Why Nobody Spends Half Dollars.

I am 50 years old. When I was young I loved half dollars. When I used to ask people why they did not share my enthusiasm, the reply I always got was b/c halves are bigger and heavier, hence more cumbersome to have around.

As a teen, I even started to deliberately pay for things with with half dollars, but always got the same response that they were too heavy and large to want to have in a pocket.


And once more I feel the need to set the record straight with facts...

Check out the threads where both myself and jbuck questioned the Canadians on their changing from $1 bills to $1 coins and you will find that most definitely, from people who have gone through it - not some hypothetical wishing - weight is an established, factual problem with coins the size of a dollar coin (see thread links below). It is no wonder people do not carry halves with them.

I can't sleep tonight so ...
@SteveCaruso
You said:




Yes: It has been recommended - this is "strongly established."
No: "The dollar bill must die" - this is an opinion, NOT a "strongly established" fact!

The term "strongly established" implies a concept that is factual and beyond doubt. The only "strongly established" part of this statement is that 7 different times the dollar's demise has been recommended. A "strongly established" fact would not need 7 recommendations be made!

Obviously there has been enough debate/doubt over the issue that if this many recommendations have been made and nothing has yet been done, it is not universally accepted the dollar bill must die!

As a comparison:

It is a "strongly established" fact that water is wet. There are no opposing opinions and therefore no recommendations that this be taken into consideration for debate.

It is an opinion (one I hold!) that CCF is the best forum for numismatists. As much as I would like to say this is a "strongly established" fact, I cannot since other people can recommend other sites based upon the other sites' merits.





I like clean hogs!

Problem in semantics here. The government has said it will save millions of taxpayer dollars by switching. This may be the case. But the common man ends up paying for it in other ways. Collectively, some of the the tax money the common man pays might be redirected away from making paper bills. However, the common man/banks/businesses who deal in change will end up having higher costs passed on to them (as they did in Canada).

When the Loonie had been out a little while, the Canadian banks were the ones telling me that they did not understand why the US would be dumb enough to follow their example. I was shocked!
I asked why (since I liked the Loonies and other dollar coins). The response was that they cost so much more to transport that the banks had to pass the costs onto the customers in the way of higher fees.

So yes, the government probably does save some money (so they can waste it in other places), but the common man does not get as great a reward as the carrot at the end of the stick promises.

The report the US government made leaves out details affecting the common man; targets how much money the government saves, and also (if I remember correctly from reading it - check this) the US government report left out the devaluation of the dollar per the number of years it would take for them to save their money. The figures they give are suspect.

The only thing well established about the cost is that the government sees a way to sell the idea of them being able to revamp the system so they have more taxpayer dollars to play with. Its not the little man getting a break since he still gives the government the same amount of money AND pays increases on services for some areas of life.




I do not know, and do not doubt you can point to some factual listing of this figure of 2 to 1. However, in my personal experience, I decided to ask people I knew the following question (so as not to let them know which way I felt), "The government says the Presidential dollar coins will save taxpayer money. Do you like to use them?" I never got a reply that was not in the order of, "Its not worth having to have a pocket full of heavy coins."

The 2 to 1 ratio is is far from being "strongly established," BUT, I also realize this is just in my area. An area BTW, that when I moved here, was the only place I had ever gotten even ONE dollar coin in change.



Wishful thinking - yes - people CAN find ways around it. But the actual fact is in both threads where jbuck and myself asked the Canadians about the weight issue. You can read the Canadians say weight IS an issue and that to alleviate the problem, they don't carry the coins, but put them in change jars. They also said it is real easy to end up with pockets full of change, and it happens all the time.

Here is jbuck's recent Canadian inquiry:
https://goccf.com/t/141177
Here is the one I initiated awhile ago:
https://goccf.com/t/112063

BTW - you will also see that the people old enough to have known 1 and 2 dollar bills; instead of just Loonies and Toonies (aka the ones with experience with BOTH systems) are the ones talking the most about the weight issues. But this makes sense since the younger people who have never known anything different cannot make a factual comparison, but only give opinions. You cannot miss something you never had an experience with.



This would seem to make sense since coins are solid metal.

But I have yet to see a study where the cost to the common man - of the dollar coins or poly notes - is taken into effect instead of presenting only the argument explaining (not well) what the government says it can save.

The poly note savings may prove to be the same or better to the common man if the costs involved in a longer dollar bill life span balance out the increase of shipping costs for hundreds of millions of pieces of metal being shipped around daily (like banks, businesses, etc.). It would seem logical poly notes would save over our current linen bill production, but the sum of the savings is not known.



The only thing strongly established about this point is the part of the us being the only ones with "singles in paper."

"Strongly established" is a matter of opinion/circumstances when it comes to our country. We have always been stubborn about being generous to other countries also. This is a good thing.

