U.S. Mint tries to get consumers to use dollar coins

[China]

U.S. Mint tries to get consumers to use dollar coins (http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-10-19-dollar-coins-mint-ads_N.htm)

By Barbara Hagenbaugh, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The government is trying to convince consumers that dollar coins are greener than the dollar bill.
The U.S. Mint is spending about $12 million on a pilot project to promote the presidential dollar coin by appealing to Americans' duty to protect the environment while saving the government money. The campaign, which may be expanded nationwide, stresses that coins last longer than dollar bills, are recyclable and could save tax money if more people used them.


TELL US: Will you use dollar coins? Why or why not?

"You'll want to get out and do your part, too," says one of the TV ads, which features an animated Statue of Liberty buying a hot dog on the streets of New York City with two dollar coins.

In addition to TV, the four-month program includes radio, Web and newspaper advertising, and partnerships with banks and retailers that are giving out the coins as change. Ads featuring the gold-colored coins are even plastered on city buses and trains.

It is starting in four cities — Austin; Charlotte; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Portland, Ore. — and may be expanded if successful. The Mint will be closely tracking bank orders for the coins in the four cities through November to gauge the program's success.

"The ultimate measure right now is how many more dollar coins get ordered and get put into circulation," Mint Director Ed Moy says.

Dawn Walker, training general manager at Bruegger's Bagels in Charlotte, says people are asking for the coins after she put up signs advertising that they carry the dollars featuring U.S. presidents. The favorable response has been a surprise, she says, noting people rejected the coin featuring Sacagawea, which preceded the presidential series.

"It's a great idea," she says of the Mint program. She says being involved is good public relations for the bakery.

The Mint's campaign is the latest attempt by the government to get consumers to spend, not just collect, dollar coins. But it's unclear if after decades of largely rejecting the money, consumers will respond. In the past, consumers and retailers have complained dollar coins were too heavy and more difficult to carry compared with bills and too close in size to quarters, leading to confusion. Many cash registers don't have a slot to hold the coins.

"Until Congress decides to stop the dollar bill, these efforts are going to be difficult to succeed," says François Velde, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and co-author of the book The Big Problem of Small Change.

Greater use of dollar coins instead of bills in everyday transactions would save the government hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Coins last about 30 years, more than 16 times longer than dollar bills do.

Click on the link for the full article

[MurrayH81]

Kinda silly. America started with coins and heavily distrusted "bank notes".

Now they want us to switch back because it's good for (them) us?

I wonder what the coins are made of, that they are cheaper than paper?

I bet there are hidden tracking "cookies" in them that learn all about us and record what our brains are thinking about while we carry them around.

Tin foil hats ftw!

[China]

This is being opposed by the stripper lobby.

Though, just think of the possibilities... putting the coin into the slot. ;)

[Dictator]

I'd start using them if they were actually distributed.

[Corcaigh]

I wonder what the coins are made of, that they are cheaper than paper?



The coin is a lot more expensive, but will last decades. Without looking it up I recall that the average lifetime of a dollar bill is little over a year.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Yoohhoooo! US Mint, if you want people to stop using $1 bills.......then STOP MAKING THEM!!!!

Good gravy is it that difficult a concept!?

[Thiebear]

WHen they spent the 12million.. was it in dollar coins..
if not - they failed.

[kuraitengai]

This is being opposed by the stripper lobby.

Though, just think of the possibilities... putting the coin into the slot. ;)
and we have the hands down winner...

[rdsknbill]

Time for Loonies and Twonies

[AsburySkinsFan]

I wonder what the coins are made of, that they are cheaper than paper?


They are cheaper in the long run due to the fact that coins last upwards of 30 years compared to bills that last a year or two. IMO no brainer, it'll apparently save tens of millions of dollars currently wasted on the printing, distributing, collecting and destroying of dollar bills.

[AsburySkinsFan]

WHen they spent the 12million.. was it in dollar coins..
if not - they failed.

Agreed! Stop creating marketing campaigns for coins, because that only highlights the "collector" aspect of the coin, if you want people to use them then get Congress to stop making the bills!

[AsburySkinsFan]

I'd start using them if they were actually distributed.

I used to spend my summers in PEI Canada, and I grew to love the loonies, they are much easier to manage than sifting through a wallet for a buck, and with the color, size and texture difference there is no confusion with the quarter like with the Susan B.

[PokerPacker]

who carries coins around with 'em? I've got a few in my car, but for the most part my spending money is paper.

[Cooked Crack]

I don't like the idea of dollar coins. It would be far easier to lose and makes the dollar seem even weaker. I associate coins with chump change. If you can't use it at a strip club then it aint real currency.

