The first two didn't do so well, why are they trying this again? WASHINGTON - George Washington’s birthday celebration will have a golden tinge this year. Millions of new gold-colored dollar coins bearing the first president’s likeness are being introduced in time for the festivities. The question is whether people will reject them as they did the two previous $1 coins. U.S. Mint officials are hoping they have overcome the problems that doomed the Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollars. Coin experts are skeptical. Story continues below ↓ advertisement The new $1 coins, the first in a series featuring four presidents a year, were to go into circulation on Thursday, just before next week’s President’s Day celebrations. Learning from past mistakes, the Mint is making sure the coins will be widely available so people will not be disappointed when they show up at banks looking for the coins. So far the Federal Reserve, the Mint’s distribution agent, has placed orders for 300 million of the Washington coins. Many have already been delivered to commercial banks under orders not to begin selling them to customers until Thursday. “For the vast majority of Americans, they will be able to get the new dollar coin on the day that we issue it,” Mint Director Edmund C. Moy said in an interview with The Associated Press. Will bills lose out? The changing design with a new president every three months is an effort to match the phenomenal success of the 50-state quarter program that has attracted more than 125 million collectors. While the government is making a more concerted effort to promote the dollar coin this time around. Coin experts, however, said they are not convinced that the results will be much different from the widely avoided Anthony and Sacagawea coins. “I don’t know of any country that has successfully introduced the equivalent of a dollar coin without getting rid of the corresponding paper unit,” said Douglas Mudd, the author of a new book on the history of money, “All the Money in the World.” “If the new one-dollar coins are going to win, then one-dollar bills will have to lose,” said Jeff C. Garrett, president of the Professional Numismatists Guild.
I saw this...I heard it was going to save about $500 million by doing this vs. paper...I would rather have paper myself as I hate lugging coins around... For example, when I was in Calgary, at a place where men hang out watch the ladies dance, I had to literally throw my Canadian coins to the stage as you couldn't be near them and no bills... This is America, and when I go these type of places, I need close interaction, folding up the bill, placing it, well, you know...
Critics say this will weaken the dollar... I disagree. People don't care about pennis and nickels, but they still treat quarters with care.
We should get rid of cash altogether, and just make debit transactions simpler for individuals to handle (some sort of card to card transfer probably).
So a new president on the coin every few months huh? Will they release the Grover Cleveland coin on non-consecutive months?
In Australia we have had $1 and $2 coins for quite a while now. I'm used to it, but I hate carrying around lots of coins in my pockets. Generally, I end up with lots of coins in a jar at home or in the draw in the office - a nice surprise when they have built up! We also have plastic notes - much more durable, hard to forge, and if you accidently leave them in your pocket when your clothes are washed, they are still ok!
I don't think the plastic will ever happen. They claim to have made the new bills harder to forge... and they've always been fine in the washing machine for me Of course, they are not invincible to the rip...but that's rare
i love it, hell love it at my work, its one of the only vending machines i know that will take 5 dollar bills and dispense Sacagawea coins as change, rather than $4 in quarters. Hope this last, its pretty convenient for me and hope it catches on. Wasn't there a scene on the Simpsons where I think Marge awarded someone a Sacagawea coin and the kid said "whats this?" and she answered, its a dollar in which you can go to the bank and get a real dollar for it, i laughed my ass off.
I read somewhere that they are thinking of making a penny worth 5 cents. I don't feel like looking for it now though.
