After 3 years of using the euro, along with the dollar, I really like the 1 and 2 euro coins. I doubt I'm the only one to put on a jacket that I haven't worn in a while, or pants I haven't worn, and discover some dollar bills in there. With the euro coin, it clanks so I usually notice it better.

You'd also be surprised what you can pay for with "loose change." I for one, welcome the change.

I work at a bank, so I have to deal with every kind of currency. Call me old fashioned, but I can't stand the dollar coins. Not any of them. I like the dollar bill, it's thin, light, and fits neatly in a wallet. I've helped many people at my bank who didn't even know that the U.S. Mint came out with these new coins. Really, I don't see the dollar bill going away any time soon. Same with the penny. Just too many people like them. Just like Deserthiker said, people don't like change.

Are these ones still the same size as the Sacajawea dollar? You know, almost the same size as the quarter? Because that sure the hell doesn't help.

Not insignificant but I don't do two cash transactions every day and averages say I'll wind up even in the long run.

When I was in St. Petersburg Russia in 1995 most if not all of the prices on goods and services had the tax included and were even. No 99 cent tricks. If an Apple was $100 rubles, it was really $100 rubles including tax. This is a sure fire way to get rid of change.

But then again it would also raise prices a little.

Coincidentally, 2 years ago my grandma gave me a 'collectors set' of gold Presidential coins for Christmas. They came in a cardboard booklet holder and the coins themselves look damn near identical to these real ones! I guess I can try and use my Bill Clinton coin to buy a girlie mag at the local gas station and see if they take it!

Honestly though, I bet if they brought back the Eisenhower dollar coin, give it time to establish itself in our culture, people would be more likely to use it because they are familiar with it, it looks like real money but there is nothing collectible about it!

Lastly, I'm not sure if anyone else already mentioned this, but if they took the dollar bill out of circulation and replaced it with a coin, it would save $400,000,000+ in cost, since the average dollar bill only lasts 1-2 years and the coin lasts 10-20+ years? Its only a small drop in the pond, but isn't our government strapped for cash?

(Apologies for the long comment that no one will probably read.)

Time and time again, it seems that the mint is completely out of touch with their charter and the needs of the American people.

Currency used to have this regal, classic, dignified feel, now they seem cartoonish, amateurish, and lacking even basic grasp of consumer opinion. The repeated debacles of introducing dollar coins that are indistinguishable from other coins, or embarrassingly ugly.

On the new $100s, Franklin looks like he is drunk and making kissy faces. James Madison looks like a car accident victim. The state quarters look like poorly-minted counterfeit arcade tokens. The new bills look like a child doodled all over them in crayon and then poured tea on them. Sacagawea looks like Steven Segal snapped her neck How many portraits ever have the subject facing away from the viewer and then turning backwards over their shoulder?!

Note to the US Mint: Hire real artists, hire classically trained engravers, do some market research, talk to the American people, and look at the currency from other countries. Please stop producing expensive boondoggles that inexplicably make you happy, yet consign your work to the dustbin of laughable failures.

Has ANY new currency since the JFK dollar been even remotely accepted by the American public?

I'd also hide the occasional silver certificate or mercury dime that people would use in the extra spot to buy at the end of my shift.

Ah Christmas, that magical time of year when young Johnny raids his parents closet or piggy bank and finds some small bills and change that they surely won't miss if he takes them...

"Out of $10...your change, three Czolgosz, a Guiteau, and half a Booth."

We did an experiment at the bar i work at as a bartender, giving every customer $1 sacajewea coins as change. Tips AND sales increased by a HUGE percentage due to the fact by the end of the night everyone was throwing these dollar coins down like they were quarters. Now we only use dollar coins instead of bills, and sales/tips are up consistently.

Also, where I live, the local gentlemen's club uses $2 bills as change instead of one's whenever possible, for obvious reasons, and whenver someone is in possesion of a $2 bill in my area, it is a pretty good sign of where they have been lately, or at least where the bill has come from originally.

I don't see how a wallet stuffed with singles is an improvement over a handful of dollar coins in your pocket. I do believe that a handful of dollar coins is far preferable to a handful of an equal value of quarters.

