.
I used to use the $1 coins, then I took an arrow to the knee.
LOL, skyrim. That one’s really making the rounds.
They’re just halting production of the presidential coins for circulation, but will keep producing them through 2016 for the collector market. This might make the collectors think the coins will actually be worth more than face value someday!
Can’t get rid of my $2 bill either.
How about this instead…
http://gizmodo.com/5860334/canadas-getting-plastic-currency
I saw the new $100 bill, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
The best part of our bills is the colour coordination. You can be blind drunk and still grab the right bill. During visits to the States, I’ve been shortchanged more than once because all the bills look the same. And I hadn’t even been drinking!
Wasn’t the reason that the dollar bill is still in production a deal that was struck with the union that prints money at the Treasury? Something about protecting the union printer’s jobs that would have been phased out if the singles stopped production in favor of the newer dollar coins?
IIRC, this was covered by Sixty Minutes back in the day…
Why even give people the choice? Just stop production of the dollar bill. They don’t like it, too bad.
That’s what was done here in Canada 24 years ago when our $1 coin came out. Sure I was only 7 at the time, but I don’t recall wingeing and complaining on contemporary levels when it happened.
I keep several of the dollar coins in case of emergencies but otherwise use my debit or credit card for just about everything. I use cash so sparingly that I didn’t even know that I had a twenty and three ones in my wallet because I so rarely open that section.
I like audit trails and the ability to dispute charges if needed.
I like them! I save them up in a big oak chest and pretend I’m a pirate!
The Mint should get rid of the $100 bill and produce a nice, big $100 coin in order to make drug deals as inconvenient as possible.
Baltimore’s “Block” has a municipal parking garage next to it. Once you are done at the adult entertainment places you go to pay for parking with paper money and get back these $1 coins. It is the only place that gives them in change. Your wife will know where you’ve been when you empty your change from your pocket.
*the block is an adult entertainment area.***
I actually had a checker turn to her manager one time and ask “Do we take these?”
YEAH YOU TAKE THESE! They’re money!
Here in Canada, the dollar coin came along over 20 years ago. It’s so similar in size and color to yours that I actually got one in change recently. Anyone who confuses them with quarters is an idiot. Anyway, when the coin was introduced, the dollar bill was discontinued. As a Canadian, I am reminded of what a pain in the ass the dollar bill was when I visit the US. Believe me, it’s far far better to have a few $1 and $2 coins in one’s pocket than an ugly wad of ragged $1 bills. I know what it’s like trying to get a vending machine to accept a beat-up dollar bill, so simple just to pop a coin in.
Most of the world now uses higher value coins rather than small bills; this is just another antiquated system the U.S. insists on clinging to. Same goes for health care and the metric system.
We introduced loonies in 1987, and by random chance, I’ve got a 1987 loonie in my wallet right now… Still in good enough condition for years more circulation. They save a bundle over reprinting banknotes every three years.
The dang things are so iconic and popular that we’ve unofficially named our currency after them; the newspeople don’t talk about the value of “the Canadian dollar”, they talk about the value of “the loonie”. As in “The loonie gained half a cent on the US dollar today”
Loonie Stores
Loonie Bins
Then there’s the poor Newfie who still can’t get at the chocolate inside.
If they put Batman on the coins, I would totally use them. Imagine paying with Batman.
“I don’t recognize this. What’s this coin—”
*gravelly voice* “BATMAN HAS NO LIMITS! NOW TAKE THE COIN!”
Its not just that no one wants them. Some places wont even take them. I have my kids some to pay for their school lunches and they were told that they could not pay with those coins. TWO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS. How can a school refuse them? So I won’t take them as change for that reason…
They can’t. That’s super illegal.
Good. In a time when more of our money is becoming digital, we should be shifting to currency that is the lightest and most convenient. They should be eliminating coins rather than paper money.
If the concern is durability and materials use, perhaps we could explore switching to something more durable like refillable plastic cards.
Will anyone think of the strippers?!! Out of all the places only the vending machines give me the dollar coins. Never from any human.
tell those coins no lollygagging
The Mint: Makes unpopular changes and then goes back based on what the public wants.
Facebook: Makes unpopular changes and could care less what the public thinks.
Can we just swap the management structure of these 2?
