Your take: Do you use $1 coins?
The government keeps churning them out, but does anyone want to carry the bulky things around?
This post comes from Jim Wang at partner blog Bargaineering.
It's a sad reality that about a billion dollars in dollar coins currently sit in Federal Reserve vaults. It's a staggering sum considering we keep producing them because of a congressional mandate.
The idea behind dollar coins is simple: A coin lasts longer than a bill. We're supposed to save money by using coins, except we didn't do away with the dollar bill. Post continues after video.
All things being equal, people are going to prefer a lighter, foldable bill to a heavier coin. A dollar bill fits in my wallet; a coin will not. If a dollar bill exists, I won't be using the coin. It seems like simple logic.
How often did you see the larger dollar coin with President Eisenhower? We didn't use that, so why would we use dollar coins with other presidents on them?
What makes it more comedic is the sad fact that Congress thought popularity of the coins would increase if we made $1 coins for many past presidents -- thinking this would be as popular as the state quarters. Those were popular because you could collect them. There was a set number (50) and collecting them all cost you exactly $12.50. No one is collecting these presidential coins at a dollar a pop.
I use dollar coins in very rare instances -- those cases where we need a small amount of cash. We use them whenever we go to our local bagel place, when we go to the farmers market and when I lose bets on the golf course (I lose a lot of them but we usually don't collect).
Do you use dollar coins? What would get you to use them?
More on Bargaineering and MSN Money:
I liked picking them up as change whenever I could and throwing them in my change jar. When it comes time to empty it out the dollar total is a lot higher.
One downside to the coins is that they don't really fit inside a stripper's thong and they get pretty mad at you if you hit the girls with the coins when you throw them on stage!
Either stop making the damn coins or stop making the paper bills.
My suggestion, pay the politicians who came up with this law, with the coins. Pay all government workers with the coins. Pay all welfare recipients with the coins. Put the coins in circulation and maybe, the public will decide to use them.
I've not used a $1 bill in five years. There are only two countries I know of with a paper bill worth less than our $1 bill - Honduras and Argentina. The coin lasts much longer. Stop minting the paper and start using coin exclusively. Saving half a billion dollars a year in this way won't go far toward solving our spending problems, but it's a step in the right direction.
Then we can go after the real sacred cow - the penny.
I don't get them so I don't use them. I used them when I got them from the Post Office, but they have removed most of those machines from PO's everywhere - and all of them from where I live.
The presidential dollar was a dumb and greedy idea. .25 cents to make and they were hoping people would horde them like the quarters which only cost .08 cents to make.
Anytime a country has successfully gone to a coin as a replacement for their smaller bills, the had to get rid of the paper before it would work. Frankly, I like the coins. The big head paper money looks stupid AND the "Barney" five $ bill wont work in numerous machines because of the large PURPLE "5" - hence the nickname Barney money.
I would use a $1 coin, since I have used coins in Italy, Germany and the UK. If the government just said, Hey you are only going to have the $1 coin to use, you have no choice.
It's a waste of taxpayers dollars to make the coins and not circulate them. Money is money whether paper or metal -- the only difference is the weight. Get over it.
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