Dollar Coins
At the credit union there are a few select people who like to come in and buy the new packs of dollar coins. The US Treasury has been issuing new golden $1 coins with different presidents on them. According to the coin production schedule from the US Mint, they will be producing new dollar coins in the President Series up until 2016 finishing with President Gerald Ford. The coins in the image above will be produced throughout 2008, so keep your eyes out for them. Some people buy them for their collection and others buy them for gifts. These coins will likely never make it out of their homes. There is another group of people that purchase these coins for the sole purpose of distributing them out into society. They tell me that they think the coins are cool and a good idea because the life of a dollar bill is so short. According to PBS, “the average life of a dollar bill is eighteen months. Five dollar bills last about fifteen months, with twenties remaining in circulation for two years. Ten dollar bills have about the same lifespan as singles do, and the larger denomination bills can last up to eight years.” Coins obviously last a lot longer than this.I don’t think Americans as a whole are ready to accept the dollar coin as usable currency any time soon. The dollar coin has become a way of life in Canada though. Heck, they even have a two dollar coin. This system works for them because the dollar bill was discontinued, so people were forced to use the coin for purchases. The only way a dollar coin will be successful in the United States is if the dollar bill were discontinued.
In all of my purchases since the dollar coins began appearing since 2000 when the Sacajawea was first introduced, I have only received dollar coins as change once. I bought a couple of stamps from the Post Office vending machine with a $20 because that was all I had. When the machine made change for me there was about 18 Sacajawea coins waiting for me in the dispenser! I think I still have half of those coins because I forgot about them because they didn’t seem like real money to me. One of my co-workers refers to them as Chuckie Cheese coins. You have to admit that there is a striking resemblance.
Going back to the people who like to distribute these dollar coins. They feel that if they make purchases with dollar coins only they will start to gain acceptance in society. There are people that will purchase $75 worth of these coins at one time to accomplish this mission. Since I have never been offered a dollar coin as change before, this is what I think happens with them. The coin fanatics make their purchases with dollar coins. Stores don’t want them, but since the coin is legal tender they are forced to accept them. They have had negative experiences in the past giving dollar coins as change, so they don’t even bother with it. When it comes time to deposit their money in the bank for the week they send those dollar coins in with their deposit so they don’t have to deal with them anymore. The bank receives them as the deposit and then packages up the coins and returns them to the Fed for packaging into rolls.
That’s my theory anyway, but I am curious to hear what others think. In my opinion, the dollar coin will never be more than a collectors item until the dollar bill is done away with. Personally I don’t see that happening any time soon.
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