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Did Americans ever like dollar coin?

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markn984
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United States
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 Posted 02/24/2012  10:37 pm Show Profile Bookmark this topic Add markn984 to your friends list Get a Link to this Message

I was reading a GAO report earlier today about the cost/benefit of replacing the dollar note with dollar coin, and wondered if Americans ever liked dollar coin after notes were introduced. For example, it seems that no one was really interested in Morgans, except as Christmas gifts.

Can anyone shed light on this? Also, the GAO report stated that you need 1.5 times the amount of coin as paper being replaced since people use paper differently than coin. Anyone know why that is? Do people inadvertently hoard coin (change jar) or something?

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 Posted 02/24/2012  10:54 pm  Show Profile Check Libertad's eCrater Listings Bookmark this reply Add Libertad to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Half of the time they look like quarters and the other half they are "too big", whatever the heck that means. Make it triangular and green, already!
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 Posted 02/24/2012  11:17 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add philadelphian to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Well, when Congress established the dollar as our unit of currency, it was because of the ubiquity of the Spanish eight reales "dollar." The dollars we then minted ended up largely being sent abroad by silver speculators, and Jefferson stopped the minting of silver dollars in 1804. We made NO dollars until the 1830's, but the Spanish piece of eight still was used in circulation. So I guess you could say, dollars were popular once, just not the US-made ones!
"Knowledge is the treasure of a wise man." --William Penn
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 Posted 02/24/2012  11:31 pm  Show Profile Check oih82w8's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add oih82w8 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
This is one American who LOVES the dollar coin!

...and I use them!
oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait
"Always one more...you're never satisfied" 5150 Van Halen

"...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Sherlock Holmes, Chap. 6, p. 111, The Sign of Four

"I tell her coins keep me off the streets and out of the bars." Moe145
Edited by oih82w8
02/24/2012 11:32 pm
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 Posted 02/25/2012  12:34 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add worldnumis to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Back in the early 1960s, when I lived in Great Falls, Montana, Morgan and Peace dollars were abundant and freely spent. A paper dollar was seldom seen. The banks were full of unopened mint state silver dollar bags and rolled them up to release them into circulation regularly. From what I understand, silver dollars were also used during this time in Nevada and some other western states. One could easily put 3/4 of a collection together from pocket change if you could afford it back then. I recall having dates all the way back to 1878. A friend of mine even found an 1889cc in fine condition. When silver prices rose in the middle 1960s, they all disappeared.
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 Posted 02/25/2012  02:55 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add SteveCaruso to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
If you say "Do you prefer the dollar coin over the dollar bill?" and mention nothing else, 2 out of 3 people will say "No."(1)

If you say "Do you prefer the dollar coin over the dollar bill? By the way, it will save our government money if we eliminate dollar bills and use dollar coins instead." 2 out of 3 people say "YES."(2)

1) January 2011 poll conducted by Lincoln Park Strategies on behalf of the "Americans for George."
2) January 2011 poll conducted by the Tarrance Group and Hart Research Associates.

The reason behind the 1.5x is that coins circulate differently from bills. It is the "change jar principle" where people tend to empty out their pocket change at the end of a day or week and stick it in a "jar" (or desk, or dresser, etc.), where they tend to let $1 bills make their wallets get uncomfortably fat before they cash them in for larger denominations or spend them. The ratio was arrived at by observing other countries who have already made the switch.
-Steve (GSNA R-2306)
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Edited by SteveCaruso
02/25/2012 02:57 am
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 Posted 02/25/2012  09:44 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add kookoox10 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The older silver Morgans were widely used througout the early 20th century. By the time Peace dollars made it out, people were starting to lose favor for them.
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 Posted 02/25/2012  10:58 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add DM1975 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s I would go to the store with my Grandpa and he would always ask for his change back in Ike's for the most part and the cashiers always had them on hand. He always had a few in his pocket too and would routinely spend them instead of paper dollars. I don't think I ever saw silver dollars circulated, I'm too young for that, but I do remember the Ike's and some SBA's.

Before he died they had just came out with the new "gold" dollars and he started back carrying them around instead of paper money. My local coin shop doesn't even give out paper dollars as change any more, just dollar coins and mostly older circulated change. I always end up with bicentennial quarters, wheat pennies, and older non-silver Nickels in my pocket after I leave there. I have been helping my son fill his album with some, but the rest I send back into circulation.
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 Posted 02/25/2012  11:22 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add just carl to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
If you say "Do you prefer the dollar coin over the dollar bill?" and mention nothing else, 2 out of 3 people will say "No."(1)

If you say "Do you prefer the dollar coin over the dollar bill? By the way, it will save our government money if we eliminate dollar bills and use dollar coins instead." 2 out of 3 people say "YES."(2)

My thoughts on such statistics are the same as the type once used by a Dr. Kinzie for his historic sex reports. Twisted to make a story.
As to the dollar coin. I don't know anyone that likes them. I do not know anyone that uses them. Most banks in my area are now refusing the fed from sending them any. Conductors on our commuter trains are requesting people not to try using them. In dark places like bars/taverns, etc. they are constantly mixed up with quarters. The only good thing about them is when I get one instead of a quarter. No slots in most cashregisters for them. Don't work in many vending machines. Really difficult to walk around with 100 of them instead of 100 bills.
Instead of attempting to force the American Public with something they don't want, the government should try to find a way to make the USA budget work.
just carl
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 Posted 02/25/2012  11:53 am  Show Profile Check Libertad's eCrater Listings Bookmark this reply Add Libertad to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
100 coins in your pocket, are you crazy?
100 bills in your pocket, are you crazy?
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Libertad means freedom: of choice, agency, and ideas without limitation!
Rest in Peace
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 Posted 02/25/2012  11:57 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add biggfredd to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
, worldnumis!