And the "looks too much like a quarter" whine is bogus. It's no harder than telling a quarter from a nickel, which most people master at about age six.

The only rational objection to the dollar coin is that you don't like physical money, but it ain't going out of style any time soon, so bite the wax tadpole and deal with it. Like George Carlin says, "Folks, carry some f~~~in' money around, will ya? It comes in handy!"

Retailers hate dollar coins because their cash registers only have so many places for coins. The only way dollar coins will take off here is if retailers start giving them out in change. And they're not going to do that because James Madison's picture is on it.

last i checked most vending machines, parking meters, public transit fare machines, and coin-op washers and dryers in boston do not take dollar coins. the only place that does seem to take dollar coins is the post office (which also happens to be the one place that enjoys doling them out as change). it doesn't help that the times i've tried to use a dollar coin to pay for something in a retail store, the cashier spends a few minutes scrutinizing it out of suspicion that i might be trying to use some kind of foreign currency.

i like the idea of a dollar coin though. the british pound coin and the euro coin are great working examples. but with the many incarnations of the dollar coin over the years, it just doesn't seem like it will EVER catch on over here.

And they need to suicide it... pull the one-dollar bill from circulation.

Change now is a minor annoyance since so much is needed for a purchase. The dollar coin (two dollar someday please!) would change all that.

some misguided clown was circulating an e-mail not to accept the new dollar cause the "god we trust" was left off the coin.....the motto was put around the rim.....the folding dollar is eazsier to carry around.....i haven't run into the new dollar yet.....

for those of you wanting a bi-metal dollar coin or a different-shaped dollar coin.... I believe that the golden dollar was made the shape (and non-bi-metal) it is now is because it had to have the same electromagnetic qualities as the susan B anthony dollar coin from the 70s, 80s & late 90s (they started making them briefly in the late 90s because they were running out of susn B's in the postal vending machines).... so that it can be recognized & used in vending machines (mostly postal vending machines).

I personanlly would love to see the dollar coin the shape & size of the british pound coin, but a major overhaul would have to be done to do that so it is not very practical.

I also hate how the new golden dollars tarnish quickly, but the mint said it was done on purpose so that it would have an antiqued look (sounds like BS to me). I like how the canuckian loonies' color holds up under circulation.

@JKinNYC: Yeah, reason I don't use a $1 coin is because you can't give them to strippers. $5 is too much to give to the stage dancer. Now if the BPE increases circulation of the $2 in response to the phasing out of the $1 bill My interest would be piqued.

You can get $2 bills at the bank, they are still printed by the BPE, but alot of folks will think they're fake without a second glance.

I'm another Canuck who hates the proliferation of the stinky American $1. I was in NY last week, bought a hotdog ($3) with a $10 bill and got 7 singles in change. WTF.

Get your act together already, go coin! If you guys get a $1 coin, we can soon use it as the Canadian quarter! ;)

I will agree that the "Canada Pocket" syndrome can be a nuisance for those unaccustomed to dealing with change instead of bills (leaving you with a ton of coins), but with a couple toonies/loonies, a few quarters and maybe a dime or two, the most you're putting in your pocket is 50-75g (2-3 ounces). Often much less. Unless you're Bjork, that isn't going to weigh you down significantly.

Being married to a Canadian, I can tell you that I hate carrying 5 pounds (2+kg) of coins. For those of you who say it's less waste of taxes, going to all plastic would save taxes. On the other hand, I'd rather save taxes by the government just not wasting my money by the trillions with stupid crap like wars and marketing for a coin that probably won't catch on and weighs a ton.

Same thing goes for the ridged vs smooth edges - sure, it's technically different, but similar enough to make it a significant inconvenience.

If dollar coins looked and felt dramatically different from small coinage - shaped like rounded squares, maybe - then they'd see more widespread use, presumably.

> Moy said banks don't realize that if they run out, they can order more coins from the Federal Reserve.

BANKS don't realize this? This guy is saying that BANKS don't know where or how to get money?

