As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

U.S. Mint Will Try Dollar Coins Again

by Flexo on November 22, 2006. Filed under Uncategorized.

The U.S. Mint has unveiled the first designs for the new Presidential Dollar Coin program. The new coins will feel identitcal to the Sacagawea coins that begun production a few years ago.

For some reasons, the American public just doesn’t like dollar coins. Most vending machines won’t take them, and companies don’t want to retool their equipment to deal with them. Yet the Mint continues to come up with new programs to push the coins. They do last a lot longer in circulation than paper bills, so would save money in production if they were to catch on.

Presidental Dollar George WashingtonThere are some things that make this coin unique:

* Some text inscription will be on the edge rather than the face.
* Rather than the word “Liberty,” which is found on other coins, the new $1 pieces feature a design of the Statue of Liberty.

The Mint is hoping that people will take to the presidential dollar coins the same way the public enjoyed the state quarters series. It seems to me that people just won’t use the coins enough to make the program worthwhile. There has been no success yet, and I don’t think any marketing will make the coins more useful in everyday life.

VN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)


Email Email Print Print
Share this article: Twitter | Tip'd | Facebook | Delicious | Reddit | Digg
About the Author

Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

If you enjoyed this article, get the free RSS feed or get daily emails.

Join the free Consumerism Commentary newsletter. Enter your email address here to receive weekly emails with behind-the-scenes information, exclusive giveaways, and money tips.



Related Entries on Consumerism Commentary

{ 2 trackbacks }

The Personal Finance Weblog
November 24, 2006 at 4:36 pm
fivecentnickel.com
November 26, 2006 at 9:54 pm

{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }

1 henry November 22, 2006 at 10:15 am

Until they take the dollar bill out of circulation, the dollar coin will be doomed to failure.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

2 brian November 22, 2006 at 11:16 am

They should get rid of the penny first. I am always trying to get rid of my change because I have no good way to hold them other than to shove coins into my pocket and they are heavier than bills.

I think the first comment above nailed it though. Get rid of dollar bills if they want us to accept dollar coins. We won’t have a choice.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

3 samerwriter November 22, 2006 at 11:38 am

Around here, all the vending machines take the dollar coin and, more importantly for the vending companies, return it as change.

The dollar coin is a boon for the vending companies. Now if you don’t have a dollar bill, you can pay for your candy and soda at the vending machine with a $5, $10, or even a $20 with less risk of a pocketful of quarters as change.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

4 Jeremy November 22, 2006 at 1:30 pm

I’m all for a dollar coin, but as others have mentioned I don’t think it will be very successful until the paper dollars are removed, or at least significantly reduced from circulation.

That was one thing I loved when traveling through Europe was the Euro currency. Even though they still use the equivalent of a 1 and 2 cent coin, the way the coins are broken up is fantastic. You have 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 1 and 2 euro coins. Even with so many different coins, it was extremely effective. For small purchases or using in machines.

I hate fumbling through my wallet just for a few singles for a small purchase, or worse yet having to break a larger bill just to buy something that costs a dollar or two.

After spending over 3 months using the Euro currency, coming back and getting accustomed to our money was interesting.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

5 StingyFinance November 23, 2006 at 10:19 am

Canada has been using a dollar coin for a while now and it has been a success! It’s really the natural way to go as inflation eats away at money value.

Joe
http://www.StingyFinance.com

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

6 Mrs L November 23, 2006 at 3:40 pm

Why don’t they invest in some sort of incentive to vending machine makers to get them to take dollar coins–some sort of government grant or tax credit to defray the costs of altering the machines? I can’t see the use of $1 coins becoming widespread until they can be used in soda machines.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

7 adventures in money making November 24, 2006 at 4:29 am

its yet another stupid idea.

dollar coins will not take on because they’re heavy. thats why we have paper notes in the first place.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

8 Arthur Chaparyan November 24, 2006 at 6:09 pm

How about credit cards for everything? People spend more when they don’t have a concept of actual money, so that should help out the economy (until it all collapses and everyone declares bankruptcy)

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

9 Cujo November 26, 2006 at 11:02 am

On the contrary, I think recent dollar coins have failed because they’re not heavy enough. The Susan B, and the backward-compatible Sacagawea, and now this one – all too similar to the quarter. Now the English pound – THAT’s a coin.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

10 MD November 26, 2006 at 11:35 am

I just spent a month in New Zealand, where all cash transactions are rounded to the nearest ten cents, they have $1 and $2 coins, and the bills are different colors and sizes. Oh, and taxes are always included in the posted prices. It was so much easier.

