Are You Using (or Will You Use) Dollar Coins?

Remember when I asked about the "money making method" of buying US dollar coins with a credit card and making money on the cash back rebate? Well, this question is related.

Smart Spending asked if Americans will learn to love the new dollar coins -- which led me to this question for you:

Are you using (or will you use) dollar coins?

Personally, I love the idea of dollar coins (there's just something about coins versus paper that's appealing to me -- I know it's strange) and the fact that it saves the government (and all of us -- it's our tax money) a ton of money is a benefit as well. But here's the problem I have -- they are very, very inconvenient. They are hard to carry in quantity (compare carrying a $20 bill with 20 $1 coins and see what I mean.) Besides, I use cash so infrequently that I simply wouldn't go through that many $1 coins.

I actually did buy $500 of the coins based on the "idea" we discussed. My plan was to give them to our family members (all four of us) and have them carry the coins. Then when they saw someone in need, they could "bless" them with a coin. The result: one month later and we all still have all our coins. Why? Yes, part of it is finding someone that needs to be "blessed", but it's also the fact that when we do see someone, none of us has any coins because they are a hassle to carry.

Anyway, anyone use these coins? If so, how do you get around the hassle factor? Any ideas on making $1 coins easier to use would be appreciated.

Here's one thought: how about making coins in higher denominations? For instance, I might carry a $20 coin as then I could use it to pay for a meal or something with a decent value. Then again, maybe it would just make it easier to lose $20 as coins seem more likely to be lost than paper money. Thoughts?

Comments

[guinness416]

When I moved from NYC to Toronto, I went from using dollar bills to using dollar (and two dollar!) coins daily. They are definitely a hassle to carry, although less so in winter when I have a coat with pockets, and as a result I ended up with several of them in or on every bloody drawer and surface in my office and house. So now I keep them all in one jar and grab a few only when I know I'll be directly going somewhere to buy $10 worth of groceries or subway tokens or whatever. They are handy for random charitable giving and tipping though, you're right about that - mostly because I want to get rid!

[philip]

I hate carrying all coins, I always leave them either at home or in my vehicle. Fortunatly now I use cash so rarely that I don't end up with much change laying around anywhere either.

I vote against the coins myself. I would think that the number of people that do credit card transactions would have reduced the number of bills that need to be in circulation.

[Kevin @ The Money Hawk]

Just another example of our government going a step further in the wrong direction. Coins are outdated and useless. They need to look forward, not backward.

[Mark]

I love the dollar coins. I generally only have $2-10 dollars in cash on me at any time and I don't carry a wallet.

Also, on the rare occasion at work when I use the vendo it will spit out dollar coins if you give it a $5 bill; much better than the old machines that only give back quarters. Unless you like to pretend you hit a jackpot!

[Apex]

I have never yet seen one of these new dollar coins. That tells me almost no one is using them. I suspect if I handed 5 of these to a cashier he/she wouldn't know what they were or what they were worth. This is unfortunately a problem with them.

I think one of the reasons people hate coins is they aren't worth anything.

I have a few suggestions.

1. The penny and the nickle are worthless and should just be eliminated. People say that would be terrible because everyone would just round up. Well 100 years ago things were 10 times cheaper than they are now and we didn't have a 1/10 penny so its not different. I don't think there is a great danger if stuff gets rounded up from the 6th cent to the next dime.

2. There needs to be more denominations up to atleast 20 but 50 and 100 would be fine too. Imagine carrying 56 bucks with 5 coins (20,20,10,5,1). I would love to do this. Sometimes that could be handier than cash money. And if you don't like it then carry cash but I bet if higher denomination coins were more prevalent and widely used you would see more of them.

Paper money has to be carried in a wallet or money clip or it gets lost or destroyed. Coins carry nicely in any pocket and if you don't have to carry 30 of them to amount to any real money I think they would be great.

Unfortunately with $1 being the highest coin that is really being put out for use and with myself seeing not one of them used in circulation yet, I think the prospect for using coins is pretty low.

[Kimberly]

I would like to see dollar coins more in circulation. If they got rid of the dollar bill completely, than the smallest bill in my wallet would be a fiver and my coin jar would be filled with dollar coins. I wouldn't carry them around, just as I don't carry any other change. I drop it all in the jar at the end of the day. I'd end up saving more. :)

[Mark]

@Kevin: Coins have a much lower lifetime cost than paper. It would be smart to eliminate the paper dollar all together. Quite a few countries have replaced small paper denominations with coins.