I just returned from a trip to Japan where coins are king. Our problem is that our coins are too bulky and heavy. The 100 yen coin (~$1) is tiny, slightly larger than a nickel, and weighs almost nothing. 500 yen coins ($~5) are slightly larger than the dollar coin here. Additionally, everything accepts coins and very few machines (train, subway, soft drink, and ice cream machines) accept bills over 1000 yen (~$10). Finally, no 100 yen or 500 yen bills exist. Just the coins. If the US would have the balls to get rid of the $1 bill completely, as wel as lighten the weight and reduce the size of the $1 coin, it could be successful.

We should have a two-dollar coin, as well.

I don't buy the "too heavy" arguement. The dollar coin is only slightly larger and heavier than a quarter dollar, but people don't complain about that. It takes 4 quarter dollars to equal one dollar but the dollar coin does not weigh four times the weight of the quarter dollar.

When my employer had a contract with Coka-Cola, the machines would not accept dollar coins. Now we are a Pepsi shop which does accept dollar coins.

Besides a dollar coin lasting at least 25 years but the average paper dollar lasting 18 months, it solves a problem that dollar bills have. They work almost all the time in vending machines. Dollar bills have to essentially be "crisp uncirculated" else vending machines may reject them.

As for strippers, they need to do what they do in the EU. They carry coinboxes to deposit Euro coins.

As for those who complain that the dollar coins are too much like quarter dollars, I don't buy that arguement either. The non-SBA dollar coins are a different color than quarter dollars and they have a smooth edge versus the quarter dollar's reeded edge.

The dime is similar in size to a cent, plus the cent is a different color and has a smooth edge versus the dime's reeded edge. Plus a dime is 10x the value of a cent, as opposed to a dollar being only 4x that of a quarter. Nobody complains about confusing a cent with a dime.

And on top of all of that, it can be shown that paper bills, especially the highly circulated dollar bills, are a haven for fecal bacteria, as well as other bacteria and viruses that can make you sick, especially those whose immune system is compromized. Coins are less efficient a disease vector than linen paper.

The dollar coin will never be popular until Congress gets b@lls and discontinues the dollar bill. However, we'll probably go to an aluminum cent and recomposed nickel before that happens. The cent and nickel currently cost more than face value to produce.

Because the dollar bill is and will continue to be in circulation, and it's easier to use than a coin. Until dollar bills are withdrawn from circulation, and the coins are made more distinctive, people will just keep hoarding them because they're a novelty, instead of spending them. Who the hell wants to use a coin instead of a bill, anyway? $1 isn't small change.

@jwissick: See, you're missing the point. It doesn't matter if machines don't take them now; they'll have to take them once they're in full swing and the Dollar bill is being phased out. You just need to put up a stink when you need to use a machine that doesn't accept Dollar coins. They are legal tender after all.

I think it would have been better to make the dollar coins a larger though, to differentiate from the quarter.

The only thing less useful than a 1 dollar coin is a 2 dollar bill.

The real problem with dollar coins in America? They're just not used as change. I never have any, and it's slightly inconvenient to go to the bank to get some. In fact, I haven't even seen a $1 coin in a couple years.

Also, pennies really ought to be phased-out and nickels used as the smallest fraction of a dollar. I know I wouldn't complain. Logistically? a little difficult, but there's rounding that already goes on at the pump--Gas is measured to three decimal places, and we pay with two.

Strippers be damned, they can get a thong with a change pocket!

My wallet has metal strips that hold change... just like this one...
[www.wdrake.com],+Wallets+%26+Totes&ProductID=H4SE
mine even has a bottle opener built in.

The 1-Euro coin has 2 metals in it (Copper-colour and silver-colour, I think)

If we use some extra pennies, we can give the dollar coin a copper ring around the edge.
That, and bring out more $2 bills.
Problem solved!

@Infe: That's a good idea in general. Like the paper Euros, make our greenbacks different sizes, depending on value. Then, people could no longer drunkenly hand their taxi driver $100 instead of $10 and say, "Keep the change." (It happened to me as a cabbie, but I was too damned honest.)

I'll bet the blind would appreciate the switch as well.

