Coins Could Replace Dollar Bills, Save US $5.6 Billion

There is no argument that the coins would save money. None. As the article points out, the only obstacle is that Americans prefer to use paper dollars, so as long as the BEP keeps printing them a dollar coins will go nowhere. But it is irrelevant that the public prefers a dollar bill to a coin when it’s wasting billions to replace worn-out notes and to mint and stockpile unused dollar coins. The public in Canada and England preferred bills to the dollar coin and round pound, but their governments were smart enough not to give them a choice in the matter by pulling the paper bills from circulation and not printing any more. Now using the coins is an established part of everyday life, just as is using 1 and 2 euro coins in the EU. No doubt politicians from Virginia will object to losing Washington on the bill, but trust me – no one will forget who George Washington was because he’s no longer on a circulating note. He’s still on the quarter dollar, citiies, counties. a state, and the national capital are named after him, and no one forgot who Benjamin Franklin was because the Kennedy replaced Franklin on the half dollar in 1964.

@Aelfheld I agree with you 100% — the “brains” who came up with this waste of time and money are patting themselves on the back to be sure…typical Government workers…nothing ever changes…

Finaly! Let’s get rid of pennies too. And nothing is more hillarious than those who think dollars are worthess (pllease send your worthless dollars to me). and those who thinkl savings $18& million per year is worthless. HA HA

I understand that the break down of the money saved per day by going to the coins barely makes a dent in the over all budget BUT we are in a recession, you have to chip away at it from every angle. It makes me wonder how much money we would save by getting rid of pennies completely.

What are strippers supposed to do now?!

Any preference for paper dollars is very fleeting. All I want is not to hand someone a dollar and be embarrassed because they don’t know its a dollar and think its a quarter.

This isn’t about the size, this is about confusion because we’ve always used the paper dollar – and the paper dollar is the more common choice.

Just phase the paper dollar out, and we’ll all use, comfortably use the coin dollar, and the issue will be over.

Just do it.

As another poster pointed out, it’s the government fault for not bothering to make it manatory to fade-out the bill and force the public to use the coins. As long as people prefer the bill over the coin, the coin will not ever be use. It’s why the dollar coin failed to catch on many times before.

Over twenty years ago they issued the Susan B. Anthony dollar and everyone thought it was a quarter. I’ve recently owned a few gold dollars and people even think those are quarters even in good light. Who are we kidding? You may as well hand someone a Canadian. You’d probably get the same reaction.

Why build it in Dallas, build it where they presently are and save $3 million !!!!!

I believe the real issue between the $1 currency versus the $1 coin is the publics acceptance tp the coin size and similarity to the quarter. The Susan B coin only had a small raised edge buit it was still constantly confused with the quarter. They have to be molded in such a way not resembl;ing anothe coin (quarter). How itis designed..leave up to the federal reserve who will screw it up like everything else.

This should have been done 20 years ago, just stop printing bills and get over it!

That’s the best they could up with?

This should have been done years ago. Great Britain got rid on the 1 Pound note and replaced it with a coin years ago!
The new Golden Presidential dollars don’t look like any other coins, so just get them out into circulation, and quit printing $1 bills!

I haven’t used any physical US currency in years. 90% of what I buy is online and everything else goes on the card. I keep a few thousand in the safe in case of emergencies but haven’t touched it since I put it there. Travel is the only other time I use any physical currency and that isn’t $s.

Awesome! I love the way dollar coins fold easily so they fit nicely in your wallet. So much more convenient than trying to fold those silly old paper dollars. Plus they’re great for tucking in a dancers g-string.

Good Idea not only does it cost less to mint..but it will also stimulate the economy, having change in ones pocket is proven to be used more than paper..Germany before the Euro introduced 5 and 10 Mark coins..and up here in Canada we have the 1 and 2 dollar coin.

Does anyone remember why we stopped using coins in the first place? One reason–who wants to drag around a bag of coins just to make change or pay for anything less than $5. We have been trying to get rid of the penny for a long time and it’s still here. This will be very difficult to change.

Yup, I get a roll every time I cash my check. I’ve found little or no resistance to them. Many are glad to see somebody is using them. Coin operated machines that accept them are sorely needed.

$5.6 billion over thirty years is about 50 cents per person per year.

I’ll lose more than that in couch cushions and under car seats every year with these new coins.

Plastic dollar bills would make a lot more sense. Similar lifespan, but a lot easier to handle and harder to lose. Other countries have them.

I think the real problem with the $1 coin has always been that it has been indistinguishable from the quarter, and not just by the sighted but by the blind. They have to be able to tell that they are holding a $1 coin. Also, I believe that vending machine manufacturers probably put up a stink because they’d have to change the machine’s money handling so people wouldn’t get gypped. Again, the biggest problem with the current $1 coins is they didn’t make them different enough to make them easily recognizable as $1.