[Larry]

I wonder what the coins are made of, that they are cheaper than paper?

They're not cheaper than paper. IIR, they cost something like 3-4 times as much money to make them.

But they last more than 20 times as long.

Result, vastly less cost per year, burning worn out dollar bills and printing new ones.

(I would think the vending industry would be heavily in favor of them, too. Seeing as how after what seems like decades, they still can't make a Coke machine take a dollar bill without 15 minutes and five bills.)

[Corcaigh]

who carries coins around with 'em? I've got a few in my car, but for the most part my spending money is paper.

One of the reasons you don't carry coins around is that they're not worth anything.

If a handful of coins is worth five or ten bucks it's more convenient to carry a few, and easier to grab out of a pocket than fishing for a dollar bill from the notes in your wallet.

[Larry]

Time for Loonies and Twonies

Gotta admit I'm not convinced that Twonies were a good idea.

[MurrayH81]

I wonder what the coins are made of, that they are cheaper than paper?

Tin foil hats ftw!

Folks, thanks to the 3 of you who were thinking I didn't realize that coins lasted longer in circulation than paper. :doh:

My point was, coins used to be made of:
1) Gold - sure would be a small coin for a dollar now.
2) Silver - a bit larger, but the average housefly would be able to fly away with it still.
3) Copper - too valuable for use in pennies now.

maybe they will be made out of depleted uranium :silly:

I thought my "tin hats ftw" comment was the key for my comments to be taken as humorous, rather than a need for basic economics, but thanks!

[Predicto]

Make them a bit smaller and lighter, and more distinguishable from quarters (put a hole in the middle or give them angled sides)

Everyone will use them if they are convenient.

[China]

Make them a bit smaller and lighter, and more distinguishable from quarters (put a hole in the middle or give them angled sides)

Everyone will use them if they are convenient.

I agree that they need to be made more distinguishable from quarters (that was one of the failings of the Susan B. Anthony dollar). I disagree however that that alone will get more people to use them. The paper dollar will have to be eliminated, otherwise people will continue to use it out of habit.

[Thiebear]

keeps people from sneaking up on you also..

[JMURedskins]

I have a couple issues with the coins. They are a lot harder to handle and a lot easier to drop and lose. When getting change back from a purchase, coins are dropped a lot more than bills. They weigh down your wallet or pocket. I don't see many vending machines accepting them. If you just reach into your pocket, you have to sift through other coins trying to figure out which coin is the dollar coin. In order to get people to use them, they need to get stores to make a push for people to use them.

[Corcaigh]

I agree that they need to be made more distinguishable from quarters (that was one of the failings of the Susan B. Anthony dollar). I disagree however that that alone will get more people to use them. The paper dollar will have to be eliminated, otherwise people will continue to use it out of habit.

A lot of countries have made similar conversions. If moving forward a dollar coin is minted rather than a dollar bill printed, it won't take long and soon thereafter you can take the dollar bill out of currency.

[Dictator]

Am I the only one that DOESN'T have trouble seeing the physical differences between a quarter and a "gold" dollar?

[Ingtar]

I like the idea of dollar coins. I used to think it was odd, but when I was in Germany, all of the small currency is coins and it works out just fine.

[DCSaints_fan]

Folks, thanks to the 3 of you who were thinking I didn't realize that coins lasted longer in circulation than paper. :doh:

My point was, coins used to be made of:
1) Gold - sure would be a small coin for a dollar now.
2) Silver - a bit larger, but the average housefly would be able to fly away with it still.
3) Copper - too valuable for use in pennies now.

maybe they will be made out of depleted uranium :silly:

I thought my "tin hats ftw" comment was the key for my comments to be taken as humorous, rather than a need for basic economics, but thanks!

You can use a cheap base (like nickel) then electroplate the coin with whatever precious metal you want.

[PokerPacker]

One of the reasons you don't carry coins around is that they're not worth anything.

If a handful of coins is worth five or ten bucks it's more convenient to carry a few, and easier to grab out of a pocket than fishing for a dollar bill from the notes in your wallet.

good point.

[mjah]

I've found Canadian Toonies to be pretty damned convenient. The two-material thing is neat too.

Never had one break apart on me, but I've heard of it happening in the early batches.

I'd carry and use US $2 coins, and probably $1 coins too. But the $1 should have Washington on it... why does the Mint insist on putting comparatively obscure faces on dollar coins? Put Big George on there.

[daveakl]

One of the reasons you don't carry coins around is that they're not worth anything.

