Should the dollar bill be replaced with a coin?

Originally posted by Don Wahn
Given the overwhelming lack of success of the current $1 coins, my guess is that they would not move to eliminate the Dollar bill entirely. Actually, the US treasury has eluded to the fact that they could eventually eliminate all small denomination US coinage altogether (1 cent). This is due to rising costs of raw materials which in turn costs the government more to make the coins than what they are actually worth. Many people have been taking loose change, melting it down, and selling it to scrap yards to make more money.

I have thought about that. How would you melt down pennies?

Here is some perspective .
I have never seen a one or two dollar bill as far as I know they went out of circulation in both Aust & NZ before I was born . The only problems that arise with coins arise when the designers fail to make noticeable differences between 10C , 20C and 50C coins . Usually $1 and 2$ coins are a differnt colour.

We've had dollar coins (as well as larger denominations) in circulation for most of our history, but these were usually made of silver or gold and much larger than the pocket change that exists today. The Morgan Dollar and the Peace Dollar, as well as our Indian Head $10 gold and St. Gaudens $20 gold coins are some of the nicest coins that have ever existed. But today when coins are pretty much as worthless as paper, I think people would just rather have paper bills.

I honestly think the only way they are going to make a dollar coin become popular is to remove the dollar bill from circulation. Then a coin might have a chance of success.

The coins they are about to come out with of the presidents are just another collectors scheme.

Now the coins of the First ladies they are minting......I could see buying into a few of those. An ounce of pure gold with the first ladies of the United States stamped on them. Thats not just collecting, thats investing.

Like an earlier poster said, When I get home each day I toss all my coins in a gallon jar and just let them pile up. When I finally go cash them in I usually have a few hundred dollars in the jar.

I wouldn't do that with dollar coins.

Edit to correct and add....the first lady coins will be half an ounce. Here is the link.

[edit on 12-2-2007 by mrwupy]

I #ing hate having coins in my pockets!

I like the idea of a $1 coin. I wish they would get rid of the 50 cent piece (if they haven't already) and make the new $1 coin that size. They probably won't because it will be more of a burden on vending machine and parking meter manufacturer's to accomodate the extra size. I think if they ever got a proper foothold nobody would mind using them. I'm not sure the presidential series idea is going to work any better than the past efforts. They should make a policy that all government offices (such as the post office) and military operations are required to only give back change in $1 coins instead of dollar bills, just like the stamp machines already do. Also a $2 coin would be neat too... how about a rounded square shape.

Maybe the real reason they are pushing for the $1 coin is so they can embed a chip inside them in the future.

I know this places me in the minority, but I would welcome the replacement of the bill with the coin.

jscms.jrn.columbia.edu...

If that would save the govenment that much, I would be happy to carry around a few extra coins. ;

I'd be perfectly happy with a coin arrangement like Japan--Everything 500 yen and under was a coin rather than a paper bill.

It was FAR easier to get things out of vending machines for one--no trying to flatten out that wrinkled, old dollar bill you washed in your jeans pocket the other day.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I always prefered coins to paper for small denominations.

I don't like coins and have been filling a 3 gallon jar for the last three years. This is not a good idea at all. Plus coins aren't going to please strippers much.

Originally posted by Jessicamsa

I have thought about that. How would you melt down pennies?

Actually pennies are no longer solid copper, they are only plated. I believe the insides are made from Zinc? Not sure though, but I do know they are plated, as I have ground one in a machine shop after learning that they were only plated. The inside has a silvery color to it, not reddish like copper.

They used to be made from copper, but I don't know how pure that was, either. Nor do I know when they started using the plated version of this coin.

2 cents (pun intended)

Originally posted by Mechanic 32

Originally posted by Jessicamsa

I have thought about that. How would you melt down pennies?

Actually pennies are no longer solid copper, they are only plated. I believe the insides are made from Zinc? Not sure though, but I do know they are plated, as I have ground one in a machine shop after learning that they were only plated. The inside has a silvery color to it, not reddish like copper.

They used to be made from copper, but I don't know how pure that was, either. Nor do I know when they started using the plated version of this coin.

2 cents (pun intended)

Ok.

I do know that swallowing a penny can be fatal to a small child because of the zinc content.

I find it confusing though because the government wants to pass a law making it a crime to melt down coins. So, if the pennies aren't actually consistant of a large copper percentage, wouldn't it make more sense to inform the public of this instead of passing the law?

The really old coins are pure copper or silver.

I'm with the Brits. We should go to coinage to cut the cost of producing new money. I enjoyed my visits to the UK because of the money there. Coins made some shopping much easier.

Coins instead of paper $1 bills? -

I just wish they weren't so damn ugly. That aspect is very disappointing.

I live in the UK where we have £1 and £2 (pound) coins. Actually I prefer them that way, instead of in a note form. Our notes start from £5. The coins make it easy to counting out change.

The two pound coins, when you can get them are great to handle. They are a bit bigger than the one pound coin, and in two colours. It isn't just their face value, but the quality of the coins that makes it a real treat when you can have a number of them.

Also, the coins don't get torn or creased. Admittingly, if you don't keep them in your wallet, they are easy to lose.

Would I ever want our one and two pound coins in note form? No.

The dollar in coin form would be difficult for American's to get use to as the dollar bill has been around for ages. Also, I lived in the States in the 80's and don't ever recall the dollar going into a coin. I would have remembered that for certain.

It is not easy for somebody who is use to one form of currency to change to another type of currency. The elderly would probably have some difficulty at first, but would quickly adapt.