I remember paying for my school lunch with a Susan B. Anthony dollar in roughly 1979, and I had to argue with the lunch lady that it wasn't a quarter. Almost thirty years later nothing's changed. We're just not programmed for dollar coins.

Second, I like my money all in one place. Why should I have to maintain 2 stores of money, one in my pocket and one in my wallet?

Third, if I keep candies or gum in my pocket, even though it is wrapped, I don't want them mingling with dirty coins.

The best solution would be to get rid of all physical money and just move to a true cashless society. Then the government could redirect all the money they spend on minting money and constantly trying to outwit counterfeiters to something more useful.

Regards the so-called inflationary aspects of nuking the penny, there's this concept called "averaging" that would take care of that. Supply/Demand and a free market would enforce this, to the extent that a $0.024 difference would make, which would be trivial. But it's very necessary, since previous attempts at getting a $1 coin to work were stymied because of the costs of refitting all those cash registers. Free up the slot and this cost would disappear.

After living in Europe for over a year now, the eruo coins are great, the .01, .02, .05, .10, .20, .50, 1 and 2 euro coins are much easier to use then the american equivalent. Plus, my wallet never seems to be over filled with them. And I never have to worry about the vending machine returning my coin, beacuse it is too crumpled. I will echo the previous comments by saying, phase out the dollar bill.

And, to be more radical, differentiate the dollar & quarter by making the latter out of a lighter metal & punch a hole in the center. Need to visit the laundromat, buy a Coke, pay a toll, or something else you usually use coinage for? Don't bring a heavy bag of coins...just string `em up and take off what you need :)

Enjoy your dollar coins.

No, it's because street vendors outright refuse to take them.

@Thaddeus: Or, at the least, we can celebrate when he becomes eligible.

Hmph, apparently even a pacifist can cheer the death of a warmonger.

The $1 coin act specifies that in order for a President to be honored, he or she must have been dead for at least two years and the coins will end when all the then-eligible Presidents have been honored. It is likely that GWB will not be on one.

Am I the only one asking this: "Wait, what? We have a dollar coin?"

Seriously, I never see them anywhere. Wait, one place: stamp vending machines. Nowhere else. Unless they get rid of the paper dollar, coin dollars will never catch on.

Honestly, I say get rid of the penny and paper dollar. Scratch that: I don't care. With few exceptions, I'm cashless. I don't care what you do with your paper and coinage.

Tragically, we were given the means to evolve when the printing press was invented, and yet here we are carrying bulging sacks of metal in our pockets like Yosemite Sam at the docks on his day off.

I think we need to go in the opposite direction. I think we need to have paper coins. Or no coins at all.

@louisb3:

Gold dollars are a hell of a lot different from the quarters in appearence.

I agree with the notion that change sucks and I dump it as soon as I can either at work, home, or in the car. I barely like carrying a wallet, let alone 5 pounds of change.

As to everyone saying they have to explain "this is a dollar" to each other, correct me if I am wrong but doesn't it SAY so on the coin? Can't you just SHOW it to whoever doesn't get it?

Same thing happened with the twonie. (And there was a taste of it last year over the $5 coin rumour. What the heck would we call it anyway? The cinq-ie to be français inclusive?)

The difference for us was the Gov't systematically pulled the bill from circulation. The moment the bills made it back to a bank, they went back to Ottawa never to be seen again. (Except for the $1 and $2 bills I saved as souvenirs.)

a good idea would to get rid of the $0.01 place, and just round to the 0.1, then make $!, $2 and $5 coins. That way, the government saves on making expensive pennies (pennies cost more than they are worth) and nickels. The new quarters can be the size of nickels and the dollars can be the size of quarters

Also, the Sacagawea failed because too many dweebwads collected the coins instead of using them. What do you think changing the design four times a year will do?

@deserthiker: As the government points out, the cent is a hedge against inflation, as more of them start to circulate during recessions.

I think a dollar coin would require being bi-metallic (loonie, toonie, €1, €2) and without a circulating dollar bill. Bi-metallic coins don't meet the mints standards for durability though.

The countless millions that are spent redesigning the money would be better spent taking care of our veterans.Who needs a new 20 or 10 every few years.The old ones work just fine.

