Another Reason Why Americans Don't Like the Dollar Coin (from my mom)

[astrostu]

I was talking with my mom yesterday about the new dollar coin series and that I didn't think it had a chance in h*** of surviving if they keep printing the dollar bills. She said that she doesn't think it circulates well because people don't like the idea of a dollar as "change." That in modern America, we have dollars - bills - and we have change - coins. And that the idea that a dollar is now "change" makes it seem worth less, and so people are simply psychologically opposed to that idea.

 

I thought that this reasoning made a lot of sense, and since I hadn't seen it mentioned here before, I thought I'd share.

[LuvToCollect]

There is another example of mom knows best.

[DC Dawg]

With no offense to your mother, but paper currency for the dollar was "new" in the 19th century. It gained increase in acceptance during the Civil War when the government printed a lot of notes, including fractional currency. When the people became used to the paper, it gained acceptance. It was seen as a modernization of money in the 19th century.

 

Americans are a very resiliant bunch. We can adopt to anything. We've adopted to a lot, especially since 2001. There is an economic benefit to use coin rather than paper which needs to be consider. Modernization would look at this benefit, make the decision, and the American people will adjust.

 

I am for adjusting!

 

Scott

[jgrinz]

Penny needs to retire for the dollar to be accepted as coinage I think

IMHO

[relicsncoins]

Possibly, but I know up in Montana where I grew up, my Grandparents owned a pizza parlor in the 50's and 60's and they would still get a large number of Morgan and Peace dollars as payment. "Hard" currency was much more the accepted form of payment out West as aposed to out East. My Grandpa told me he went back East in the late 50's and had several silver dollars in his pocket and when he went to pay at a restaurant, the staff was really intrigued by the silver dollars.

 

JJ

[James_OldeTowne]

I've stated it before. I think the cent, the nickel and the dime need to be eliminated from circulation. Also, eliminate the paper $1, $2 and $5 bills.

[Zoins]

If you eliminate the $1 and $5 bills, then you will really end up with lots of $1 coins!

[jtryka]

How about this, revalue the dollar at 20 current dollars = 1 new dollar. The new dollar would be set at 26.73g of 0.900 fine silver. Then you can have circulating silver coins, and a cent would still be worth less more than the cost to mint it (even at 95% copper). Everything would then be rounded to the nearest 20 cents in current money, but it wouldn't seem that way since the smallest coin will still be a cent. This eliminates all the problems of base metal coins costing more to produce than they are worth, and might actually put some discipline back into our monetary system thus preventing the government from stealing our savings through continuous inflation caused by endless printing of unbacked paper currency.

[truthteller]

Americans don't like change. The rest of the world accepts it. In Canada, the government was smart. They introduced the Loonie Dollar WHILE withdrawing the paper dollar. Canadians were forced to accept it. Within a few months, people loved it. Same with Great Britain and their English pound and two pound coins. Now, most of Europe accepts Euro coinage without any hesitancy. In fact, most vending machines in europe accept nothing but coinage.

 

If the US Treasury were smart, they would give 6 months to withdraw the paper dollar.

 

 

 

TRUTH

[Zoins]

How about this, revalue the dollar at 20 current dollars = 1 new dollar. The new dollar would be set at 26.73g of 0.900 fine silver. Then you can have circulating silver coins

There's something similar called Liberty Dollars Maybe enough people start saying that's a good idea, the US will really start thinking about moving back to silver. But somehow I doubt it, it's a lot easier to make money with low instrinsic value and they also last longer. Clad coins don't seem to wear down anywhere near as much as the 0.900 silvers.

[relicsncoins]

How about this, revalue the dollar at 20 current dollars = 1 new dollar. The new dollar would be set at 26.73g of 0.900 fine silver. Then you can have circulating silver coins, and a cent would still be worth less more than the cost to mint it (even at 95% copper). Everything would then be rounded to the nearest 20 cents in current money, but it wouldn't seem that way since the smallest coin will still be a cent. This eliminates all the problems of base metal coins costing more to produce than they are worth, and might actually put some discipline back into our monetary system thus preventing the government from stealing our savings through continuous inflation caused by endless printing of unbacked paper currency.

 

Why in the world would the Government put silver back into our money when they can just issue worthless base metal coins and save their stockpiles of silver. Think about this for a minute:

 

A quarter minted in 1964 is now worth about 10X face or $2.50 Yet, a quarter minted a mere 1 year later is still only worth a quarter. They buying power of that 64 quarter has kept up with inflation if not actually done a little better. Read my sig line, I think it is unconstitutional for the government to be using base metal coinage.

 

JJ

[shirohniichan]

If the US Treasury were smart, they would give 6 months to withdraw the paper dollar.

 

That's one huge "if"!

[Zoins]

If the US Treasury were smart, they would give 6 months to withdraw the paper dollar.

 

That's one huge "if"!