Decimilisation didn't come into Britain until the late 70's. We had farthings, half-pennies, and so forth. The whole country had to get use to handling the new currency, which we have been using as I said from about the 70's. Basically, if Britain can have it's whole currency turned upside down and the public had to learn to exchange it and there is no outcry. Why would such a fuss be made over if the dollar was in a coin or not. The important matter is so long as that dollar still retains the same value.

If you have ever come to the UK and handled our pound coins then you would see that the dollar coin would be made in a similiar vein. Also, if you can handle our pound coins over here then why would you have trouble with handling dollar coins over there?

Originally posted by ThreadTrekker
I like the idea of a $1 coin. I wish they would get rid of the 50 cent piece (if they haven't already) and make the new $1 coin that size.

The half dollar JFK coin is still in production, although it's not used much. The only place where they're really used a lot I know of is in casinos.

Originally posted by rachel07
The dollar in coin form would be difficult for American's to get use to as the dollar bill has been around for ages. Also, I lived in the States in the 80's and don't ever recall the dollar going into a coin. I would have remembered that for certain.

Yes, there were dollar coins in the 80s (the Susan B. Anthony), but it wasn't popular and wasn't used much, so it's not surprising you never saw one. I think the mint is still trying to get rid of them. With new postal vending machines and automatic vending machines for subways etc., there's been a higher demand for both the old Susan B. Anthony coins and the new Sackajawea coins to give change. But until they actually stop printing dollar bills, the dollar coins will most likely remain fairly rare in actual circulation.

[edit on 2/13/2007 by djohnsto77]

Actually people, imagine walking around with $20. Either it be a $20 bill, or a couple of five and ones. Just imagine walking around with 20 - $1 coins in your pocket. Just stupid.

I think the penny is worth about .011 dollars as scrap, vs. .01 dollars as currency. The nickel is .065 as scrap, if I'm not mistaken.

I like the idea of coins, but only if they're made of a useful metal - something that has intrinsic value.

Paper money has always seemed flimsy and useless to me.

Get stronger pockets people!

Store your money in a dirty gym sock instead of a wallet, then you have a potential chemical weapon that also produces blunt force trauma, in addition to a handy receptacle for your loot.

Originally posted by williamjklopp
Actually people, imagine walking around with $20. Either it be a $20 bill, or a couple of five and ones. Just imagine walking around with 20 - $1 coins in your pocket. Just stupid.

From experience I can tell you that the only stupid thing is the notion that if a $1 coin was introduced people would carry 20 of them around with them. Even before EFPOS came along I doubt anyone carried $20 change in coins alone.

If people don't have $20 note and there paying via cash chances are they will have a $5 or $10 notes to put towards the purchase.

If you research, it actually cost more to produce a penny than what it is worth

I'm from Australia, but I recently went to America for a couple of weeks. There were a few interesting differences that I noticed between the two monetary systems. This led to a long, interesting conversation with a couple of Americans. Here are some of the differences.

**Australian dollar coin, American dollar note:
This one goes without saying. Although, personally I prefer the coins because you can just look at your hand and see that you have $4 or so. If you have notes, you have to count them and make sure they're not stuck together or anything. Plus, nobody carries more than a couple of dollars in dollar coins if they can help it. But in America, my wallet was beefed up by a thick wad of $1 notes. At least it made me feel rich. I think both systems would take a bit of getting used to, including convincing yourself to spend the $1 notes/coins instead of reaching for the bigger notes.

**American money is all green
All American notes look the SAME! Well, almost. I had to look fairly closely at the notes I was using in order to figure out what it was. So did Americans, I found. In Australia, we have a yellow $50 note, a red $20 note, a blue $10 note and a pink $5. You can tell from the other side of the room which note a person is holding (although, maybe that would encourage thievery.. I haven't had any problems yet!). The Americans I spoke to agreed that this was a far better system.

**Australian notes are supreme
American notes are paper and can be torn super easily. Australian notes are like a flimsy plastic, made of some sort of polymer thing (yeah, I'm not entirely sure what the process is here). I think Australia is working on selling the polymer technology to other countries, or something like that. Australian notes are more durable and don't get all screwed up or torn as easily.

**Cents and sense
The value of Australian silver coins (cents) is easy to distinguish by size. 5c is the smallest, then 10c, 20c and 50c is the biggest. Each has a number clearly written on it to show a value. And we just call them by their value. No crazy nicknames like "Pennies" or "Nickels" or anything like that. Straight to the point.
American cents are not straight forward. I'll describe them in order of size. One dime (10c) is silver and the smallest. It says "One Dime" without any numbers. Sucks if you don't know what a dime is, eh? Then there's a penny (1c), which is copper and slightly bigger than a dime. A nickel (5c) is slightly bigger again and silver. And lastly there's the quarter (25c), which is silver and states that it's a "Quarter dollar". Note: To be able to use, must be able to speak English. So yeah, what a crazy order.

**Gold coins and no sense
Okay, so Australia isn't perfect. Our $1 coin is bigger than our $2 coin. It was almost a good system. This would be enough to confuse any foreigner.

**Big notes
In America, people are far less inclined to accept $50 and $100 notes. This was kind of annoying sometimes, especially when I'd just been to the bank and they'd given me only those big notes. I've never had any problems with using large notes as tender in Australia. Americans have come into the place where I work and apologised profusely when they handed over a $50 note. I used to give them weird looks, but now I understand.


I had a great time in America and the slightly different monetary system just made it more exciting. Both systems seem to work well, but each has its own little peculiarities.

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