If a handful of coins is worth five or ten bucks it's more convenient to carry a few, and easier to grab out of a pocket than fishing for a dollar bill from the notes in your wallet.

Is this you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoPf98i8A0g

[AsburySkinsFan]

Am I the only one that DOESN'T have trouble seeing the physical differences between a quarter and a "gold" dollar?

Nope, I'm with you, its gold, smooth on the edges, bigger and thicker...hmmm, must be all them old folks out there.

And to a previous poster: all the vending machines around us take the dollars, we use them whenever we can, and my son loves them because he at 6 can quite get the bills to work.

[Corcaigh]

good point.

Just experience from living in the UK. When the change from low value notes to coins happened, for a while it was a nice 'surprise' to find your pocket full of change could pay for lunch and a lot more.

:hungry:

[China]

Dollar coin? It's time (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-coin-20111014,0,3285772.story?track=rss)

A dollar bill, as we all know too well, is a fleeting thing. Not just because it leaves our hands so much more easily than it returns but because, as it changes hands, it wears out within about three years, and often sooner. A coin's life span, by contrast, averages 30 years. That's why several members of Congress are suggesting phasing out the dollar bill entirely and replacing it with a coin. The production savings could add up to $5.5 billion over those three decades, proponents say.

Coins are bulkier, but at least vending machines wouldn't spit them back out at us for having untidy corners or a crease here or there.

But if Congress wants to save money on money, there's no reason to stop at the dollar bill. The U.S. Treasury has been nickel-and-dimed for years on the production of nickels and, well, pennies, both of which cost more to produce than they're worth. The cost of a penny is volatile because it depends on the metals market — pennies are made of copper-plated zinc — but figures for 2010 put the price of producing 1 cent at close to 2 cents, meaning that the government loses a cent for every one it makes. With 7 billion pennies manufactured per year, that's almost $70 million lost annually.

Click on the link for the rest

[Ellis]

I recently found a nickel in my change from 1941. 70 years! And it looked like it could go another 20-30.

One thing about Canada I liked was the use of coins.

[artmonkforHOF]

There is no need or logical reason to have $1 bills anymore, the only argument you can make for them is some sort of nostalgic value. When Canada got rid of the $1 bill and then the $2 bill and replaced them with coins, there was some resistance, but not to the level I have seen in America.

I go to Buffalo/Western NY about once every 2 months, and the first time I had an American dollar coin given as change at a toll booth, a gas station worker refused to accept it. His reasoning was "That's not American. If you want to pay with coins go to Canada." With a picture of George Washington on one side, a picture of the statue of Liberty on the other with the words "United States of America" and "$1" on the other side, I don't know how much more American you can get.

[AsburySkinsFan]

US Gov failed when they started the $1 coins while keeping the $1 bills in circulation.....classic failure of instituting change, do not leave the old alternative!

[USS Redskins]

The logical reason for not having coins is the ATM's cannot dispense them now. I havent been inside a bank in 3 years probably, I get all my cash from the ATM and I would say 90% of most people do. Once they start dispensing $1 coins, then it will start to work.
But even then who wants to carry around 10 huge coins?
Plus there is the stripper factor... those things will be bouncing and rolling all over the stages across america.
Its doomed to fail.

[rictus58]

earlier this year, you were able to buy bundles of the $1 coin from the treasury. On your credit card.
People would buy them, get the points on their C/C, then just deposit the coins into the bank.

[Predicto]

There is no need or logical reason to have $1 bills anymore, the only argument you can make for them is some sort of nostalgic value. When Canada got rid of the $1 bill and then the $2 bill and replaced them with coins, there was some resistance, but not to the level I have seen in America.

I go to Buffalo/Western NY about once every 2 months, and the first time I had an American dollar coin given as change at a toll booth, a gas station worker refused to accept it. His reasoning was "That's not American. If you want to pay with coins go to Canada." With a picture of George Washington on one side, a picture of the statue of Liberty on the other with the words "United States of America" and "$1" on the other side, I don't know how much more American you can get.

That is why we still don't have the 100 percent more useful, logical and internationally accepted metric system either.

America **** Yeah!