The trouble is that the U.S. won’t stop production of dollar bills to force people to use them. Given a choice between something familiar and something new, and having zero incentive to change your habits, what would YOU do?
Personally, I like the dollar coins.
Loonies are significantly bigger around than a quarter. Also, they aren’t perfectly round – they’re like 20-sided or so.
For the record, you’re all morons.
I’ll be thinking of you next time I’m having *no* trouble at all plunking a dollar coin into a vending machine, while you stand there for ten minutes rubbing, un-creasing, flattening, scraping, and re-inserting the same crappy old ragged dollar bill, over and over and over again, before you give up and walk away thirsty.
Mmm, this ice cold bottle of Coke is really refreshing, you should really go the machine and get one.
(America, decades behind the rest of the world in monetary transaction technology, since 1974.)
The Vice President is laughing at the fact that American’s don’t care about their nation’s history and don’t have any respect for Presidents of years past. That’s awesome. How’s history going to treat you, Joe? I wonder.
You think they would have learned after the Susan B Anthony Dollars. No one wants to use them.
It was funny the other day when I was at the post office and the clerk was telling me that a person came in and paid a $75 bill with them. It caused a hassle because the post office has no way to process them…they can not be put in the drawer, nor will their bank take them in the regular deposits….Funny that the Fed controlled USPS can not take Fed money….
I was in WDW last week and they must be trying to get on the government’s good side, because they are giving people these stupid coins as change in Epcot and apparently other places in the park. You have to insist they take them back and give you real, honest to good paper bills instead of some heavy coins to sit in your pocket and pull your pants down. Only the foolish Canadians use dollar coins and you know what they have become!!!
This is nothing new. Everyone hates dollars coins every time they have tried it. The government wants to make them because IF people use them is much cheaper than making a 1 dollar bill.
I feel like the US Treasury has no understanding of the needs of their customers. Every attempt they make at adding something new or exciting to currency ends up as a failure. Their re-designs are confusing and always poorly received. Their new currency introductions are always absurd. Since the $2 bill, everything they’ve introduced has been an utter failure. The whole nation isn’t going to buy new cash registers every time the mint dabbles in some multi-billion dollar artistic boondoggle. Give it up people. The only people who care that you moved Jefferson off-center on the nickel is you! Stop wasting our tax dollars on these projects.
No one wants $1 coins because no one wants coins period. They are a pain in the ass to carry around.
Umm, you know what would save MORE money? Stop printing $1 bills. That’s what we did in Canada, we introduced the loonie and simply stopped printing the bills. The result? The entire country transitioned to the $1 coins, and the government saves a TON of money by not having to reprint bills.
Paper bills last about three years before they need to be replaced, on average (according to the mint, anyhow, the new polymer notes should last sevenish). Coins last effectively forever; decades, to be certain. We started minting loonies in 1987… I just opened up my wallet, and guess what I found inside (by pure coincidence)? A loonie from 1987, still in good enough condition for active circulation. I’ll probably put it in a laundry machine or a vending machine.
Maybe if the Treasury Dept. would have made those $1 coins eleven-sided, came up with a cute term for them, and stopped printing $1 bills, you Americans would have eventually accepted them. See: Canada, 1987.
How much are we spending on dollar bills every year. Paper bills only last about 18 months. Coins last 30 years.
How much trouble have you had with a vending machine trying to find a dollar bill smooth and crisp enough for the machine to accept, compared to dropping a coin in a slot and having it work the first time every time?
As for the “it looks too much like a quarter” argument, I say BAH. The cent is almost the same size as a dime. The difference is one has a smooth edge and the other has a reeded edge so they feel different. One is shiny white the other is shiny red or dull brown, so they have different colors. However, a dime is 10x the value a cent vs a dollar being only 4x the value of a quarter.
I will grant that the SBA dollars were a huge mistake. Both the SBA and quarter were nickel plated and had reeded edges, so they definitely looked and felt the same. The Sackies have plain edges and are made of magnesium brass giving them the “golden” color when new. However, it is a shame that magnesium is very reactive and the coins quickly turn from shiny gold to dull brown.
I say to heck with Crane & Company and stop making dollar bills. According to CNN.com, the GAO says we can save $5.5 Billion over 30 years by replacing dollar bills dollar coins.