I've been in England and Canada and fell in love with the ease of it. The dollar is not the primary bill anymore...the 20 is. (At least, based on ATM's, which is where most of us get our cash.) So give us a 1 dollar coin and maybe a 5 dollar coin.

And discontinue the bills they represent.

In any case, dollars coins would be happily accepted if we got rid of the paper version. For ease of use, though, we'd need to also have a two dollar coin, just like our neighbors to the south (Canada's south of me). Economically, it makes sense to do away with the paper version. EVEN SO, I'll still avoid the coins in favor of paper until paper becomes too much of a hassle. Like most of the other commentators, I just hate and detest change.

I can not get these coins at my bank. They look at me like I am stupid every time I ask for a roll. They act like they can order them but it will put them out. I must call and ask for them a week ahead of time. I get them at banks that I have to cash checks at. Other than that I never see them anywhere. No one uses them in transactions. Blame the banks. They did the same to the other coins that were not circulated. (At least the bank that I bank with)

Of course, that makes too much sense for the Republicans to do. Bet they'll filibuster since they luuuv the penny so much.

And, how much extra are we paying for stupid redesigns, shipping, etc., for all these versioned quarters and dollars? Does anyone care besides coin collectors and Treasury officials? Would you rather see that kids get health insurance instead? I sure would.

For some idiotic reason, the US made the dollar coin round. The loonie was designed to be (IIRC) 17 sided for the blind to tell the difference, and it's a visible difference to the sighted as well, not just the colour.

One would think with the two dollars being par that US vending machines and stores would be happy to take Canadian as well as US coins, unlike the past 30 years. If people pay machines in Canadian coins now, the vendors _make_ money.

I personally hate coins in general. I've had to purchase a new wallet since putting coins in my wallet created an unnatural/uneven bulge and eventually ripped a hole in the weak sewing spots.

I also carry a change purse now (a light fabric enclosed rectangle that used to carry first-aid items), but even so, I hate it when coins start shifting in my pockets creating uneven bulges. I also hate having to sort through thick, relatively identical looking coins to produce exact change (as opposed to paper bills, which are thin and identical looking, but at least I can sort through them more quickly).

Also, it sucks when you go around NYC and get that stare or get double checked when you give a dollar coin as opposed to a bill. I find that many vending machines in the places that I use still don't accept dollar coins.

The gold also makes it seem "not real." If they made it a regular silver looking coin, I think it would be accepted much more easily as "real money."

If all vending machines were required to take dollar coins, people would eventually get used to them. I live in NYC and although there are a fair amount of machines that take them, many don't.

Which means I still see dollar coins as yet another form of punishment doled out by the Postal Service, since that's where I seem to pick up the lil buggers.

I can't imagine tipping someone with a dollar coin unless it was a silent protest over service that was poor, but not bad enough to merit no tip.

Same way with $2 bills. Amusing to carry but you get looked at like your head is on backwards.

@overbysara:
"you have to point out its worth to the cashier. "THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE DOLLAR.""

It also goes the other way, I have had cashiers give me change, and point out, "THIS IS A DOLLAR." I like the $1 coins, but if we are still explaining it it each other, I don't see how it will ever really catch on...

Wait until you drop 2 Susan B's into a parking meter. You lose 2 dollars and get zero time.

Canada has done well with one and two dollar coins. Any change under five dollars almost always gets returned to you as coinage.

I actually had to explain to a new cashier at the store that a two dollar bill was real. She'd never seen one and actually called the manager over. She told him I was trying to pay with these two dollar bills and his reply was, "And? Just take them." He rolled his eyes, smiled at me and walked away laughing.

The only way I can see to really make these the main form of one-dollar currency is to just stop printing one-dollar bills (while still acknowledging the validity of those bills already in circulation, of course).

Sometimes I have to explain that they are real, so I ordered some material from the US Mint.

More info: [www.usmint.gov]

Amen! That's why I never have them. I love 'em--they're shiny and pretty and I just generally think they're spiffy. But I never actually go to the back to get cash, I hit an available ATM or get change back at the grocery store. Plus, like others have said, I'm pretty sure vending machines around here don't take them.