[Traciatim]

Living in Canada I'm used to having the $1 and $2 coins. Since they circulate so rapidly it costs a pile of money just to keep dollar and two dollar bills in circulation. Coins last far longer and you surprisingly don't end up getting too many because you use them regularly. Most of the arguments against them just come from people who fear change . . . pun intended ;)

[Catherine]

All the time.

The machines where I buy my train tickets, subway passes & stamps spit them out as change, and I got into the habit of using them to buy a newspaper or other $1 item.

Far better to pull coins out of a pocket or change purse than to open a billfold with larger denominations. I think it is safer, too.

[Flexo]

I don't see the coins as a hassle.. just stick a few in my pocket. In fact, I did this morning, but I might not be spending any money today.

[Rich]

I traveled to Japan about 2 years ago for a class in college, we were there for a week. We were told it would be a smart idea to buy a coin purse since we would be getting a lot of coins as change. I didn't really want to carry around a purse so I didn't bother. It was a mistake. After the second day my pockets were full of coins! I broke down and bought a little coin pouch, which fits right into your pant's pocket so if you reach in and it drops you only have one little bag to pick up, not a bunch of coins rolling all over the place, some of them worth up to $10!

I did like all the fact that they have replaced less valuable paper notes with coins and I also think think psychology it would make people spend more. Think about it, if you have to spend $20 that's a $20 bill, but if it was a coin then it's just one little coin. I think that since the currency is smaller in size we think it's worth less and also we have always thought about coins as not being very valuable.

[Michael]

I hate carrying cash OR coin in my pocket. The only thing I usually carry is a credit card, a debit card, a driver's license and my insurance card -- and I resent even carrying that much some days :-).

The coins won't become popular until they retire the dollar bill though.

[Bad_Brad]

You mean in this day and age there are actually people who still actually do things with coins other than throw them in the myriad tip jars that you see in different places or give them to your kids for doing odd jobs?

I never knew.

[Craig]

The only time I ever use dollar coins is if I get change from a machine and it dispenses dollar coins. Otherwise I would never use dollar coins, I find them annoying to hold onto, and almost feel embarrassed when I do use them. When I was in Europe they have 2$ Euros and it's a pain to carry them around all the time.

Craig

[Coin Collecting]

I bought $500 worth of the dollar coins when they first when they first went on sale through the new program. I have actually been using them, but it goes slowly.

The best use I have found is for municipal parking. Parking is from 75 cents up. I keep a stack of dollar coins in the car and when we go shopping, I use them for the parking machine. It's actually much more convenient than fiddling with bills.

[Matt H]

As dollars become worth less and less over time due to inflation, it will make more sense to switch single dollars to coins and eliminate the penny and the nickel.

Think of it this way: would it be more convenient to have 25 cent or 50 cent bills? Your wallet would be stuffed with the stupid things. Do you wish there were a 1/10 cent coin so that you don't get "ripped off" by gas stations "rounding up" to the nearest cent? I doubt it. But that's effectively what's happening as our currency loses value over time.

The arguments against modernizing our coin and bill denominations are pretty silly if you think about them much, so ultimately what it comes down to is an aversion to change (no pun intended).

[jeff]

I get the dollar coins from the bank usually get a roll a month then use them for tips. I don't know why but waiters and waitresses really enjoy getting them.

[MelMoitzen]

We are the pretty much the last civilized country that needs to promote a coin for its basic monetary unit. Dollar coins have been an option in the U.S. at many times, but their use has not been adequately promoted since the last real silver dollars were minted in the 1930s.

I always carry around four of them to supplmement my currency, and have given out quite a few from my initial order of 500; everyone is somewhat surprised, street vendors are pretty skeptical, the guy at the hot dog cart wouldn't accept them without a fight. A few have asked what they're supposed to do with them--I tell the the same thing as they would do with bills--spend them, deposit them, save them.

The most practical use: Giving two of them to my son to keep in his bathing suit pocket while swimming for when the ice cream truck comes around. (Try doing that with bills.)

The most heartwarming use: The tooth fairy leaving them Sunday night to recognize my daughter's first tooth loss; I don't think I would have gotten the same photo had TF left two wrinkly singles as the one I got with a toothless smile holding up "two magic gold coins."

[mbhunter]

I really like them. I think they're neat.

A good place to use them is as a tip in a restaurant.

[Penny]

Don't like 'em personally. I just got handed a bunch in change at a gas station when they claimed they didn't have singles. The coin purse part of my wallet isn't designed to handle these. The local parking meters don't take them. Merchants mistake them for quarters so I have to explain multiple times that they are dollar coins. Sheesh - glad these are making my life easier!

