Stupid with Money
Feb 15th, 2007 at 1:51 pm by PSoTD
Apparently the folks at the Treasury Department haven’t understood consumer attitudes towards new coinage. It’s not the design people don’t like about $1 coins, it’s the idea of carrying a big lug of coins around in the first place. There’s no way I’m getting any of these “presidential” coins on purpose - they are just that much more of a pain in the ass to keep and to spend. Give me paper.
Secondly - is it really the government’s job to be in the collectibles business?
re: your first point
the only way that americans will adopt a dollar coin en mass is if the u.s. government discontinues the dollar bill. that’s how canada pulled it off (they also added a $2 coin to help minimize the lugging coins thing). i understand why the government would want to switch dollars from bills to coins. bills only have a couple of years lifespan whereas coins last for decased. thus coins are more economical than bills, especially at the lower value end
as for your second point, well, arguably not. but in fact, the government has been in the collectibles business for quite a while already, arguably it always has been. there’s no need for the post office to ever change the design of stamps, for example, except when the postage goes up.
but again, making things like stamps and coins collectables is in the government’s financial interest. for every state quarter that is taken out of circulation by a collector, the value of american money increases slightly. it’s actually a weird way that the government can bolster the value of its currency, if just a little bit. plus it’s popular, so it will continue.
Yeah, I know the deal about stamps, but in theory that’s used also as a way to honor or promote items, such as 100th anniversaries of some event, etc. And I don’t mind the government doing some collectible stuff, but this dollar coin thing is really primarily for collectibles.
As for the government’s problem with wear and tear, well, that’s the cost of doing business. The fact is, the users have spoken again and again about the dollar coin, and the word is - it’s a loser. You can paint a Gremlin green, purple or black, but it’s still a Gremlin.
As long as they issue a $2 coin as the previous poster noted then there should be no problem with getting rid of the dollar bill. I’ve traveled to several other countries with the smallest bill being the $5 or equivalent denomination and while I thought I would hate all the extra coins after a day or so I didn’t even notice it.
If the U.S. did the switch after a month or so the only ones who would be complaining would be the strip club patrons and dancers.
You may be right, it might change the g-string industry considerably. But I don’t see a conversion to coin happening.
If only Americans realized “progress” means change and that losing their valuable paper bills for coins will make the world a better place.
Its obvious PSoTD has never had a visually impaired person who they cared about fumble about as they have no idea what the money they have is. They have never watched their grandma get 5 dollars change back from a 100 dollar bill for a pack of gum because the cashier saw they would never know.
Then there is that whole environment thing, but hey, if having a coin instead of a piece of paper would ruin your life (in your head atleast) then screw all those people whose lives it actually impacts.
Dick.
“the only way that americans will adopt a dollar coin en mass is if the u.s. government discontinues the dollar bill. that’s how canada pulled it off (they also added a $2 coin to help minimize the lugging coins thing). i understand why the government would want to switch dollars from bills to coins. bills only have a couple of years lifespan whereas coins last for decased. thus coins are more economical than bills, especially at the lower value end”
I’m with Snuzy. As long as you have those dollar bill acceptors in vending machines, the dollar coin goes nowhere. it has nothignt o dow ith bulkiness: believe me,as someone who’s spent a LOT of time in canada, the loonie and the toonie coins are a lot easier to use than a crumpled dollar bill.
“Its obvious PSoTD has never had a visually impaired person who they cared about fumble about as they have no idea what the money they have is. They have never watched their grandma get 5 dollars change back from a 100 dollar bill for a pack of gum because the cashier saw they would never know.”
Semi-true: American currency is not blind-friendly at all, and that’s a disgrace. But most countries have different sized bills for the different denominations. Also PSotD isn’t a dick. Not that I’ve experienced at least.
Please. You can use whatever argument you want, but regardless of my preference, Americans in general have shown their preference already. You want to change opinion on how progress should proceed? Try avoiding the “stealing from grandma” example, and maybe try being more persuasive than calling names. That might actually lead to progress.
Thanks Brendan. I’ll just say that I’m not generally called a dick. But I’ve heard worse.
Brendan - question:
“I’m with Snuzy. As long as you have those dollar bill acceptors in vending machines, the dollar coin goes nowhere. it has nothignt o dow ith bulkiness: believe me,as someone who’s spent a LOT of time in canada, the loonie and the toonie coins are a lot easier to use than a crumpled dollar bill.”
In Canada, is there an issue of storage of coin over dollar bill for small business that deal with common small transactions, such as coffee shops, dollar stores, etc? Or do they move the coins fast enough that it’s no big deal?
The Bush-43 dollar should be paper.
And kept in the bathroom.
Sorry about the dick thing, as Sid is not my actual name, I also post under the name Dick elsewhere, it was not meant as a name-calling, was meant as a sig. So with that, it is I who is the dick here.
Also, I use the “stealing from grandma” example because it happens regularly to my partners grandmother who has recently lost most of her vision. It was not imaginative, just factual. Sorry it doesn’t fit your narrative.
Generally, it seems americans, even “progressive” ones, often still think something that they perceive as a pain to them, that would make someone less fortunates life significantly better, is just not worth it because they are stubborn and the current situation suits them fine.
So you can tell me progress isn’t about helping everyone, tells me more about you than me, perhaps if you spent a couple minutes each day thinking about others it might benefit you and your friends lives immensely.
In Canada, “small business” doesn’t think about the loonie or toonie, they just are. Imagine this, you know how you use dollar bills? That is how canadians use their coins, they are just currency and we spend them.
The worst thing that small retailers have had to deal with is not wanting a new tray for their register, so they add a cardboard divider to where the dollar bills used to be if its really old, or just use the one and two dollar bill trays, as the new one and two dollar coin trays.
So you can tell me progress isn’t about helping everyone, tells me more about you than me, perhaps if you spent a couple minutes each day thinking about others it might benefit you and your friends lives immensely.
I agree with you on this point, without debate as to who it applies to, because it ought to apply to everyone.
But now to what the U.S. government is doing, and what they’re not doing - the original point of the post. They’re basically adding coinage for the purposes of creating collectibles. Are they really doing anything to resolve your points? Perhaps a whole measure, explained as such, would be convincing to me. But this measure really isn’t.
Dollar coins where pretty handy when I was commuting on the high speed line. The vending machines for rail passes accepted them. I’m guessing those machines pre-date bill reading vending machines.
I bet it’d help if parking meters took dollar coins.
call me a conspiracy theorist but what products are used to make coins? Metals right…seems to be the mining industry would sure as heck want these things produced…
Eliminating the dollar bill would save the government a great deal of money. If I had the energy I would look it up on the internets but I remember that the average bill only lasts about ten weeks in circulation and then has to be replaced. The smallest note here is the fiver which is worth nearly 10 USD. The highest demonination coin, £2, is worth nearly 4 USD.