[Ellis]

The logical reason for not having coins is the ATM's cannot dispense them now. I havent been inside a bank in 3 years probably, I get all my cash from the ATM and I would say 90% of most people do. Once they start dispensing $1 coins, then it will start to work.
But even then who wants to carry around 10 huge coins?
Plus there is the stripper factor... those things will be bouncing and rolling all over the stages across america.
Its doomed to fail.
I spent a week in Canada over the summer and none of their ATM's dispensed coins. They dispensed Canadian 20's.
Dispensing of coins is irrelevant, especially since American ATM's don't dispense $1's or $5's.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

The logical reason for not having coins is the ATM's cannot dispense them now. I havent been inside a bank in 3 years probably, I get all my cash from the ATM and I would say 90% of most people do. Once they start dispensing $1 coins, then it will start to work.
But even then who wants to carry around 10 huge coins?
Plus there is the stripper factor... those things will be bouncing and rolling all over the stages across america.
Its doomed to fail.

I've never seen an ATM dispense $1 bills either.

[daveakl]

The logical reason for not having coins is the ATM's cannot dispense them now. I havent been inside a bank in 3 years probably, I get all my cash from the ATM and I would say 90% of most people do. Once they start dispensing $1 coins, then it will start to work.
But even then who wants to carry around 10 huge coins?
Plus there is the stripper factor... those things will be bouncing and rolling all over the stages across america.
Its doomed to fail.

You withdraw $3 from your ATM a lot?

[Ellis]

You withdraw $3 from your ATM a lot?

Only if his real name happens to be "Bank of America".

[I_Bleed_B&G]

Only issue I see is that we will have an influx of strippers with black eyes

[Goingforburgundy]

Coins are heavy bulky and cant be put in a wallet. In my store that I own I go through probably 300 dollar bills a day through my registers. 500+ on saturdays. By the end of the day when the cashiers count out they have anywhere between 20-70 dollar bills. How do you expect to store that many coins in bulk like that? Anything related to cash registers would have to be changed to deal with large one dollar coins. It just doesnt make sense

[Koolblue13]

Doesn't it cost 9 cents to make a nickle?

[rictus58]

Coins are heavy bulky and cant be put in a wallet. In my store that I own I go through probably 300 dollar bills a day through my registers. 500+ on saturdays. By the end of the day when the cashiers count out they have anywhere between 20-70 dollar bills. How do you expect to store that many coins in bulk like that? Anything related to cash registers would have to be changed to deal with large one dollar coins. It just doesnt make sense

Maybe they could
be stored in the slot where the dollar bills currently go.

[Kosher Ham]

I don't like any coins.

If a casino can figure out how to stop using coins then the government should be able to easily. Dave and Busters and other arcades ? Ugh.

[Bang]

No thanks. Coins are a pain in the ass.

then again, I rarely carry any cash, so it really doesn't much matter to me.

~Bang

[China]

No thanks. Coins are a pain in the ass.

~Bang

Your using them wrong.

[DRSmith]

I loved the switch to coins here for the one and two dollar notes I think it would good to do it with the 5. I keep a few in my pocket and then use my credit or debit for larger purchases

[Larry]

I'm thinking that the folks claiming that dollar coins are a pain in the ass, haven't tried to get a vending machine to take a dollar bill, lately.

[jnhay]

who carries coins around with 'em? I've got a few in my car, but for the most part my spending money is paper.
I carry around $20 at the most in cash. I think if everyone did that, we wouldn't really need to convince anyone to use coins. How long do credit cards last?

I'm thinking that the folks claiming that dollar coins are a pain in the ass, haven't tried to get a vending machine to take a dollar bill, lately.
I don't think they'd be as comfortable to carry in your pocket. They take up too much space.

[Buford]

When I was working in an office, I kept a bunch of $1 coins in my deck because the soda/snack machines accepted them. But getting the coins required going into the bank and asking specifically for those coins.

I think we should have $1 and $2 coins and then do paper from $5 and up.

[Rdskns2000]

I saw get rid of coins and bills. Time for a chip that you just scan. Chip could be implanted in your hand; though some call that the so called mark of the beast.

[Bang]

Your using them wrong.

:ols:

Dirty pennies?

~Bang

[kubstix]

Thank god I use a credit card for something even as little as a cup of coffee. I hate when change is in my pockets to begin with. I couldn't imagine paying for something then getting handed 25 coins to put in my pocket either.

[Sikbug]

I like the idea, a lot of places use them and I'd rather deal with change instead of bills. On top of that here in NYC 75% of the places I go into are cash only anyway, so the dollar coins would be nice. However I never get coins from change so I never have them to use...

[pjfootballer]

They're too heavy in my pocket.

[Seabee1973]

This is being opposed by the stripper lobby.

Though, just think of the possibilities... putting the coin into the slot. ;)

you would think they would jump on this and encourage the use of teh 2 dollar bill

---------- Post added October-15th-2011 at 02:21 PM ----------

every country that has gotten rid of their dollar bill it has been unpopular at first but as time wore on it was recieved better