Umm, wouldn't they all lose their jobs if they did that? I don't think they make the decisions do they?

[MunkyMan95]

Jut the paper $1, right? If not, they would lose all their jobs. But the $1 bill is only a small part of the total production at the BEP.

[EZ_E]

I certainly don't like dollar coins. I much prefer the dollar bill since it is lighter and less cumbersome.

[WinstonWare]

I certainly don't like dollar coins. I much prefer the dollar bill since it is lighter and less cumbersome.

 

Agree entirely. Plus what do you do at an exotic bar? Just roll a coin at the dancer?

[MunkyMan95]

I certainly don't like dollar coins. I much prefer the dollar bill since it is lighter and less cumbersome.

 

Agree entirely. Plus what do you do at an exotic bar? Just roll a coin at the dancer?

 

You might get more for your money if she tried to pick up one of those with her... Ya know.

[Wihlborg]

I certainly don't like dollar coins. I much prefer the dollar bill since it is lighter and less cumbersome.

 

Exactly. I think this is the real reason most people don’t like the idea of doing away with the dollar bill. I know I don't want to be walking around with a bunch of bulky, heavy coins in my pocket.

 

John

[Zoins]

I certainly don't like dollar coins. I much prefer the dollar bill since it is lighter and less cumbersome.

 

Exactly. I think this is the real reason most people don’t like the idea of doing away with the dollar bill. I know I don't want to be walking around with a bunch of bulky, heavy coins in my pocket.

When I was in the UK I carried around a bunch of nickel diameter 1 pound coins and didn't have an issue. One GBP is now 1.9 USD so that's quite a bit.

[just-john]

But when your out camping and it raining it's hard to start a fire with a coin.Dollar's not going anywhere.Coins are change like in do you have change for a dollar.New dollar coins are just a way for the mint to balance there books keep there jobs ect.We could go to a national debit card tomarrow and it would be no big deal for most people because they use one already and it would cut down on crime.

[midwest]

We should keep both the penny and the dollar bill.

[physics-fan3.14]

How about this, revalue the dollar at 20 current dollars = 1 new dollar. The new dollar would be set at 26.73g of 0.900 fine silver. Then you can have circulating silver coins, and a cent would still be worth less more than the cost to mint it (even at 95% copper). Everything would then be rounded to the nearest 20 cents in current money, but it wouldn't seem that way since the smallest coin will still be a cent. This eliminates all the problems of base metal coins costing more to produce than they are worth, and might actually put some discipline back into our monetary system thus preventing the government from stealing our savings through continuous inflation caused by endless printing of unbacked paper currency.

 

The entire world would be plunged into a depression so deep that it would rival the Dark Ages if this were to happen. The economic stability of about half the countries in the world is dependent on the stability of the United States Dollar. Revaluing it (essentially, making it worthless) would undermine the credibility of both the US and its money. Just look at what happens in the Latin American countries. Rampant inflation is followed by revaluation, and repeat. There is no stability, and investors are hesitant to put their money in these countries. Remember, the only reason this funny money is worth anything is because people believe it to be. There is no backing for this money, except the full faith and credit of the United States government. If this faith were undermined, nearly every economy in the world would collapse (even those not directly dependent on the US dollar.) Globalization has ensured that every country is tied together, such that if one of the kingpins (most notably the US) were to fail, it would affect the entire world.

 

I agree that rampant inflation is also detrimental to the economy, but revaluing the dollar is not the solution. Much to my chagrin, it is no longer feasible to go back onto the gold or silver standard. There just isn't enough silver and gold. Think about how many trillions of US dollars there are, and therefore how many trillions of ounces of silver or gold you would need. If there were that many trillions of ounces of these precious metals, I don't think they would be quite so precious. The silver market was seriously affected when Warren Buffet bought his silver, and he only bought a hundred million ounces. So, as much as I agree in principle with the gold standard (or, to a lesser extent, the silver standard), it is not possible today. It would have been better to never have left it, but then we are just playing whatifs.

[DC Dawg]

The entire world would be plunged into a depression so deep that it would rival the Dark Ages if this were to happen. The economic stability of about half the countries in the world is dependent on the stability of the United States Dollar. Revaluing it (essentially, making it worthless) would undermine the credibility of both the US and its money. Just look at what happens in the Latin American countries. Rampant inflation is followed by revaluation, and repeat. There is no stability, and investors are hesitant to put their money in these countries. Remember, the only reason this funny money is worth anything is because people believe it to be. There is no backing for this money, except the full faith and credit of the United States government. If this faith were undermined, nearly every economy in the world would collapse (even those not directly dependent on the US dollar.) Globalization has ensured that every country is tied together, such that if one of the kingpins (most notably the US) were to fail, it would affect the entire world.

Perfect answer! Excellent!!