Let’s get rid of the penny and bring back the $2 bill (or coin!).

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

11 Prince of Thrift November 26, 2006 at 10:40 pm

I seen Henry had the same thought as me.

The only way to make the coin catch on, is to take the dollar bill out of circulation…I beleive thats the way the U. K., and Canada did it and probably any country that went to the dollar coin.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

12 Rob Carlson November 27, 2006 at 3:16 pm

I actually have a page on my blog to try to create a list of vending machines that accept dollar coins. When I worked close to my bank, I would go get my weekly allowance out in rolls of dollar coins but now that I work further away and with miserable bankers hours I have them less often.

http://epistolary.org/6348.html

My non-scientific study concludes that half the people I pay with dollar coins get a real kick out of them, and half accept them grudgingly. That’s a 100% acceptance rate in my book. :-)

The newer vending machines never complain.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

13 W.Ward February 12, 2007 at 12:07 am

My friends in Canada HATE their $1 gold coin (appropriately called the Looney buck)
I would NEVER use them at a store. I’ve worked in retail where you have to account for the quantity of each currency at the end of the night. What a pain in the ass for the store accountant who had to separate them out and go to the bank to make a conversion to get the registers to balance with an equal amount of bills.
Any coins have become a hassle at the airport.
They’re heavy.
The artwork is ugly.
I wouldn’t want to carry Bill Clinton in my pocket. Or anywhere near me, thanks. The thought makes me cringe!

It would be better if the government could pay TEACHERS what they’re worth instead of sports celebrities. THAT would be a wiser use of money.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

14 Eric February 16, 2007 at 3:37 pm

I think it is the banks that cause the failure of the dollar coins. Try to get some. You can’t unless you order them directly from the mint at a substantial markup. I believe the banks dont want or cant deal with them so they dont get them and it dies a quick death.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

15 TJLeeland February 16, 2007 at 6:22 pm

Teachers already get paid what they’re worth; more really since most of my K-12 teachers were completely worthless.

I really like $1 coins. I used to get $20 a week when I deposited my paycheck; they’re great for tolls and driving-releated expenses. The problem is that the only place I could ever get them was at the bank, and even that slowly dried up.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

16 Jiri May 19, 2007 at 6:43 pm

Some thoughts:

If the Mint REALLY wants the dollar coint to be popular, stop wasting money on the dollar bill.

Also: For two thousand years the accepted standard for portraiture on coins has been the profile view. Why is the Mint is dead set on suddenly producing coins featuring full facial portraits? There’s a word for a coin like that: UGLY.

Finally: At least the Treasury has FINALLY, I realized that Americans like having portraits of PRESIDENTS and FOUNDING FATHERS on their coins, as opposed of women simply for the sake of having a woman on the coin. If heaven help us Hillary is the next President, I’ll bite the bullet and accept the fact taht eventually she’ll be featured on a coin. But let’s hope it’s a pretty one, featuring a classical profile portrayel.

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

17 Jiri May 19, 2007 at 6:45 pm

Edit:

“At least the Treasury has FINALLY realized that Americans…”

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

18 Funny Money May 21, 2007 at 9:26 pm

When will the U.S. Mint produce a coin that has a value of one dollar, instead of 6 cents? The 5 cent Jefferson nickel has more value then the new dollar.
Do you trust a coin that no longer has “In God We Trust” removed?

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

19 Flexo May 21, 2007 at 10:04 pm

The “In God We Trust” inscription is on the edge of the new dollar coin… but I don’t see how that has any bearing on “trust” of the coin’s value itself.

The fact that it costs more for the Mint to produce coins than the face value of the coins is a cash flow problem that the Mint has to work out.

UA:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

20 Lon Willis January 8, 2009 at 11:51 am

I remember back in the late seventies when they designed the susan be anthony dollar it was the same controversy about the vending machines. They took the previous coin (large) ike dollar and they did extensive testing of vending machines and agreed the new coin would be a benefit.

However I remember the general public did not like the coin they reported the coin looked liek a quarter and it was ugly.

My point:

The susan b anthony dollar and sacagawea dollar and all the presidential dollars are the exact weight and will work in the previous machines and new machines.

I frequently go to machines to obtain change in dollar coins. I have found 30 or more machines that will give you change in dollar coins

Thank You

UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment

Note: By submitting your comment you are agreeing to these terms and conditions. If you attempt to post spam, including promotional linking to a company website, your comment will be deleted.

Previous post:

Next post: