Dollar Coins.....what a mess!

[OBIO]

I just watched a couple news videos talking about the US Presidential Dollar coins...the ones with all the dead presidents on them. I have only seen maybe 5 or 6 of them since they began being minted.

Here's the gist of the videos.

Each coin cost roughly 32 cents to mint. 1.8 million are made each day for a daily cost of around 580 thousand dollars. So far, approximately 1 billion Presidential Dollar coins have been minted...and by the time the last ones are struck in 2016, another 1 billion coins will have been minted.

Most of those coins are in storage vaults in Philly, since there is little demand for them from collectors or for general spending use. Storage costs are currently at over 600 thousand dollars per year. The vaults in Philly are filling up, so a new vault is being built in Texas....at a cost of over half a million dollars. Cost to ship the newly minted coins to Texas for storage......an estimated 3 million dollars. Then the storage costs will begin in Texas at over 600 thousand dollars per year.

Congress ordered the US Mint to produce the coins, but even the Congressman who co-sponsored the legislation to create the coins admits that he does not use them.

Remember the Saquajaweea dollar coin...the one with the Injun chick on the front who in real life has a pretty face but on the coin it looks like she had kissed a few 2X4s in her time.....I have only seen 2 of them! Where'd they all go? Storage most likely since we Americans like having our paper $1 bills with George Washington on them.

Another video showed how eliminating the paper $1 bill and using the dollar coins could save the US tax payer nearly 6 billion dollars in 30 years. A new $1 bill costs 7 cents to print and is only good for about 3 years...then it has to be destroyed and replaced with a new $1 bill. Using the much more durable $1 coins would cut out the need to constantly destroy worn out bills and print new ones. That nearly 6 billion in savings is just on the cost associated with the gathering and destruction of worn out paper bills and the printing and distribution of new ones. Add in the savings of not having to pay to store the dollar coins and build storage vaults and the total savings go up.

Who knew that so much money was being wasted making money?

OBIO

PS: Let's not go and make this all political and such. I was just sharing some tid bits of useless information with ya'll.

 

[Willy]

I read in the news a couple of weeks ago that as a cost savings measure, the US Mint has been ordered to stop production of the Presidential dollar coins except for those used in collector's sets.

 

[TARPSBird]

Visually the President dollars look cheezy and they are close to a quarter in size so nobody wants them, just like the Sacajawea and Susan B. Anthony dollars. I won't take them as change when I buy something, and when I cashier at the book store I'm not real happy when somebody uses them to pay for their books. Always seems like they accumulate a bunch, then come in and dump them on me. They ought to take them to the Post Office, which is probably where they got them as change when they purchased stamps.

 

[stansdds]

The idea of using coins instead of paper money is sound. Coins are much harder to forge and last much longer than paper money. The practicality of carrying around pockets filled with coins is just not there. Combine that with the dollar coin being nearly identical in size to a quarter, and vending machines see dollar coins as quarters, and it becomes a monumental waste of money.

 

[yank51]

Ask our Canadian members about their "Loonies & Toonies", eh?? LOL

 

[Odie]

Well, I don't know about the members here, but I normally carry at least $7 in ones on me for pocket cash. Compare that
to the weight of 7 dollar coins and you can get loaded down pretty quick. The change machine where I work only dispenses
the dollar coins and the new vending machines there are geared to accept them. Insert a $10 bill and it sounds like a slot machine
paying out when it finally drops the coins.

 

[AndyG43]

It is the usual thing, give people a choice and they will stick with what they are used to. Here in the UK, when the pound coins were introduced, there was a similar resistance; the Bank of England overcame it by simply removing the old pound notes from circulation!! We'd seen it before, at the time of decimalisation back in 1971, when the old ten bob note (10 shillings) was replaced by the 50p piece; endless anguish in the popular press, lots of people bemoaning the passing of the old, and everybody was used to them in no time at all. Personally I'd rather have a few coins, much better than the old dirty shabby pieces of paper I used to carry around in my wallet - they get spent quickly enough, sadly.

 

[Willy]

Personally, I like the newer golden dollar coins and find them quite easy to tell apart from a quarter even in my pocket.

I was in Scotland for a couple of years shortly after decimalization, but when the one pound notes were still being used. About ten years later, I went to England for a month and got familiar with the pound coins. Liked those too.

I get tired of a fat wallet full of one dollar bills poking me in the butt in my back pocket.

 

[Naismith]

Ask our Canadian members about their "Loonies & Toonies", eh?? LOL

What about our loonies and toonies? I like 'em. You wanna see our new $100 bills. Plastisized (sp?) they feel horrible and are really difficult to flick through, AND they've already been forged which was largely the whole point of changing them. Forgers are cleverer than whoever designs them, ain't that always the case?
And American types, can you send a truck up here to collect all your danged pennys, I have a jar full of the ruddy things!

 

[n4gix]

It is the usual thing, give people a choice and they will stick with what they are used to. Here in the UK, when the pound coins were introduced, there was a similar resistance; the Bank of England overcame it by simply removing the old pound notes from circulation!!

Just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, has the U.K. ever standarized the size of paper notes? I seem to recall from my one visit to the U.K. back in the early 60's that every denomination was a different size, with the largest size being darn close to A4...

...which meant it had to be folded quite a bit to fit in a wallet.

 

[hubbabubba]

Here is my Canadian two cents... I meant two loonies

If you introduce a new currency, the old one being replaced should be removed, period.

