Twos!

[vik_thor]

It may sounds odd for someone who is involved with Where's George? to say they really wouldn't mind if the $1 bill was discontinued, but truthfully, I wouldn't. Seph and I already use uncommon denominations to a very large extent already. He tends to pull his allowance from the bank as mostly $1 and 50¢ coins, whereas I tend to do $2 bills and $1 coins, with a smattering of 50¢.

One of the main arguments for discontinuing the $1 bill is the cost savings, since a coin would last significantly longer than the current average of just under 6 years for the $1 bill. After all, the US Mint hasn't produced the quarter with the eagle back since 1999, so the youngest is 17 years at this point, and they are still easy to find in circulation. Heck, even finding Bicentennial quarters isn't all that uncommon! Whereas any $1s earlier than 2009 series are becoming somewhat rare in circulation. (You can use the tables @ the US Paper Money site to figure out when your bills were actually printed. [that is NOT a Federal Government site!])

The only way for the official cutover to $1 coins to happen is going to have to be a cold turkey approach. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is going to have to actually stop producing $1 bills and let the ones currently in circulation wear out. Other countries have switched over easily enough.

Comments

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

There must be something wrong with me when I read a statement like, "the current average of just under 6 years," and immediately wonder how many of those troubled $1 bills owe their limited longevity to unplanned trips through a washing machine?

I would actually hate to go over to $1 coins, namely because our wallets/purses aren't set up to handle that. Most men's wallets have no coin pocket, and a lot of men just dump out their change on the dresser or into a jar when they get home. It stops being "money" as soon as it becomes this loose, annoying thing in their pocket. If we converted dollars to coins, then we'd be talking actual money!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I love the way your mind works. I'm also always thinking about the secret lives of inanimate objects.

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

Coins would be such a headache for the same reasons halfshell mentioned.

You can't just fold a dollar bill.

Maybe if there were more denominations like a $3 bill. but carrying coin change? That would really become a pain.

I get what you're saying, but with how much change I do end up with already which then collects in a piggie bank I can't begin to think of starting to have even more.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

I would also hate to lose the $1 bill in favor of a coin. I never muse the "uncommon denominations" you mentioned. A very nice essay, but I think for a difficult position. Well argued, but my wallet just won't support it.

[javarod.livejournal.com]

The simple solution is as LordRexFear said, a slightly higher denomination bill. While its not in common circulation, there is a $2, so the easy answer would be to start circulating those regularly, though the option of rolling out a new bill like the $3 is there.

As to carrying dollar coins, how many dollars do you have in your wallet, and why? I typically have small change and paper bills.

My reason for being against paper money is vending machines. Having been in that business, i can tell you that bill validators are a pain, they constantly need cleaning, which is one of the main reasons you see bills getting rejected. Coin acceptors? Practically indestructible, counterfeit rejection is simple and less prone to rejecting valid coins.

As to carrying coins, i carry a small change purse along side my wallet that holds ten or so dollar coins plus some small change, and its no big deal.

[murielle.livejournal.com]

We've had the Looney so long I no longer remember how or when the transition took place, and all I recall about the twoonie is that the Government wanted it to be called the Polar or some such rot. You can lead a Canadian to water, but you can't make us call your stupid coin a polar, when it's so obviously a Twoonie.

So what I am trying to say is don't worry about it. The government will plan and the citizens will laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Great read!

[prog-schlock.livejournal.com]

We USAmericans are so stubborn. There are a thousand metaphorical (and several concrete) excellent reasons to switch from a bill to a coin and we're not going to want to do it as a society because we hate it when anything changes. We rejected the Susan B Anthony dollar and it was great.

I predict we're moving to a time when we no longer have any physical money at all. Everything will be on our cards. There are benefits and nightmares to this, but it just feels like our current direction.

This seems to be an appropriate song choice here:

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

I think the way it works when they eliminate a $1 bill (or $2 bill up here) is that money just becomes worth less in general. We use our $5 the way you use $1's to some degree, I mean we use our coin money, sure, but often it ends up in coin jars and the bottom of purses or lost in general. Physical money I would think is probably soon to be reaching it's expiration in general, everything moving electronic, money becomes a theoretical construct and less a physical one. I mean who has ever seen a million dollars in cash save for bank employees, no one has piles and piles of physical money hanging around. Even gold isn't something people hoard anymore the way they used to. I can't imagine it will be long before little plastic cards are the only accepted form of currency. There are places up here that don't take cash already.

[watching-ships.livejournal.com]

I don't hate the coin. Got used to it in the UK and then from some mass transit change machines over here. But I think you're right -- it'll have to be cold turkey.