I heard about this last year when the bill was first introduced, and now its going to the White House to be signed. Personally I'm not a big fan of the design, I like the old big silver dollars or fifty cent pieces, but those don't fit in vending machines. At the very least I wish they would switch up the design on the obverse side, perhaps making it a depiction of something famous from that president's home state at the time they were president, or even better, depicting a major event that that president faced while he was in office. I don't think the dollar should be gold though, despite the desire to make it stand out from other coin designs, the gold looks, wrong somehow.
I think these will be a success, as Americans tend to love coin collecting these types of things, if the 50 state quarter program is any indication.
quote:North Dakota's delegation, Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad and Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy, was concerned the presidents would replace Sacagawea, who is considered by many to be North Dakotan.
At least they are concerned about issues of genuine importance to the American people. As we all know, in poll after poll, the threatened prominence of Sacagawea is a hot-button issue that cuts across all ideologies and interests. Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Hey, when your state has to PAY people to NOT leave, I'd say any free publicity you can get is worth a grab.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Does anyone use dollar coins as it is? Seems kind of pointless to me. People aren't going to go for these coins all the sudden just because they have presidents on them.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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You're missing the point ricree, much as they want people to use them, they want them to hoard them all in little shoeboxes at home even more.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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You know, it was was kinda nice using €1 and €2 coins when I was in France. Took a while to get used to, but certainly was convenient.
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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they need to start pulling dollar bills out of circulation if they want these to catch on.
And in other new why can't any of the american coins be neat looking like the candaian 2 dollar coin.
Posts: 1458 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Pulling dollar bills out of circulation? I don't see that happening. What they should do is come out with a Five dollar coin, make it bigger than all the others so it isn't easily lost, then force all government institutions to give one and five dollar coins as change, so people really have no choice in the matter.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I remember being in England back in the '80s and thinking how cool it was that they had a one-pound coin. <pauses> Er, I mean a coin that was worth one pound. Sterling. Currency, that is. Oh, you know what I mean.
Posts: 1068 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I absolutely want TR to be on a coin. He has been neglected long enough. Especially when that bloodthirsty tyrant Jackson continues to be represented.
And I want them to be gold. I want the one-dollar coin to be gold, and to go into common circulation. I've been saying that since the Sacajawea coins came out. That way, we can express the cost of things in gold. "That'll be three gold, please." Heck yeah. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Further, I too can't wait for a TR coin. I'm going to collect a million of those things and put them away.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I liked the Susan B. Anthony and the Sacajawea. I suppose they mostly died because their size was wrong. ?
Posts: 1877 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Americans seem to be resistant to sensible changes. They won't accept the metric system, and they won't accept using coins instead of bills even when it makes more sense. I'd love it if the dollar coin finally caught on, but these new presidents seem to be more of a novelty than a step toward longer lasting currency.
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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Why does having a pocket full of heavy, noisy coins make more sense than having a wad of thin, lightweight, silent bills?
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Only until you look at them. I can easily distinguish different bills quickly enough and accurately enough to use them in real-life situations. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I don't get the benefit of the dollar coin. I've TRIED to see the merits -- vending machines spring to mind, although ironically almost none of them actually take dollar coins -- but just can't come up with any compelling ones. I think we're more likely to eliminate currency altogether in favor of RFID debit cards than we are to adopt larger coin denominations.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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The basic argument for replacing bills with coins is that a bill lasts about 18 months before it's too torn, dirty etc. to reuse any more and has to be destroyed. A coin lasts in circulation about 20 years. In general the higher the denomination, the longer a bill lasts. I would guess that $5 and $10 are used less frequently than $20's though, therefore last a little longer. But the $1 is used probably most frequently, and out of all our paper money wears out quickest. So by using a coin instead of a bill we would in the long run save money at the mint in printing bills. The higher initial cost of minting a coin is offset by the much longer lasting.
Other arguments are that it simplifies matters in vending machines and mass transit systems. If the coin is well designed it shouldn't be overly bulky to carry around. However as long as we have bills and coins, the bills (because they've been around longer) will continue to be preferred by retailers, and therefore will continue to be in circulation.
