Lynn of A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance is contemplating the unpopularity of the dollar coin.

"people aren't rejecting the dollar coin because of who is on it. They are rejecting it because, first of all, old habits are hard to change, second, people prefer dollar bills and finally, possibly most important, most of us have never even seen one of the darn things except in magazine ads selling them for twenty or thirty dollars each as "collectors' items""

I'd like to add that it's not just the "we have a choice and we prefer bills" issue, there's an infrastructure issue, too. A lot of vending machines don't take dollar coins, and - here's the biggie - cash drawers at most supermarket checkouts don't have a slot for them. Which is the same reason for the unpopularity of the half-dollar. In the cases where cash drawers DO have a 5th slot, it's already designated for half-dollars.

By the way, if anyone out there works at a checkout, please comment about how you handle halves and dollar coins.

In the comments to her post, Lynn wonders why she never sees half dollars anymore. Well, in addition to the above problems, there's also the fact that a half weighs the same as two quarters. So besides being inconvenient to use, there's no weight benefit to carrying one, either. Unlike, say, the advantage of 1 nickel to 5 pennies, or 1 dime to 2 nickels.

By the way, if for some reason you WOULD like to get some half dollars, just ask for them the next time you're at the bank. One of the tellers probably has a few she'd like to get rid of - since she doesn't have any place to put them.

Posted by: Harvey at 10:36 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 298 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Maybe the dollar coin would work IF they did It right, theres talk of phasing out the penny once those are pulled from circulation...Oh and get rid of those F@ckin fifty cent pieces too these are MORE useless then the penny....sorry i drifted there for a minute. Now those two are out of the way start pulling the dollar bill out and start pushing a dollar coin into circulation preferibly somthing with Washingtons face and in double height letters accross the top ONE DOLLAR. Don't give the vending machine companys a choice, I think thats part of whats holding back a sucsessful change from paper to coin, as long as the paper bills around why would they spend the money to upgrade there machines to use a NEW coin that may not last the year??

Posted by: Blogless Brother at February 23, 2007 12:07 PM (Gm3j4)

2 I like to get the dollar coins as much as possible. I leave them as tips at the bar. It bugs the dickens out of the bar-gal, but not too much cause I tend to tip well. Australia uses both one and two dollar coins. They can not be mistaken for any of their other coins. Their half is huge by the way, and they use a lot of them.

Posted by: Skul at February 23, 2007 12:47 PM (3/Pql)

3 If you stuff a stripper's G-string with coins it will throw off her balance and cause her to fly off the pole, injuring herself and others. Just say no to dollar coins: Think of the strippers!

Posted by: Graumagus at February 23, 2007 12:52 PM (DrRYD)

4 Yes but what of smaller busted strippers?? they could get hollow Implants and put there tips in them...It'll give the term "money bags" new meaning

Posted by: Blogless Brother at February 23, 2007 01:22 PM (vSzrA)

5 Are there any other denominations in more than one form? There aren't two kinds of quarter dollars. There aren't two kinds of five dollar pieces. Why add a different form of dollar? The paper one works fine. Instead of eliminating the penny to advance the dollar coin, you'd actually have to eliminate the dollar bill to promote the dollar coin. That, and you'd have to redesign the g-string.

Posted by: Roses at February 23, 2007 09:28 PM (+WckC)

6 I've already had one friend nearly hospitalized by a strippers boobs in his face, now you want to pack them with coins??

Posted by: Graumagus at February 24, 2007 11:10 AM (DrRYD)

7 I hate both the half & the full dollar because it weighs more. I hate the silver full dollar even more becuase its shape resembles that of a quarter.

Posted by: michele at February 24, 2007 01:12 PM (SzW/m)

8 And... let's be honest... Susan B. Anthony was a bit butch, and it's possible to mistake her portrait for Washington's during a quick glance.

Posted by: Harvey at February 24, 2007 01:28 PM (L7a63)

9 The perils of being old...I remember silver dollars from back when they were silver. Coins have their uses. Ever try to bust somebody in the beezer with a roll of dollar bills? A roll of quarters or those new dollars works a lot better.

Posted by: Peter at February 26, 2007 01:29 AM (kkQ1n)

10 As one who traveled to Canada way to much for business in the brief 2 months I worked for GM having all coins and no paper money sucks. I had a pocket full of coins and it was heavy so I would take the coins out then have to break paper money again and I ended up with 10 lbs worth of Canadian money. Paper money makes more sense as it is much lighter in weight.

Posted by: Quality Weenie at February 26, 2007 10:46 AM (BksWB)

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