Eisenhower Dollars--Why?

I think you are comparing apples and oranges. I do think the SBA would have had a much better chance (leaving out the political statement people attached to it) if the format was identical to the presidential series. Back then a dollar bought a lot more so multiples were not needed to be in the pocket. It mau have been like when Walkers were actualy carried and used. You only needed one so it was not a bother.



Where I lived, the bank always had them and would give them out. They had a tray of them at the window and people would ask for them, and I remember sometimes they just handed them to my dad when he was cashing a check. It was just "cool" to hold such a different coin in your hand (at first!).




I think the context of the Eisenhower Era is forgotten with this idea. Back then a dollar was a lot more than you would ever spend in a vending machine for an item.

Example: Candy bars
I remember when K-mart would put candy bars of all sorts for sale at ten for $1.00. I always watched for this sale in the K-mart sales fliers, would ride my bike up to the store, and pay for them with an Ike. Candy bars were 15 cents in the machine, as were chips, etc. Even a 12 oz. can of Pepsi was a quarter or less.

When the SBAs came out, their quarter like "feel in the pocket" was how so many of them became jammed in vending machines. And it was a big deal of the day. Vending machine companies cursed the SBA's for the problems they caused. My Dad worked for Pepsi and said the company was always cursing them for profits lost from jammed machines. My granfather had some of his own vernding machines and also got disgusted with the SBAs making problems. It cost vending machine companies a lot of money if they serviced the machine only every third day or so, and the machine had been jammed for most of that time.




Agreed on both points. And I started to research this topic quite a few years ago, point by point to evaluate if it was going to be better for us to get rid of paper or not.

Summarizing:
I have done the legwork (and a lot of it) concerning facts and fiction about switching solely to dollar coins.

Everything was posted on this forum for peer review as the data was evaluated. Results were posted in the various threads.

In the end it came out to: weight is a very valid issue - and always was - even in Canada; Canadians in the workforce who used bills, for the most part, did NOT like the Loonies being forced upon them (polled on CCF's Canadian forum - specifically asking those who were there at the time, instead of current people without hands-on experience using paper $1.00 bills daily); the US government reports about switching was far from a realistic scenario since among other points they forgot to factor in money devaluating over the proposed time period, rising costs of production, and incredibly more expensive costs of shipping boxes of metal vs. stacks of paper; the report claims an exaggerated amount of taxpayer dollars would be saved - looks good in writing - but the overall program would cost more ACTUAL money out of Joe American's pocket than the hypothetical concept of the words "taxpayer" dollars on some bill.

In Canada, the Loonie's resulted in people being stuck with a LOT more change to carry around (filling the car change cup takes a LOT less time), resulting price increases on everything made for a short time to pass before the Toonie was introduced b/c the Loonie had little purchasing power. In fact a Canadian CCF member posted a link to a news article from their main source concerning the introduction of the Toonie. The article was telling Canadians they had to once more put up with having to reinforce their pants pockets b/c the government was going to force them use a two dollar coin (remember, Canadians always spent 2.00 bills as readily as 1.00 bills - something that US citizens never did for some reason).

Eventually the proposed positives for making only coins in the US turned out to be false. After that it turned more political, so was put into the general discussion forum:

http://goccf.com/t/276283

Most of the data presented in scattered forum threads on this topic is repeated at that link.

If you want the final summary - and its someone else who summarizes it in that thread - the results were that people desiring the forcing of coin-only usage on the US just want their own preference to be the norm in spite of the results that show they are unwanted and will cost the American public more out of their own pockets while some politicians get to put a hypothetical feather in their cap (if people don;t look into the matter and see their feather is not real).

Read it for yourself. Its a long read - but about any question you can come up with on the subject likely has Since the time of that thread I even did more research and found an official report of the actual cost considering everything. been studied/reported.
I know in their someplace is even an "official" news article posting actual costs and showing the politics of alleged "taxpayer dollars" being saved vs. reality.

And - as stated in that linked thread. I was impartial as to the outcome of the data/results. I think I can make that statement because:

1. I am the one who ordered the presidential coin educational kits from the mint to be used in our school!

2. Although I personally would hate the idea of the cent being discontinued, the facts show making the cent is a waste of time and money. Nostalgia on my part is not as important to me as fact is. So I say we should get rid of the penny.

In fact since that time of that post, I still did some research. It turns out the making the coin program was also based upon big government profits anyway - not about the proposed (artificial) taxpayer dollars "being saved."
https://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/1373...nobody-wants


The deeper you dig, the worse it gets.
Also note the article quotes a Harris poll mentioning 2/3 of people, when asked, preferred (important word meaning - would choose to use) bills over coins.

The issue is not about whether or not eliminating bills would mean the coins would be used - every little Johhny-the-elementary-school-kid can figure out you can't spend a bill if it does not exist... so you start using... umm... banana peels instead of the coins you initially chose not to use?

Nope people would grudgingly default to the coins while simultaneously being forced to pay out more of their hard earned cash than before the system was allegedly "saving" so many "taxpayer dollars."

Not likely, the Mint and Treasury Dept fought against issuing Bicentennial coins. They wanted nothing to do with the idea and had to have it forced down their throats.



They had the choice, they just didn't take it. The banks had the coins, but people are creatures of habit. They had always asked for paper money and they continued to do so. The banks don't "issue" things that you don't ask for. Then after while since no one was asking for them they stopped holding them in stock.



Ever try to put an SBA into a machine that wasn't set to accept them? I have, they won't go into the slot. Machines had an adjustment at the slot that limited the width of the coin you could insert. If a vending machine operator left that adjustment set too wide but didn't change the mechanism for one that would handle SBA's then he had no one to blame but himself for jammed mahines. Either change the mechanism, or narrow the slot.

The Canadian dollar gained value for a couple years after the small dollar was issued.

https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/currency

Most Canadians love having coins that are functional for small purchases and they only pile up on your dresser if you don't use them.

Banks don't ask customers if they want a $5 bill when they cash a check for $25 so why should they ask them if they want an SBA when they cash one for $21?

There were lots of places that an Ike would have been handy. A pack of cigarettes was 40c and sandwiches were as much as 50c leaving a dime left for a cola or to make a quick call home. A call to California cost $3. One could spend a couple dollars for an expensive lunch even in 1971 but not with two Ike dollars or with half dollars. Machines took quarters.

People usually hate change even when it's for the better. But getting rid of the cent and using small dollars would improve many things. The Ike could have a success as well but the vending companies and banks were stacked against it. Making paper money has been turned into a huge business in this country but making sense would be a new trick for Congress.

Excellent points, cladking.

One thing that really ticks me off is that we have spent all these necessary years fighting with vending machines "rejecting" the one dollar note.

Yes I have.

The only constitutional guarantee is that the government has the power to coin money. We have no right to dollar bills. We have no right to having cents! They give us what they deem worthy to give us.

You keep saying "why you prefer the government force the US people against their will," but what you mean to say is "why you prefer the government force me against my will." What about what I want? I want a circulating dollar coin. I do not want dollar bills.

Well said, cladking.

So many arguments. All I know is I have a pile of one dollar bills in the wallet/keys/etc basket because I can't stand sitting on half an inch of paper all day. I'll take dollar coins instead - what's the difference? I mean, other than the part where coins last basically forever.