Like many of us, I don't carry coins ever. I got a stash of coins in my desk that fund the company vending machine, and a stash of quarters in the car for parking meters -- that's it (aside from the Coinstar donation of n% my pennies). If 100% of retail was credit card friendly, I'd never have a coin.

As for them falling out of the pocket, I just leave them in the paper roll and remove them one at a time when I pay. They never fall out that way, and not too heavy either.

But when I'm in not-public-transit places, they seem to mostly just hang around my pocket for ages and ages and annoy me and force me to take them to the bar just to get rid of them.

Making the dollar coin really useful requires not just making it acceptable to vending machines, but also getting stores to return them as change.

I loved being able to reach into my pocket to buy lunch, things were quicker and easier. That aside, it is better for the economy due to the costs of printing money every few years vs. the cost of minting coins that last for 30 or more. It could lower taxes!

It's really that simple.

In the long run, government saved a lot of money using coins instead of bills. A coin lasts a lot longer than paper bill.

And even, if you don't like handling coins, once you realize, that less taxes get wasted. It should help.

I think we should bring back the old-fashioned pocketwatch-looking coin holder! see pic --> [www.abc.net.au] How trendy would it be to pull on a chain & whip it out & dispense coins from it on the spot!

The Susan B. Anthony dollar coin didn't fare well; why does the Mint think these coins will do any better? I hate 'em already, and I haven't gotten one yet.

Is everyone in the states just massively irrational about their money? That might go a long way to explain why this site even exists, really. ;)

BUT, I don't like to use them because it seems like there are so few in circulation that when you go to use them, you have to point out its worth to the cashier. "THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF ONE DOLLAR."

Of course they weigh so much more and you can't really carry them in a wallet. However I usually don't care more than 5 or 6 singles at a time so I think I can deal with 5 or 6 coins.

Maybe the coins won't get rid of dollar bills, but I do think it should help to reduce the need for them. If only vending machines and older machines had a simple way to add a dollar coin accepting part.

And maybe be blue.

Like hell I'm gonna carry a change purse.

I personally LOVE the golden dollar coins! I used to give them as tips before I replaced cash with my credit card. I think our monetary system needs a bit of a shakeup.... get rid of the dollar bill & replace it with the golden dollars!
I REALLY like the idea because people would start losing them like they do quarters! And as a person who's hobby is metal detecting.... my hobby would be a lot more fun if I were finding golden dollars like I find quarters. I have already found perhaps 20 dollar coins since they first came out (probably lost by kids whose parents gave to them for the novelty aspect.*shrug*

I always carry one around with me as a flipping or knuckle-rolling coin. :)

Comparison between the UK Pound coin and the US Dollar coin is instructive. They look quite similar, but the former has a much weightier, well-cut look, while the latter kind of looks like an arcade token.

One day I went thru the coach (sofa)in our company media lounge and found over $80 in change!

That coach pays for lunch more times than I'll admit.

Canadians were using all of these same arguments in the late 80s when we switched to dollar coins. But as soon as they were widely distributed the change (pun!) turned out very successful, and a few years later the two-dollar coin was introduced.

@bnpederson: I do the same thing with my heavy pockets of change. Just imagine how much more valuable your little savings tin will become! They other day I rolled a small jar of the remnants of "broken bills" and wound up with nearly $200.

It was like free money I tell ya.

They aren't that heavy. The problem is they aren't RECOGNIZEABLE. the "golden" color tarnishes quickly, and in a pile of quarters it looks too much like a pile of quarters, and in a pocket of quarters it feels too much like a quarter. Probelms with the Susan B, and problems which remain because they decided to make the new dollar coin mechanically equivelent to the 1979 turd.

Look at the Euro on how to do a 1 euro and 2 euro coin well.

The answer is easy...who likes carrying change...no one. i don't even like carrying paper money. Credit and debit card baby!

Seriously, dollar coins would be ok if there were either a) abundant two-dollar bills
or
b) two-dollar coins.

Getting four onsies as change weighs a ton in your pocket.