Is The Half About To Die? Say It Ain't So.

@Fox

I have spent a good deal of my life as a teacher and I really enjoy teaching teens. I am hoping I am not making an error in this, but you seem to be a young man with a mission much like I have seen many junior high school to high school students over the years.

I just hate to see you set yourself up for disappointment and looking back in later years and wondering why you did not spend your money on something that was more lasting and would bring you more return in the future.

As much as you would like to see the half and 2.00 bills spent, since I have been alive - the early 60s, the public opinion has been the same. They do not want to use larger coins and 2.00 bills... period.

When I was younger I also loved halves and $2.00 for the novelty of them. I wished people liked them. But after 50 years of liking the idea of using them I can say it is so very highly mathematically improbable (read as impossible) for a dedicated individual like yourself to be able to turn the tide by organizing something like this at one store in this whole nation.

And even if through some miracle this would snowball into wide acceptance by Walmart of distributing them, just like the dollar coins... people would refuse them after the novelty wore off. One or two are interesting to see b/c they are "rare" to most people. But when they get more than one or two, they reject them - the last 50 years shows this.

Why don't you take your money and maybe invest in your own coin hobby and buy a better coin that you will be able to pass on in later years? Put your money where it actually will give tangible results that will last.

You have a GREAT drive. I am not saying to abandon your dreams or set your goals to a lower level. I am suggesting you make your goal one that will actually benefit you/someone in the long run. A person with your drive can do a lot of good for a cause which will benefit people.

If the right politicians had half your drive we would not be in the mess we are right now in the US.

I believe the Presidential dollars haven't been issued for circulation for a couple years now, since there are so many in storage and no one wants them. Same for the Sacagawea's.

@Earl42,

Well, if you consider a 33 year old a "young man" then I guess you are right. I must admit, I do have the mind of a child...most of the time.

Anyway, I wanted to try to get a large store chain like Walmart or Kmart to distribute $2 bills and halves, and if people started accepting them, and "using" them instead of simply stashing them away, then I was hoping I could sway the vending industry into retooling their coin mechs to accept $2 bills and accept and dispense halves, and have stores eventually upgrade to new self checkout machines that accept and dispense, both $2 bills and halves. That is my goal, and I am not about to give up just yet. And if the store chain I choose, has a positive experience with circulating $2 bills and halves this year, I may ask them if they want to do it every year I can afford it. Or maybe they would just naturally do it from then on as their policy, and maybe other stores will start using them as their policy as well.

@Fox




That puts you and me in the same boat as my kids (nicely and tongue in cheek) let me know quite often they wish I would grow up. When I was a teacher though, it was great in the classroom as my students and I had a good time b/c they enjoyed when learning was fun.

And you are a young whipper snapper to a 51 year old that is pretty much house bound

What I said was a friendly suggestion to you b/c I mistook your enthusiasm for that of someone much younger. Sorry for the mistake and no disrespect was meant.



Since you are enjoying what you are doing, have at it! Best wishes in your goals.

Perhaps someone should start some sort of new business - such a vending machine - that only accepts $0.50 pieces. Or perhaps a CoinStar-like kiosk that rewards you if the coins you dump in are non-standard such as $0.50 or $1 IKEs. Or how about an Arcade that uses $.50 pieces instead of tokens!

I freely give these ideas to the universe at large since I know I will not ever do it myself. I'm hopefully optimistic that someone else will come up with a plan.

Two dollar billshave a chance for increased use IF the one dollar note was discontinued, but I think there is no hope for the half dollar. It just serves no real purpose and has no advantage over two quarters.

The half dollar is already dead, that is, NIFC. The mint sets, proof sets, mint bags, and rolls are the only way to get them. They make a lot of money doing this, so I doubt the mint will stop any time soon.

Same will be said for the cent when we finally wise up and stop minting it for circulation. It will remain in mint sets, proof sets, and maybe even collector rolls and bags (at a nice premium, of course). In my perfect scenario, these NIFC cents will be bronze, not zinc.

As I mentioned above, it already has gone that route. It did so 14 years ago.


Actually, the BEP makes the notes, the Mint makes the coins. Regardless, the reason we still have one dollar notes is political, not practical.


If only we could get our government to learn that lesson.