The reason I think currency, particularly in smaller denominations (less than $10) won't be replaced by debit cards, is simply that debit transactions still have a surcharge associated with them. The larger vendors, or vendors in larger cities, often absorb that fee without really mentioning it to the customer, but in smaller stores (like my local grocery store) the store won't allow debit transactions below a certain amount because they lose money. So if you just want a soda and a candy bar they won't let you use a card because the store has to pay a surcharge that makes it unprofitable. I've even seen some vendors that charge the customer directly (particularly fast food restaurants do this), you can avoid the surcharge by paying for your $5 meal in cash, whereas if you're paying for a $40 purchase an extra $2.50 isn't as big of a deal.
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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I found this out there, but I seem to recall seeing something else recently with diffent lengths:
quote:How long does money last? That depends on the denomination of the note. A $1 bill lasts 18 months; $5 bill, two years; $10 bill, three years; $20 bill, four years; and $50 and $100 bills, nine years. Bills that get worn out from everyday use are taken out of circulation and replaced.
The "more recent one" I think I remember said something like a $1 bill lasts 22 months, a $5 bill lasts 26, and so on. I can't seem to find that site again.
Still. . .it looks fairly close either way.
Posts: 1323 | Registered: Aug 2001
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European money always looked fake to me. Italian and Spanish money, especially. You'll get a bill that says 50.000 lira (they tend to use a period where we use a comma, as I recall) and think, hey this is a lot of money. Then when you buy a coke it costs 6.000.
I like the old-style American $5, $10, $20 and $50. The engraving was more ornate, and it seemed more like real money, and less like Monopoly or Life fake money. Maybe it's just the different pastel colors that I didn't like.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I think we should all just go back to trading chickens, and we can put pictures of our presidents on the chickens, give ya twelve chickens for that fancy ipod ya got there we'd say, and it would be good. Or we could try communism, that seemd to work well for everyone.
Posts: 959 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Of course, we need Annie here to give authoritative ruling on this, because it has been awhile since I read that book on Lewis & Clark, but I believe she was originally from the Dakotas, but they have a museum in her honor in Idaho because it is historical that their travels went through there.
EDIT: I changed the link because apparently Idaho DOES believe she was from Idaho. So maybe the two states need to fight it out? .
As for the dollar -- I was really surprised on that web site's "poll" that most people said they would prefer to collect the REAGAN dollar. I voted for Washington, myself.
I like solid coin instead of paper dollars. But it sometimes hard to use them in everday transactions because some aren't real familiar with them.
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I like the idea of dollar coins, personally. After living in Japan, where the 100 yen (about $1) and the 500 yen (about $5) are both coins and the smallest bill is 1000... it's frustrating to go home to the US and have a wad of paper money. Half of the bills are so beat up that vending machines won't take them... coins do last longer, and that's a convenience for the consumer as well as for the mint.
Retailers do get the short end of the stick though... cash registers were designed around the old system!
It's not related to the coins, but there was some discussion of bills too... just out of curiosity, are the new bills marked in any way for the blind? I know that both yen and euros have different sizes so that blind people can find the bill they want without having to do any folding, etc. It seems like that might have been fixed? but I was really only around for the $100 and $50, and I don't have too many of those... Posts: 5 | Registered: Dec 2005
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I really wish that they'd pull the dollar bills out of circulation. Last time they had a gold dollar, I don't think I even got to see one because everybody had to hoard them. Stupid hoarders.
I would love to use coins instead. Even for fives.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I draw the line at a doller coin. I have a tendency to lose change so often that it would bankrupt me if I lost 5 bucks every time instead of a quarter.
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Well, eventually the five, then. When it's value has reached closer to that of a dollar now.
But I do think that searching for loose change around the house for a burrito would be a lot more satisfying if there were $5 coins laying around.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Coins for one and two dollars would be great if you asked me. I love how they do it in Canada and Europe. I also wished we had colored and different sized money like Europe, but apparantly, we're too "cool" or something. But yes, I always tell my mom to get Saks (as I call them) and two dollar bills from the bank, and I pay with them as much as I can. My own, personal way of encouraging circulation. But carrying around a one dollar coin feels more natural than a one dollar bill, if you ask me. Even though I have lived in the US my whole life.