 

Let me add one more thing... According to a 2001 report, BEP prints over $380 billion of currency that is shipped overseas! These transactions are handled out of the NY Fed. In fact, the NY Fed handles more foreign transactions for US paper than any other type of transaction.

 

I agree that rampant inflation is also detrimental to the economy, but revaluing the dollar is not the solution. Much to my chagrin, it is no longer feasible to go back onto the gold or silver standard. There just isn't enough silver and gold. Think about how many trillions of US dollars there are, and therefore how many trillions of ounces of silver or gold you would need. If there were that many trillions of ounces of these precious metals, I don't think they would be quite so precious. The silver market was seriously affected when Warren Buffet bought his silver, and he only bought a hundred million ounces. So, as much as I agree in principle with the gold standard (or, to a lesser extent, the silver standard), it is not possible today. It would have been better to never have left it, but then we are just playing whatifs.

 

One thing that people do not realize is that not every note in the precious metal era was backed by precious metals. Fractional currency, for example, was not backed by precious metals but the promise of the US government. At the end of the Civil War, the worth of the fractional notes dipped to 5-percent of face value! Copper coins were trading at 2-3 times face value.

 

Banknotes of the era were not all backed by precious metals, this is why there were so many bank failures when people traded the paper for coinage or hard currency (silver and gold certificates). Bank and US Notes were problematic because playing with the valuation and the extension of credit without the proper backing of some asset can lead to over extended credit. When margin calls are issued, the attempt at turning these promisory notes to hard currency was impossible, which can lead to economic disaster. This happened twice in our history: 1929 when there was more money created than the precious metals market could handle; and in 1987 where thtis was repeated in the form of "junk bonds."

 

When these economic decisions are made, the policy makers have to look at both the macro and micro economic ramifications. It is easy to say "get rid of the penny" when there is a market that is supported by the coin--if there wasn't then why does the various Federal Reserve Banks order so many from the Mint? But the policy makers know that withdrawing the cent from circulation will do more harm than good... especially in perception as working against the poor!

Also, the United States Mint does not strike or issue pennies. The penny is the fraction of the base currency of the British Pound. And the plural of the penny is pence. The fraction unit of the dollar is the CENT. The coins are LINCOLN CENTS, not pennies. I do not think the Royal Mint is issuing coins with the effigy of Abraham Lincoln on the obverse!

 

Scott

[Oldtrader3]

I can not offhand think of any countries that still circulate a one dollar coin? Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Ireland et al have had coins for pounds, punts and dollars. If the the one dollar bill stopped being printed, we would be forced to use coins. I go to Canada regularly (I live 1/2 mile from the border)and just returned from Great Britain. I do feel disadvantaged or weighed down by pound coins or Canadian Loonies. I see this as a non issue which has been made an issue by perception. I guess the perception is that we can't count our money and will confuse quarters and dollars.

 

I have noticed however that 50 cents (pence) or whatever coins do not circulate in any of these countries because of their large size.

[astrostu]

Thanksk to all who replied. It did get a little off-topic, but I think that a lot of you did raise some obvious points, that yes, the American public could easily adapt, if they were actually made to by getting rid of the $1 bill. But the folks in power (a) don't think it's that important to make a fuss about, and (b) like the status quo enough as far as the coinage is concerned -- at least that's my impression.

 

I honestly think that it's all about public perception. What's more important? Learning to use a dollar coin (even though it's not the steepest learning curve in the world), or just sticking with the dollar bill and worrying about your kid getting shot tomorrow at school?

[DC Dawg]

I honestly think that it's all about public perception. What's more important? Learning to use a dollar coin (even though it's not the steepest learning curve in the world), or just sticking with the dollar bill and worrying about your kid getting shot tomorrow at school?

Obviously, the latter is more important. But this is a numismatic forum, what do you want when you post this question here?!

 

 

Scott

[astrostu]

I honestly think that it's all about public perception. What's more important? Learning to use a dollar coin (even though it's not the steepest learning curve in the world), or just sticking with the dollar bill and worrying about your kid getting shot tomorrow at school?

Obviously, the latter is more important. But this is a numismatic forum, what do you want when you post this question here?!

 

 

Scott

 

 

Oh yes, I totally agree. I'm just listing a non-numismatic reason why these dollars will fail.

[Zoins]

We should post the same question in the paper money forum and see what the response is

[midwest]

Also, the United States Mint does not strike or issue pennies. The penny is the fraction of the base currency of the British Pound. And the plural of the penny is pence. The fraction unit of the dollar is the CENT. The coins are LINCOLN CENTS, not pennies. I do not think the Royal Mint is issuing coins with the effigy of Abraham Lincoln on the obverse!

 

 

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Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

[Oldtrader3]

Midwest what is your point? All british coinage issues except the penny are pence denominations. Last time I checked, pence is plural for pennies! The U.S., Australia and Canada are the only countries that I am aware of that uses cent or cents.