As you point out, west of the Mrs. Ipi, people liked dollar coins, and it wasn't unusual for people to have a pocketful of them.

Trivia:

If you ever see a steak advertised as a cowboy or gaucho cut, the test is to cut a slot in it and drop a silver dollar in it. If it's taller than the steak, send it back.
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 Posted 02/25/2012  4:15 pm  Show Profile Check oih82w8's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add oih82w8 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
A demographic I can see who would hate the dollar coins; those individuals who prefer the "droopy drawers" syndrome.

Carry around 100 dollar coins? Don't be silly; a fifty or a couple of twenties, a ten or two, some fives and a couple of two dollar bills would get you around town.
oih82w8 = Oh I Hate To Wait
"Always one more...you're never satisfied" 5150 Van Halen

"...when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
Sherlock Holmes, Chap. 6, p. 111, The Sign of Four

"I tell her coins keep me off the streets and out of the bars." Moe145
Edited by oih82w8
02/25/2012 4:16 pm
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 Posted 02/25/2012  7:12 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add SteveCaruso to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
My thoughts on such statistics are the same as the type once used by a Dr. Kinzie for his historic sex reports. Twisted to make a story.


"Kinsey" and aye some of them were (some of them notorious). However, lots of what he published were simply raw statistics. Most of them creepy. :-)


Quote:
As to the dollar coin. I don't know anyone that likes them. I do not know anyone that uses them.


I do. And so do many millions of people.


Quote:
Most banks in my area are now refusing the fed from sending them any. Conductors on our commuter trains are requesting people not to try using them.


Every urban area I've been to has demonstrated a polar opposite to what you're describing. From where do you hail?

Central and Northern New Jersey is saturated with them. Every bank has some on hand, and all businesses will accept them. You're more likely to get eyebrows raised if you try to pay with half dollars. :-)


Quote:
In dark places like bars/taverns, etc. they are constantly mixed up with quarters.


It is nigh impossible to mix up a golden dollar with a quarter. I'd believe you if you were talking about Suzies, though, as it happens more often than not to me. But a Presidential or Sacajawea dollar? Never.


Quote:
The only good thing about them is when I get one instead of a quarter.


Never, ever happened to me. And as I mentioned, they're everywhere over here.


Quote:
No slots in most cashregisters for them.


Categorically false. There hasn't been a single cash register tray that's been produced over the past 30 years that doesn't have 5 slots (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, other).


Quote:
Don't work in many vending machines.


The vending machine lobbyists are who pushed for small dollar coins in the first place (which is what got us Suzies). They publish that 99% of modern vending machines will readily accept dollars. No modern vending machines, in contrast, seem to accept pennies. :-)


Quote:
Really difficult to walk around with 100 of them instead of 100 bills.


I have to agree with Libertad. If you carried $100 in singles or coins you'd be limping around, or sitting at a 45 degree angle. :-)

Most wallets on the market cannot accommodate 100 bills at the same time! :-)

However, at any time I have at least $25 in dollar coins on my person without a limp or any discomfort. It's called a coin purse. Example: http://www.walletgear.com/coin-purs...-pocket.html . These can handle a roll of coins plus a small wad of bills without problem. :-)


Quote:
Instead of attempting to force the American Public with something they don't want, the government should try to find a way to make the USA budget work.


Again, people prefer the coin to the bill (and consistently, mind) if they are aware of the savings involved.

Every poll that doesn't mention the savings says "no" where every poll that mentions the savings says "yes" (in both cases 2 to 1). This, to me, suggests that 1/3 of us prefer the bill, period, 1/3 of us prefer the coin, period, and that 1/3 of us like our government saving money more than either preference (and the coin demonstrably does that). :-)
-Steve (GSNA R-2306)
The Black Cabinet
A Database of Counterfeit Coins. Attribution Services.
Numismetrica
Coin Collection Management Software for your Desktop and Mobile Devices.
Edited by SteveCaruso
02/25/2012 7:28 pm
Valued Member
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 Posted 02/26/2012  01:24 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add markn984 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
First off, thanks to everyone for the replies.

However, I just want to make clear that my question is about the past, not the present/future.

I have no interest in the politics of introducing dollar coin into the present. My question is whether Americans used/liked dollar coin in the past, or if they preferred notes.
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 Posted 02/26/2012  09:43 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add DM1975 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I think the issue with dollar coins not getting used as much as bills is mainly because everyone is just used to the bills. Having two different mediums for the same denomination (coin and paper) doesn't help it at all. Stop issuing the bills and the coins will gain wider acceptance.

As for the 100 bills or 100 coins thing... Really? I don't know anyone who doesn't trade up or keep multiple denominations on hand to simplify purchases. I can just imagine going to buy something that costs a few hundred and paying in all singles.
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 Posted 02/26/2012  10:11 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add Bryan1315 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
to answer your question about why so many had to be minted to cover the amount of bills in circulation is just because of what you said, a big part of the citizens do not carry change in their pockets, they will use dollar bills and when they get change for those dollar bills they will bring them home and throw them in a jar/jug/bucket or what ever to get the heavy things out of their pockets. I do not ever carry change unless I am coming back from the store that had given it to me, as soon as I walk through the door the change comes out of my pocket and into the change jar
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