Posts: 879 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote: Because your bills all look the same... You need at least a little variety!
Not really. The 50 has red white and blue on it, the 20 is like white and peach, the new 10 coming out next year will have different colors on it. The five is probably already in the works.
I too miss the old money, though I do love the new 50, I miss the old 20.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Actually, I'd like to eliminate coins altogether, or at the very least, the dreaded penny. A pocket full of bills seems so much better than a pocket full of coins.
Posts: 1256 | Registered: May 2005
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The problem with the government changing up the pictures on paper bills is that people might get the impression that they're nothing but ink on paper. For some reason the bills we've been familiar with all our lives look like they have some intrinsic value. It's a very weird thing. Bits of colored paper don't really have much intrinsic value, except for decorations, I guess.
I love the Sacagawea coins! She looks like such a cool person on the coin. I've only ever gotten one ever, and I kept it for a long time until I needed to give change to someone once and that was all I had. Oh well! I guess I did my part for making them circulate. I wish they would make a lot more Sacagawea coins and put them into circulation. Am I the only one who loves them? She was just an amazing person.
I'm sort of upset that they're going to supplant her with dead presidents. Canada's loonies are cool too. We should make a dollar coin with a turkey on it or something. Okay, an eagle, then, if a turkey would be too lame. I just like having coins for species.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I'd love to eliminate the penny as being common, but I'd definitely still want it in circulation. Basicly, the only way to make it more rare would be to have the taxes built into items (like Europe). When I was in Italy over the summer, I remember noone in my family even seeing a penny there until we took a cab ride, which wasn't till towards the end of our 2 week trip.
Posts: 879 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Get rid of pennies. They cost more to make than than their actual purchasing power is worth. We're spending money to create money worth less than its parts.
It's useless anyway. Just round up or down, and be done with it.
Just out of curiousity, what do the Japanese do? If something costs like 2,000 Yen, do they give exact change out? Seems like it'd be a pain in the butt.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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In which case, retailers will immediately begin rounding everything "up" to pad their margins.
Not saying I disagree with you about their value, though. I have a multi-gallon container of them back home. Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Sri Lanka has coins with denominations as low as 10 cents (that I've seen) which is worth about $0.001 US. There are also coins for 50 cents, 1 rupee, 2 rupees, 5 rupees, and 10 rupees.
When giving change, people rarely bother with the 10 cent coins, and even 50 cent coins aren't used much. People mostly round up or down to the nearest whole rupee.
But then, trying to change a 1000 rupee note ($10 US) is very difficult - too high in value for most shops.
But as for American money - yeah, I would so use the $1 coin. There's nothing like knowing you have nothing but change in your wallet, then counting it, only to discover that you actually have $20 or $30 (Cdn). Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I'm sure this is all a plot to get Ronald Reagan's face on some money to appease his disciples. j/k
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Frankly I wish they'd just get rid of the penny. I think you can find all four pictures on the US Mint site, and for the most part, I'm not impressed.
Still, hopefully this will raise the value of the 1900-1940's penny collection that my grandfather gave me. Besides, it's about time they came up with a redesign. The Mint used to change designs all the time, but it's been stagnant for decades until very recently. This one has been the same for 50 years. I say we bump Jefferson off the Nickel and give John Adams a turn, and let TR replace Washington on the quarter. More love for great American presidents that we don't see every day.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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Look there's no need to remove either bills or coins from the equation.
If bills all look the same then do what other countries do and make them different colors. Yes it's unfortunate that we won't have actual green money when we refer to it as, "green backs." But it's a small price to pay. Keep $100 bills green, if it makes anyone feel any better. I'm positive they use the coloring method in the UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, Thailand, and China. It honestly makes alot of sense.
As for coins, my most radical suggestion is we remove the penny from circulation and round all prices down to the nearest five cents. This will combat inflation as well as my slowly encroaching insanity.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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That won't do a thing to combat inflation. It would certainly improve the sanity of many, though.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Man, that's disappointing. I saw the thread title and thought they were finally giving Tyrant Abe the boot.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I don't see how we could give WHH an appropriate currency denomination. We don't even HAVE a 1/10th penny.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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