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 Replies: 16 / Views: 2,320 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I havent spent any time in the state since 2004 (except a week in Vegas 2009) but I have to say I am a little jealous that you guys still have old currency floating around in general circulation. In England really you are unlikely to find anything good in your change since all the older stuff was withrawn when they downsized our coins in the 90's.
(That could be why there are not so many younger people interested in collecting now, when I was a boy you could pull something out of a handful of change 100 years old and that could be the spark to start a collection.)
Anyway... back in 2004 I rarely saw a $1 coin used (though I knew they existed because I have a few) instead the $1 note was favoured. $1 seems a very small denomination note since our smallest note in England was worth about $10 at that time (the pound was strong vs the dollar then.) In England this £5 note equates for far less of the circulation than it did in previous decades because £1 and £2 coins have been picking up the slack as they print less and less of the £5 notes.
In 2009 when I was in Vegas I received a 1 dollar coin with Martin Van Bureh on it... a fairly attractive coin I thought and I see that these are being (or have been) released depicting every president. I would like to aquire all of those eventually so I am hoarding recent commemorative coins of the UK to possibly trade with someone at a later date...
It is strange to me that an equal denimination appears both on notes and coins in the states (The UK didn't introduce pound coins till they withdrew the note, and they introduced the note in order to withdraw the soverign early in the 1900's)
Anyway my question is this...in the USA are coins being more widely used now than they were in the past and can you forsee the $1 note disappearing anytime soon to be relaced with coinage.
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Moderator
 Australia
16827 Posts |
You can find a great many threads discussing the issue in the Modern US coins section of the forum. America has been trying to introduce a "small-sized" circulating $1 coin since the 1970s. Every time they've tried, they've failed, because the American politicians insist on "giving people the choice" between using $1 coins and $1 notes. And if you give people such a choice, they will always choose notes, because notes are more convenient. In Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and pretty much everywhere else, when a new coin is introduced for inflationary reasons, the people weren't given a choice. The government said "you'll take these coins, and you'll like them". And for the most part, when not given a choice, the coins have become popular enough. One can speculate on the reasons for this pigheadedness of American politicians. Cynics point out that the senators and representatives in charge of the regions where the cotton for paper money is grown, processed and turned into $1 notes, always manage to get themselves appointed to the committees looking into scrapping the $1 note, where they always vote it down. They seem to fear that reduced cotton consumption from less $1 notes being printed will result in lost jobs and lost votes. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
 could not be said any better.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Only thing I'd say is that notes aren't more convenient, they're simply what more people are *used to* and when given a choice people will generally go with what is familiar unless persuaded otherwise. Case in point, 3 out of 4 Americans will prefer notes to coins if they *do not* know about how much money they'll save the government to produce and that they're recyclable. That ratio changes to 2:1 *in favor* of coins when those facts are mentioned. People are willing to try something new if it's worth it, and the Mint has really fumbled on the education front.
Edited by SteveCaruso
07/01/2012 7:39 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Nice reply, I was unaware of the politics of the situation... Is it fair to say that the $1 coins are a bit of a rarity and not used much more than they were in the past and it doesn't look set to change?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1796 Posts |
Their use right now is more of a regional thing. Some areas they circulate widely (in central New Jersey they're all over the place), other areas they're still relatively rare to find in change (even as close as southern New Jersey). Their mileage really varries.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Not sure about other places but by me no one uses the baby sized dollar coins. I've never seen one used anywhere. At banks tellers ask if you want some since they have so many to get rid of and no one takes them. Biggest complaint I hear is to close to a quarter and just don't like to carry extra weight. As to the circulation of old coins, they still appear in change all the time due to many reasons. Many are popping up due to robberies of homes and stores and the criminals just spend what they steal as money, not a numismatic item. Also, occationally some put some in change just for fun. I know when I take coins to a bank I always throw in a Wheat cent just for fun thinking how it will make someone say WOW, look what I found. Regardless of what other countries do, in the USA we just don't like anyone telling us what to do with anything. Note how we hang on to our non Metric system. Quote:
America has been trying to introduce a "small-sized" circulating $1 coin since the 1970s. Every time they've tried, they've failed, because the American politicians insist on "giving people the choice" between using $1 coins and $1 notes. And if you give people such a choice, they will always choose notes, because notes are more convenient. AND this is just one of those where we like to do what we want. I suspect that our politicians think they will be voted out if they attempted to take away our paper money. |
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Moderator
United States
188342 Posts |
Quote:
Only thing I'd say is that notes aren't more convenient, they're simply what more people are *used to* and when given a choice people will generally go with what is familiar unless persuaded otherwise... I agree. I seldom, if ever, see them around here. The one place that consistently had them was the post office, but I lost that source when they converted all of their machines to electronic payment. For these reasons I have quit collecting them from circulation (I only collect the proof issues). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
I definitely fall on the convenience side; just checking right now, I have eight one-dollar bills folded neatly in my pocket. I would not care to have 8 coins to carry around, plus my summer shorts tend to hang low when I have too much pocket change!  Also, I find I don't really use much 'money' these days, mostly credit & debit cards. |
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Moderator
United States
188342 Posts |
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I have eight one-dollar bills folded neatly in my pocket. You should have a five and three ones.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1064 Posts |
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You should have a five and three ones Absolutely right jbuck, but keep fives and above in my wallet; one of many quirks I have. Now, where did I get so many ones, since I almost never use 'money'? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2605 Posts |
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I seldom, if ever, see them around here. The one place that consistently had them was the post office, but I lost that source when they converted all of their machines to electronic payment. For these reasons I have quit collecting them from circulation I'm lucky enough to work in a building with a wall of vending machines. Right in the middle there's one that converts your bills into dollar coin (as not all machines accept bills). Every once in a while I put a 20 in it and scan for new coins. |
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Moderator
United States
188342 Posts |
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Now, where did I get so many ones, since I almost never use 'money'? I wonder... Truth is, we all do it. We get in a hurry and forget to use exact change when we have it.  I feel it will be easier to remember when the weight of the dollar coins are in our pockets. Now, if I have coins in my pocket, I always see if I can use them instead of using an extra note. I suspect having dollar coins "weighing me down" will make me even more aware. Quote:
I'm lucky enough to work in a building with a wall of vending machines. Right in the middle there's one that converts your bills into dollar coin (as not all machines accept bills). Every once in a while I put a 20 in it and scan for new coins. The car washes around here take dollar coins, but the bill changer dispenses quarters. It is a good thing for quarter searching, not so much for dollar coins.  |
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Valued Member
Finland
294 Posts |
Ok, this is USD vs. GBP but I find the use of 2 euro coins quite a convenient. It's not much larger than one euro coin, but when you have five of them in wallet it weighs nothing but have quite a good purchasing power in kiosks, coffee shops, market places, parking meters etc.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
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You should have a five and three ones. However, this is a good reason to have our government to start making more different denominations of bills. For example here an $8 bill would be great. So why not a $3, $4, $6 and all the way up to $1,000? I'd really like to see someone at McDonalds trying to change a $47 bill.  A long time ago I used to get so many holes in pockets from change that I attempt to never carry coins. And with all the money back systems for credit cards, I try to only use them. |
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Moderator
United States
188342 Posts |
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Ok, this is USD vs. GBP but I find the use of 2 euro coins quite a convenient. I am not opposed to the eventual conversion of our two dollar note to a two dollar coin. It works in Canada. |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,320 |
Posted 07/01/2012 6:32 pm
