Obama's 2013 Budget Seeks Increased Flexibility For Coin Com

Captainwiffo, you make some very valid points of the unknown concerning polymer bills. And there were a lot of people calling the new money "Monopoly Money" due to the new colors/appearance. Also what you say of the infrastructure to mint the coins already being in place is true.

This is why my posts have careful wording of "if" in reference to the polymer bills. I would think (please note that word implies I know this is not a fact) that people complaining (whether right or wrong is immaterial) about the weight of the coin might not be as concerned about polymer use since the stated motivation is simply wanting the "convenience" of bills and not "heavy" pocket change.

And you are correct in that we do not have strict evidence of the actual ramifications of using polymer notes. As you said:


I agree we need to look at other countries who have made the changeover since it is available data. This is why I cited the people's attitudes in Canada during their switch (and you still can find Canadians today saying the same thing). But I am not sure why my referencing Canada was labeled as anecdotal vs/and data instead of falling into the same category you suggest in the above quote?

Plastic accumulation in the environment is another good point and concern you mention. I am sure there would be some polymer bills make their way into places we do not want them. But I would hope people hold onto their money tighter than the glut of plastic bags we find everywhere - but looking at completed ebay auctions sometimes makes me wonder if they would

The fact is the majority of Americans have unequivocally shown they do not want the dollar coins. We have a solution to the cost of making current "paper" money. But why not see if we can find the best solution? And why would anyone be so adamantly against it?

Again, human nature of resisting change comes into play. Having been a science teacher, I always ingrained in my students that to find the best solution, all avenues must be explored. And this is why I have posted the question over and over about what is wrong with trying to find/use a method which might make the majority happy instead of a select few. To just take a position without considering all alternatives, or dismissing them entirely is not going to produce the best solution.

Remember this with the Sacajewea dollars? And it turned out the Cheerio dollars became a sought after variety! Have to admit this was a funny way of marketing. I always liked the looks of the Sac coins anyway. I wish I had eaten more Cheerios back then.




Yes, as I said before, not near as many Canadians complain about them now (key word), and since a lot of them grew up not knowing anything different, this makes sense. the people you find who do say things against them are the ones who were old enough to actively be spending the bills when the Loonies were introduced. We are currently at that stage. Given another 20 years in a coin only situation, Americans would be the same. In other words, like I have agreed with - this would work.




Actually, if billions of the poly notes were not being used and money was having to be spent to store them, then of course the public rejected them. A cost effective method was again rejected, but at least another cost effective avenue would have been explored so as to try to give the people something more akin to what they proved they wanted.

I still wonder what would happen if they DID introduce poly notes AND dollar coins. I would suspect (note that term) the American people would still stick to their guns and reject the coins. I am not sure (note that) it would be as big an issue for them to accept the same looking money but on different material (anyone in sales will tell you that appearance is everything). The "Monopoly Money" issue is probably (note that) dead b/c the physical usage was the same... all bills. Using the "Funny Money" did not mean there was much tangible change such as converting to only coin.

And, BTW - I could not care less about the "newer" bills we have. I was just using the terms above that others cited when they were introduced. I grew up enough around Canadian colored bills that I was always wondering why, since it was supposedly harder to counterfeit colored bills in those days, the US never decided to do the same. I also never quite understood why Canadians always accepted and used the $2.00 bills and the US people rejected them.

If poly dollars were not used by the public after a series extraordinarily half-baked attempts to introduce them, I would assume that they hadn't yet been given a fair shot - I wouldn't assume that they were unacceptable to the public.

I tried to find some polling data on Canadian attitudes toward the coins, and wasn't successful. The change happened before the Internet was popular, so it makes harder to find that sort of information online. There's also a lot more public polling nowadays than there was back then, so such polls might not exist.

Still, there are all sorts of decisions made in public policy that are about practicality rather than popularity.

(Another advantage of coins over bills that I had forgotten about - they're easily distinguished by feel, which makes them more accessible to the visually impaired).

I agree, bot of these 3 Ps, I think politics wins more often than not (hence the paper bills we still have)





Another very good point. I think this was the reason Canada, at one time, had chained the shape of the rim on their coinage. I am not sure why the idea did not stick though.

Isn't there some country that also includes braille on their notes?




And I am old enough to have been a part of that society - I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing.



I agree if they have inherent value such as silver. But also am curious as to why having fiat coins would be better than fiat bills? Is it to melt them and make more bullets?

Seriously though, am I missing something I should have thought of or is it just preference?

And when you buy something, you'll get change back, meaning dollar coins, correct? Could you call that indirect enforcement? or still your choice. "no thanks on the dollar coins, ill take quarters"

Since paper money is made of 75% cotton and 25% linen, it would make nice clothes.

Because it takes up more space than a $20 note would. Simple physics. I do not like fat wallet.

If I pay for something and end up with more than four one dollar notes in my wallet, then I know I did something wrong. I always make an effort to get close to exact change. I have also noticed that establishments love getting one (and five) dollar notes from me because most people are inefficient; the stores tend to run low on the lower notes. If something cost me $11, I will give them a twenty and a one to get a ten back; I would not want to get a five and four ones back (which would put me over my limit).

Switching to coin will encourage us to become more efficient. Sure, you do not mind having 20 one dollar notes; I will give you that. You have admitted you would not like having 20 one dollar coins. Fine, so spend them the next time, do not let them accumulate!


Which is why I said it.