I personally do not have a problem when America is the ONLY country doing something. And I do NOT think it is legitimate to compare what other countries do in an attempt to say what America should do.

If We put this same criteria into everything we do as Americans, there would not have been men on the moon! We did not start out in a space race, we were curiously expanding there. We DID get in a race that put a man on the moon, but we were looking in that direction anyway - like we currently are buzzing about a man on Mars.

I also submit that we are one of the few (only?) countries with a Bill of Rights that enables us to stand apart as proud Americans. Should we weight his against other countries also and get rid of our rights as Americans?

"Yankee ingenuity" is a term known around the globe. People of all countries have flocked here over the years b/c we are NOT followers by nature. THESE are "strongly established" facts that would point to me saying, "WHO CARES if other countries don't have dollar bills! What has that got to do with me as an American? ... Absolutely NOTHING!"



True - does not take much and a lot of them are done anyway.

Taking each point and putting up against aspects of the facts that have been overlooked (NOT intentionally, I am SURE) sheds some light onto calling them "strongly established."

And just to be plain. I am a weird bird b/c I'd rather know actual facts than be concerned about being right. I also enjoy dissecting everything in light of fact and logic.

And another important thing needs be said: I like and respect SteveCaruso's contributions to the CCF family.

And so you know my personal take on the dollar coin issue. If the dollar coin is shown to save me, personally, money in the long run - not just some government way of keeping more of my money in their own pockets - then the only issue I would have is the heavier pockets (which I have experienced many, many times in Canada).

So I probably would not dollar coins too much as, like our Northern Neighbors say, they end up having more money when they cash in their piggy banks b/c a lot of the coins in there are Loonies and Toonies. But if I have to see increased costs - as has been mentioned as having happened - then I do not like the idea. I am sure we could come up with a better system, We always have been able to solve our own problems in the past in very unique ways.

Personally, I wish some comprehensive study would be done on actual impact to the common man, not just how much the government would get to keep in their pocket. And I would like to see if the savings would justify poly notes. If this is the cheapest way to go - for everyone - then do this.

And I'm still no tired so I need to go find something else to analyze

I do feel that it is very important to emphasize that I feel the very same way about your contributions, and where we differ on opinion I harbor no ill will, nor do I take anything personally (despite how opinionated I may seem on this matter). If this were a face-to-face discussion at a coin club or the likes, know that I would be the first one to invite you out to a beer or cider afterwards. :-)

(But... if I was treating I'd get to pay with $1 coins. if you were treating, you could use bills. Everyone's happy! ;-) )

i started out as a kid as well with half dollars and never looked back I live and breathe half dollars (and I always carry a few in my pockets to spend)

long live the half dollar!!!!!!!

An interesting thought. So why not a Half Dollar Bill? And while we are on the subject, why not all paper, no coins at all? Wonder what that would be like buying anything. Just all paper money.
I'm starting to like those baby dollars. Got two in change in the last few days instead of quarters.

I see the same people saying this pull $5+ in quarters from there pocket to pay for a pound of nails at my wife's store. On top of that they have to sort through another $2 or $3 in cents, nickels, & dimes to count out exact change for the purchase.

Make mine a--crud, the name of my favourite drink is not welcome on this forum. WELL it's tequila, peach schnapps, grenadine, and pineapple juice. If I tell you the tequila is a substitute for vodka, I'm sure the drinkers among us will know what this is.

Moving on . . . baby dollars are LIGHT. I've said this before, I'll say it again: it would take about thirty bucks in baby dollars to equal the weight of my keyring and it only has four keys and a carbine on it. My keyring is quite small (housekey, key to my trunk, ignition key, and a key where I don't remember anymore what it goes to but I've sort of been hanging onto it since I was fourteen--I think it MIGHT be the key to the backdoor of the house where my best friend grew up).

Seriously, if the weight is that much of a problem, you're not doing your spending right.

Celtic--oh boy have we ever! Last night was my last night at work, and I had the awesome full-circle experience of one of my last customers being a girl paying for $8 lotto all in change (why awesome full-circle? Because there were three nickels from the 1940s in that handful of change, that's because why.) I've had people make purchases up to $40 all in change (unrolled quarters, in that case). DOING IT WRONG!

I personally carry $1.34, or thereabouts, with me when I leave the house (three quarters, four dimes, three nickels, four pennies) if I'm carrying cash. My wallet has a teensy-tiny change purse on it, and that's how I like it--if I have baby dollars with me I can just fit the amount above with three baby dollars, and then bills go in the billfold portion.


Unless I'm running way low on fives, I do not begrudge anybody who gives me $11 for a $5.-and-change purchase (it gives them back a five). That is how you get your baby dollars out of your pocket if you're not actually spending them. C'mon. It's easy. You can do it too.