The U.S. Mint has issued a new dollar coin. Do you think the dollar coin will be a success?

Question

Coin of the Commanders in Chief Unveiled

By David Lawder, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Nov. 20) - The U.S. Mint is hoping that Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore can do what Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea couldn't -- get Americans to use dollar coins.

The Mint on Monday revealed the design of the new U.S. $1 coin, which will be issued in a series that will eventually include the faces of each U.S. president.

It will release four new presidential dollars each year, starting with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 2007. The Van Buren dollar will be released in 2008 and the Fillmore in 2010.

Richard M. Nixon, who resigned in disgrace in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, will appear on the coin in 2016.

The Mint is hoping the continually changing faces will entice consumers to break their traditional reluctance to use dollar coins.

Would you have a problem carrying and using the dollar coin?

Is this a good idea or a farce?

Answer 1

They'll be a success for collectors. Can you imagine carrying $25 in your purse or pant's pocket? Too heavy.

Answer 2

This is NOT an attempt to get the public to use dollar coins. What this is is another program directed towards collectors. The ongoing 50 State Quarters program, the most successful series of coins ever minted by the US Mint, will reach its end soon, and this new issue will be a replacement. If the mint were introducing a new coin strictly for circulation you would not see four different versions issued each year, you would see only one in total. The many different presidential versions are designed to attract collectors, who will scramble to collect proof sets and uncirculated rolls of each year. I doubt if very many of these coins will ever see mass circulation and I am willing to bet that most of the production will be in silver and clad proof sets designed for collectors only.

The problem the mint has had with the last two dollar coins was their size was almost exactly the same as a quarter. If you look at real silver dollars they were much larger than any other coin. it does not make any sense to have a dollar coin that is smaller that the 50c coin. However, to make it larger would mean the need to reconfigure all coin operated vending machines to accept the new dollar coin, so expect the mint to stick with a quarter-sized coin that will fail just as its predecessors have. If the mint has not learned from its past mistake in sizing the coin then the new one will not gain widespread public acceptance either. So the purpose of the new issue is NOT public circulation but the collector market, and the coin will be successful with collectors, but NOT the general public..

Answer 3

The government is doing actually both things, one get the new presidential coins in the hands of the general public, for they will last much longer than dollar bills and number two, make special ones, also sets for the collectors. The only way this will work is to do what Canada, Great Britain and Australia to name a few have done, stop printing the equivalent paper bills. The Massachusetts lobby is very strong, for that is the state the company is, that makes the paper for our bills. I understand that maybe in the future, the Bureau of engraving and printing (BEP) may ask for bids but so far I have not heard they have done so.

Answer 4

I wouldn't mind a nice dollar coin. At school we have vending machines and they don't take the card (obviously), and the atm machine will only give me $10 (min.) so I end up having to stick a ten dollar bill in for a $2.00 item and get back a billion quarters. Although last time the machine gave me back five Sacagawea dollar coins and at first I was confused and thought it was spitting out fake tokens because it had been years since I saw one. But it was a heck of a lot better getting those dollar coins than a gazillion quarters!

Answer 5

Yeah and a Susan B Anthony coin although i think that's old. The one you're holding is a Sakachtwewa or something like that. There is an Indian lady with a baby, right?

Answer 6

I'd vote for Buren or Fillmore over the Susan B Anthony or Sacajawea piece! What a mean face Susie has! She looks like the school marm back in the days of McGuffey's Readers and the one-room school-house. One side glance and she'll crack your knuckles with a ruler. And Sacajawea looks too fat and unkind. But in comparison, Buren is so genial in appearance. He puts you at ease when you reach in your pocket for a coin, peer down and see him gazing right back at you..

Answer 7

This will save having to re-print money at such a fast rate.

But the down side is...having a pocket full of coins!! they will be uncomfortable. instead of a wallet full of dollar bills you will need a change purse for them.

they are a nice idea but its kinda like the 50 State Quarters. I'm gonna try to say one of each.

But doesn't the president have to be dead for 2 years to qualify?

Answer 8

Yes, I think it will fly, because dollars are such a pain to keep in your wallet. They get used allot, so wear out quicker and tear. I hate that.

However, in Oregon, we use Sacajawea dollar coins. They are awesome, and I would rather look at her pretty profile than that ugly Nixon mug any day.

Answer 9

dollar coins have a niche. they need to make them easier to spend, like quarters.
many things have to be re-configured, like laundromats, parking meters, vending machines, etc.
but this only can mean the price of something will go up to a dollar, as most coin operated devices do not give change back.

Answer 10

Dollar coins will only work if you take away the paper...if you still print paper, then people will just hoard the coins for prosperity.