Why wont the dollar coin catch on?

Question

In America they've been trying to introduce the dollar coin for decades. Why does it always fail?

Answer 1

Because the only vending machines that can handle that coin are those in the Post Office.

Printing and minting money is expensive. Currently in the US the value of the metal in the Penny and the Nickel are worth more than the value of the coins themselves. The US has just passed a law to prevent this, as it happened last century when the pure copper penny had more than a pennies worth of copper in it.

The dollar is the most often used bill in circulation and very few of them last more than 9 months. A dollar coin would be a great idea, according to the National Mint, but not according to anyone else.

Cash register money trays aren't built to have a slot for dollar coins or two dollar bills, this is why the two dollar bill failed. Vending machines frequently accept coins and dollars, but none of them accept dollar coins. The only reason most Americans bother to carry coins is to use a vending machine. Otherwise they just throw the change in a jar and turn it in to a Coinstar machine once a year.

If the US gave vending company machines a tax break to convert there machine so they could handle dollar coins then the coins might have a good chance to succeed. If they gave a tax break to the companies making cash registers to adapt their machines to hold dollar coins (all they would need to do would be to add one extra slot), then they might become useful. But, when you use a dollar coin to pay for something in a vending machine, unless it is stamps the coin is rejected. If you use a dollar coin to pay for something at a cash register then the cashier drops it under the drawer and pushes it to the back. At the end of the day the dollar coins are taken to the bank, and when the bank tries to give them out no one wants them.

You can advertise the coin as much as you want but until you get the companies using currency to adapt to handling the coin it is worthless. Even banks don't have cash drawers made to handle the coin, so they rarely give them out either. People may complain about the weight or the chunkiness of the coin or they may say that they don't carry small change, but the real reason that Americans don't use dollar coins is because they are pointless, not wanted by companies or machines, and basically only used once, by the person who gets stuck with the coin.

If the US government pulled there head out of their _ _ _es then they might realize this, but they don't think about it from the viewpoint of the average people. If every once and a while Congress stooped to the level of average people and looked at things from their point of view then they would understand why so many of the things they do seem stupid.

Answer 2

It always fails because they do not eliminate the dollar bill at the same time. Until this is done, any dollar coin will fail. It has little to do with weight or inconvenience. The people who bring up the complaint about not wanting to have tons of heavy coins in their pockets probably don't walk around with a big wad of dollar bills in their wallets either. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was a colossal flop because it was virtually the same as a quarter in both color, edge-reeding, and weight. Aesthetically, Susan B. Anthony is not a pleasant looking choice, either, although I doubt that entered into the decision-making process on the design. Sacagawea dollars have failed because there are comparatively few vending machines that will take them and there is no reason to carry them in a pocket like change when dollar bills ARE taken in virtually every vending machine. You have to purposely set out use dollar coins at the store, they are not an every day casually used form of money and you will almost never get one back in change even if a store has them unless you specifically ask.

Answer 3

It works well in Australia. We now have a $2 coin as well and there is talk of a $5 coin soon.

Answer 4

Because 10 singles is a lot easier than 10 coins. I think it would have to start with machines that take coin dollars first. If we have no reason to carry them, why do we need them? I went to taco bell once and I gave him 6 dollar coins and he thought it was foreign money

Answer 5

Because Americans don't like carrying around a buttload of heavy change, that's why. It should be pretty obvious by now. And the idea of taxpayers subsidizing vending machine maker to accept coins no one wants is one of the stupidest things I've heard in awhile. That the brain trust at the US mint can't grasp this blindingly obvious fact is an example of why we don't tolerate a centrally-planned economy governed by our betters.

The real question is, why are comparable coins even used in places like UK and Australia? It's absurd to have to carry around two pounds of jangling metal in your pants just to be able to buy a sandwich for lunch. Drives me freaking nuts when I visit the UK. Americans have gone the route of increasing abstraction for their currency preferences -- from coins to paper to plastic. I welcome the day when I no longer have to deal with coins at all.

Answer 6

Where you going to carry them? Would not fit in a wallet and would be too heavy to carry around. Just my thought on it.

Answer 7

It looked too much like a quarter.