When the loony was introduced, out went the paper dollar. Same thing with the twonies.

Will people tear their shirts (and blouses) over that change? Sure! But it will become a non-event within a few months. That's what happened here. And I can guarantee you that the same people who tore their shirts-blouses will get a new one and will pick-up their change at the counter, even if they're is a couple of coin dollars in it.

I frankly see no good reason to resist:

Visually the President dollars look cheezy (...)

Then change the design. Loonies and Twonies have been minted with different designs for special occasions (Olympics Games, Québec city 500 years) or to update the Queen's profile.

(...) the dollar coin being nearly identical in size to a quarter (...)

It has to be, unless you want to negate the advantage of having to carry only one dollar instead of four quarters. BTW, which do you think will tore a hole in your pocket first?

(...) vending machines see dollar coins as quarters (...)

One of two things; Canadian vending machines are more evolved than American ones or Canadian vending machines operators are. It never was a problem here. In the picture below, I have scanned, from left to right, one Euro, one Canadian dollar, one American quarter, and one Canadian two dollars;

View attachment 54651

The quarter is almost the same size of our loony, but they're is not a parking meter here that will give you one hour of parking for one dollar if you insert an American quarter in it. Incidentally, most of our vending machines accept American coins as well.

That debate reminds me of the opposition to the metric system. But we are still freezing our behinds in Celsius degrees!

 

[AndyG43]

Just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, has the U.K. ever standarized the size of paper notes? I seem to recall from my one visit to the U.K. back in the early 60's that every denomination was a different size, with the largest size being darn close to A4...

...which meant it had to be folded quite a bit to fit in a wallet.

Yes, they are pretty much standard size now. The note you describe sounds like the famous "white fiver" which seem to have been abnormally large for some reason; before my time though, so can't say for sure.

 

[pfflyers]

I think one of the biggest lobbies in favor of the dollar coins are vending machine operators. Those paper bill slots seldom work right so venders lose sales. As soon as people accept the coins all sorts of vending machine merchandise will suddenly cost $1.00 instead of $0.75.

I've already seen plenty of vending machines that take the dollar coins and give refunds in dollar coins if the machine takes your bill.

 

[nigel richards]

Never mind the quality, feel the width!

Just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, has the U.K. ever standarized the size of paper notes? I seem to recall from my one visit to the U.K. back in the early 60's that every denomination was a different size, with the largest size being darn close to A4......which meant it had to be folded quite a bit to fit in a wallet.

Lol.

You've got to hand it to them Sir;

Times (or people) never really change do they?

...obviouly someone very well connected, in the paper manucturing business, paper selling business...or both,
was making a fast (buck?)!!!

 

[FAC257]

Back in the early 70's there was one of those not un-common battles in this area between out of control building & development versus the impact that construction workers had on the local economy.

Some group organized a stunt to emphasize the point. I don't remember how they got everyone onboard, but on one Friday every construction worker in the county got paid in silver dollars. At the company I worked for, instead of getting just our regular checks we had to go to the main office to get a paycheck stub and a sack full of coins.

It flooded this area with silver dollars for quite a while. Everytime you saw a register open it was packed with silver dollars. It was kind cool going into a bar and flipping a silver dollar or two for a cold beer.

FAC

 

[yank51]

What about our loonies and toonies? I like 'em. You wanna see our new $100 bills. Plastisized (sp?) they feel horrible and are really difficult to flick through, AND they've already been forged which was largely the whole point of changing them. Forgers are cleverer than whoever designs them, ain't that always the case?
And American types, can you send a truck up here to collect all your danged pennys, I have a jar full of the ruddy things!

No problem with the Canadian coins for me, just the controversy is all. I spend as much time as I can up there but not nearly as much as I'd like to though. And you are right about our pennies. I always end up with a bunch of them, but you have pennies also, as well as nickels, dimes, and quarters. I can definitely feel the difference in my pocket of each coin though. The American people even rejected the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, and they had facets on them. It made it real easy to feel the difference. People are just resistant to change is all, and if it was forced on them, they would be crying about too much government control....lol

 

[Willy]

And American types, can you send a truck up here to collect all your danged pennys, I have a jar full of the ruddy things!

I guess that evens out because I've got a jar full of Canadian pennies.

 

[Allen]

I thought Australia or New Zealand uses some kind of plasic money as there paper that last longer and is harder to fake than US paper.

Also.

I think it is 1 Canadian penny in every US 50 cent roll of US pennies.

 

[nigel richards]

New set of values...keeps up employment too...

I thought Australia or New Zealand uses some kind of plasic money as there paper that last longer and is harder to fake than US paper.

We used similar materials here in Europe, just named them credit cards... most unpopular... people here, now prefer exchanging goods.



It goes something like this;

Buyer: I have 6,000 head of cattle and 927,203 chickens. Would you be willing to exchange for your restored P-51 Mustang?

Seller: Sounds like a reasonable offer! I've got two spare sets of tyres and a n extra Hamilton, Interested?

Buyer: 927,203 fresh eggs?

Seller: Ummmm, Awwwwww, okay; Deal!

 

[n4gix]

The American people even rejected the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, and they had facets on them. It made it real easy to feel the difference. People are just resistant to change is all, and if it was forced on them, they would be crying about too much government control....lol

I honestly believe that the most vocal resistors have been retailers, as there isn't a register drawer in existence that has anyplace to PUT the blasted dollar coins!