[Jess]

Personally, I can't stand US bills. Up here in Canada, every bill has a different color, so when I travel to the US I have the hardest time trying to read the different denominations. Plus it just feels like such a waste to be carrying all those bills for it to amount to 14$. I suppose I see it on the flip side from people who say that "change is worthless" to me it's more like "bills are valuable."

Personally I really like having a loonie (1$) and twonie (2$) I pay for everything in cash and keep my loonies and twonies in jars along with the rest of my change. It adds up quickly.

Then there's the whole argument about coins lasting longer...

[Apex]

I am not surprised to see all the comments about vendors being confused, not knowing what they are, not wanting to take them. That's exactly what I said previously I expected would happen.

Until we somehow promote these for common use and find a way to get them readily used in circulation, they will never be more than a passing fad and an item for collectors. Anybody still using the last disasterous attempt with the Susan B. Anthony dollars.

It's sad, but I am pretty sure the new dollars have already flopped. They will never gain anything beyond trivial and ecclectic use, which is disappointing to me. I was hoping they finally got something modelled after the state quarters that would get use in the public but they didn't manage to find a way to make it appealing, well publicized and get them floating around commonly in circulation. And because of that, they failed.

[Kim]

We buy them only for the Tooth Fairy to give for lost teeth (a gold coin and a paper dollar)...since they are gold and different, the kids think they are pretty cool...

[Fred @ Online Banks Blog]

I love coin collecting and therefore love the idea of using a Dollar coin. Unfortunately, I never receive these coins in my change. I don't know if the US Mint isnt distributing them properly or businesses don't want to hand them out as change. It is frustrating to see the Dollar coin out there, but not being used.

[poor boomer]

I will gladly accept any and all unwanted dollar coins.

[ekrabs]

I personally do not prefer dollar coins over dollar bills. They are heavier to carry and require a zippered pouch for me.

However, I also prefer dollar coins over no dollar coins, and will gladly accept any unwanted strays without a home!

[Buck Weber]

Now that the state quarter series is winding down I started collecting the presidential coins. I buy a roll of $25 at the bank when the new version comes out, put one in my collectors folder and the rest in a jar to take back to the bank for cash when full. This serves as a small on hand emergency fund. I also keep two or three in my pocket and my car just in case.

[Jim]

I hardly use any coins anymore. I don't carry change normally. I use my credit card to pay for almost everything. I have some cash in my wallet for if I need it but if I get change I throw it in a jar the minute I get home.

I think the idea of a $1 coin is a good one. Paper $1 bills wear out too fast and cost too much to make. We save money using $1 coins which are so much more durable. We could even go further. Britain and Europe have 2 pound and 2 Euro coins and they work fine.

On a side topic, I think we should abolish the penny.

Jim

[No Debt Plan]

I don't use anything that isn't plastic (and pay it off immediately). Coins and cash are terribly inconvenient, and the money in my bank accounts continue to earn interest. The money in my wallet does not.

[Matt H]

Apex:

I agree. The only solution is to withdraw the dollar bill from circulation.

[Krazy Eyes]

I travel to Canada a lot and I think the $1 & $2 coins are a far better (and cheaper) system that what we have in the U.S.

While our government is at it they could get rid of the penny too. It's a costly relic from a time long gone. It's value is worthless compared to what it used to be worth even a couple of decades ago.

[Lester Morris]

I've used the Canadian coins as well as the British one and 2 pound coins and think they are great.

Let's face facts: the dollar is such a low value, it's ridiculous to have as a banknote. If you look back in the 19th c. at the 10 cent note and 50 cent note, it's no less backwards.

But here we go again as Americans with our aversion to change. It's why we never went metric with the rest of the planet and why our bills looked like they were from 1920 until only recently, and still not helpful for blind people.

At the very least, if the dollar bill continues in print, it should be something more durable such as a polymer note and the bills should be easier for blind people to use.

Otherwise, get a grip and let's be a little more intelligent with this and embrace a different idea with our currency.

[Thomas]

imo, saying that dollar coins are inconvenient by comparing their weight to a $20 bill is the equivalent of arguing that quarters are inconvenient because it takes 20 of them to equal a $5. Sure, it's true, but that doesn't bother people because they don't typically carry around 20 quarters at a time...

Personally I don't recall ever carrying 20 $1 bills on my person at a given time...

[Gregory]

Dollar coins. I wonder how they would "accept" them at gentlemen clubs ;)