Americans: Y u no like dollar coins?
The U.S. government, its vaults stuffed with 1.4 billion one-dollar coins bearing the likenesses of dead presidents, has had enough of them. It is going to curtail production.
“Nobody wants them,” Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday. That is for sure: The Mint says there are enough $1 coins sitting in Federal Reserve vaults to meet demand for a decade, and the inventory was on track to hit two billion by 2016.
More than 40 percent of the coins that are minted are returned to the government unwanted, the Treasury said. The rest apparently sit in vending machines — one of the few places they are widely used — or in the drawers of coin collectors.
Dollar bills are kind of dumb. They only last somewhere around 18 months to 3 years (estimates vary), whereas coins last for decades, making them more cost effective. But people are inertia-driven critters — they won’t use coins until paper is phased out. That’s something that would take more political will than US politicians seem to have, because they’re also inertia-driven critters.
But dollar coins are used in other countries (like Australia), and they’re great! Make them gold in colour, a little heavier, different from other coins, and they’re a fine upstanding member of your numismatic repertoire — something you’d be proud to have in your pocket.
Unlike pennies. Thin, and not worth the trouble. Seriously, Americans: You don’t like dollar coins, but you still use pennies? Really?
23 December 2011 at 5:08 pm
Says the guy walking around with kangaroos on his coins [kidding]. My two cents (no pun intended) is that bills are a lot easier to put in a wallet, thus making them easier to carry around in large amounts.
27 February 2012 at 10:54 am
There is only one rational reason to keep dollar bills but it certainly isn't an adequate reason. Strippers.