Coins Act Reintroduced

While I agree with what you are saying basebal21 I think it is more mental than actual. I was checking the contents of my wallet this morning as I was getting in my truck and all I had on me was three $1 bills. My thought "Damn, I don't have any money today!" So while I agree people view change as less valuable than paper bills if it doesn't have at least a 5 on it, it should be viewed as "pocket change".

Totally mental...in at least two ways.

The big complaint that I hear most frequently of "I don't want to carry $10 worth of coins in my pocket" generally holds no water. If you're carrying around $10+ of coins in your pocket, you're doing it wrong. How often does anyone have 10 paper singles in their pocket/wallet/purse? Rarely. If you find yourself in that situation, you're likely to "color up" to larger bills ASAP (as has been previously suggested in this thread).

And even $10 of golden dollars isn't really all that big of a deal. 81 grams or roughly 3 oz. They'd probably end up in your dashboard somewhere anyway, just like nickels, dimes, and cents do now.

Now as far as physical money instruments disappearing in favor of cashless transactions, that would probably take decades to happen. As has already been written, people value anonymity for certain types of transactions and that's never going to change. And that anonymity currently requires a cash transaction. Also I'm sure there would be issues with transacting with lesser-developed countries. And let's not forget about us collectors! We need something to collect and not all of us can afford the ancient stuff.

Sadly, given our Congress and some of the more pressing agenda items, I don't think that much will change in the next 10 years, but one can hope.... personally I would like to see:

o cent discontinued completely ASAP (maybe with a well-deserved ceremony / collector release for the Lincolns that have been minted for over a century!)
o nickel seriously considered for discontinuation, but that would likely require killing the quarter too (and possibly going to a 20-cent piece).
o re-introduction of the half dollar coin into circulation.
o paper dollar discontinued and replaced with dollar coin
o two-dollar coin minted along with ramped up production of two-dollar paper bill (gotta save those Cranes I suppose). Yes, this seems silly but no sillier than minting dollar coins at the same time as printing dollar bills.

I'll add that I am not in favor of switching to steel coinage, but I don't really have a leg to stand on there. Except for it makes no sense to switch cents and nickels to steel. At this point in history they'll always be losers no matter their composition (I say that even though I love collecting them and will always and will continue to do so if they are steel in the future).

A guy can dream!

I'm all for it and was surprised to see my former congressman Tim Penny (D-Minn) as co-chair. He has a lot of common cents. Now, if he would tackle his namesake, we would be even better off.

I agree.

Our experience here would be like all the countries that have done the rational thing and circulated the $1 coin; people would soon want a $2 coin as well since coins are far more convenient for small purachases than bills. Coins are less likely to carry disease and getting a coin out of your pocket or purse doesn't let pickpockets or muggers know where you keep your cash.

To make this work we need to eliminate the wasteful cent and convert the nickel 5c coin to a cheaper alloy like aluminum. The nickel can simply be demonetized by being good only for making change.

Everyone wins, the economy improves, and the taxpayers save lots of money.

I'd be one of the few real losers because the demand for quarters would drop well below the number in circulation forcing them into storage where they won't wear out. There would still be millions of nice XF 1992-D quarters around for 25 years.

Our economy is founded on waste so it's hardly a surprise our coins and currency are found on waste. The system is busted and I don't expect it to ever be repaired.

I worked an event in Louisville, KY this past weekend and was able to meet and talk with you S Representative John Yarmuth. I asked him about the future of the dollar bill and the penny. He let on that everyone in the House and the Senate realizes that eliminating them both is the thing to do but it seemed like he felt that the tension and hostility between the two parties makes getting ANYTHING agreed upon almost impossible.
So I say.....I'll believe it when I see it.

It's going to happen eventually.... the end of the paper dollar and stop minting the one cent coin for circulation.

However, it's the lobbyists fighting the change but will have to give in as more people become aware of the cost savings.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people frightened of progress and fight it every step of the way.

I found out that Hong Kong has both a circulating 10-dollar (the name is misleading, 10 Hong Kong dollars is about $1.50) coin and bill. I wonder which one is used more?

The argument that you could end up with a very heavy wallet I think is actually wrong. I live in a place with banknotes down to the lowest denomination, and we hardly see coins here at all. I have a ton of these little, almost worthless banknotes in my wallet. Would that mean I'd have a ton of them if they were coins? No.

When I have lived in places with coins like this (being quite a few countries) I have either used them up to make my wallet not so heavy, they are easier to throw out of your wallet into your hand, and for those of a dollar or 2 dollars worth, you're far more likely to use the coins than the banknotes.