It would be nice if once politicians could do what was best for the country rather than what was best for their little lobbying groups.

both spend the same, both are worth the same…….1$…….what people need to think about is the fact the BOTH may go by the way side as the use of debit and credit cards increase in use

As long as it gets rid of pennys and nickles too. This brainstorm might even help stop armed robbery because of the weight factor.

Make em square, bigger than the SBA but square. Instead of Dead Presidents, how about we start putting the faces of those that have lost their lives for our country. They deserve some type of patriotic recognition too.

Paper vs Coin……… this country tried that once before, it didnt fly then, what make these committee members think it will again…… I guess we’ll only know once we put them in circulation and start retrieving the paper George Washington’s wont we…… Seems like someone has an agenda for their own state all the time, well, here we go again right..

Instead of making a crap load of them, press a small amount, get the equivalent amount of paper out of circulation, recycle that for the 5′s, 10′s, etc….. then press more and repeat that cycle until they’re gone… problem resolved…. take the $650k and the other $3 million and lets get our troops back on their feet when they come home to their loved ones so they dont have to rely on food stamps and handouts.. Think people…

Doesn’t bother me. Such a small thing to do to save a lot of money. Go for it!

The dollar is worhtless and so is this idea. It will only save enough each year to cover 30 minutes worth of federal spending !!! Yes, that’s how bad things have gotten. How about we get rid of the Federal Reserve Note completely and restore a free market in money (likely gold, silver, or similar)? Thankfully Ron Paul has 1 Trillion dollars in proposed cuts in his plan.. Now that is the kind of savings we need. These idiots are as useless as you would expect. Ron Paul 2012.

lol these things are heavy thou….I hate carrying coins actually, most of the time, (when I rarely use cash) I just tell whoever to keep the change. of course I do store about 25 quarters in the car to feed the meter.

I’d welcome it- so long as the new $1 coin isn’t the same size as existing currency- fact that the past few $1 coins were the same diameter as a quarter is what doomed them IMHO.

great, now congress will spend millions debating and avoid issues that would save the kind of money we need.

According to an interview done by the late Aaron Russo, David Rockefeller claimed (while in a drunken stupor) the plan of the ruling class is to implant a micro chip within all people on planet earth in order to create a one world cashless economic system.
Once enforced, if anyone will not comply, the ruling class plan to simply turn off the chip rendering the non-compliant unable to buy, sell or trade.
However, in their desire to close the gap of control over the people of planet earth has caused a “wishful thinking” view that is NOT congruent with universal will, therefore their plan will NOT transpire simply because one’s personal desire can not create on its own desire unless this one’s desire is congruent with the will of universal will, or known as “God” to most.

Seems like a pretty huge change relative to the tiny, tiny fraction it cuts out of yearly deficit.

The reason that most people don’t like the current $1 coin is that is is the same size as a quarter. The two coins get mixed in your pocket and then you have to look closely at the similar looking coins to make sure that you don’t overpay. Retailers have difficulty sorting them as well. Plus the coins would be heavy and bulkier compared to paper dollars. I understand the 30 yr savings and I know that a new coin would have to be round in order to acommodate vending machines, coin operated laundries, etc. As a kid I loved receiving half dollar and silver dollar coins. I treasured them instead of spending them. However, carrying them around would have been difficult because of their weight. BUT I never got them confused with a quarter because of the size difference.

And when they do this how the hell am I supposed to tip a stripper with a dollar coin, yeah she might wear a fanny pack .yeah real sexy…

I imagine strippers have an issue with this idea

I prefer the dollar bills. The dollar coins are too small and get lost or thrown around too easy.

Absolutely stupid idea. Except for silver dollars, no dollar coin has ever been accepted in the U.S. Where do the inbreds come up with these ideas?

Been tried many times and will fail again. People don’t like change jangling around in their pockets.

well, I would support getting rid of the $1 bill. However, they need to print more $2′s and also $500.00 to reflect the inflation of the past 40 years when they took out circulation the big $500, $1,000 and $10k. bills.

$100 back in 1969 when they phased out these large bills would be equivalent to $500 today!!!

Europe has 200 euro and 500 bills worth approx$300 and $700.00
Switzerland has a 1000 franc bill which is worth $1100.00

If, according to the article, there are currently billions of dollars of coins sitting in storage facilities, how do the current billions GROW by 2016 to more than $2 billion?

“And how much did we just spend changing the appearance of the bills? And for what purpose?”
Anti-counterfeiting measures. I think that should be fairly obvious.

What about the growing stockpile of $1 coins held by the Federal Reserve Banks, which has now reached more than 1.25 billion and will require the construction of a new storage facility? The coins are minted every single year yet never put into circulation. For what reason? When will this madness stop?

Nice! I’m happy this issue is finally being brought up for public discussion. I have been in support of phasing out the paper $1 for at least the last four years. I understand much of the objections the naysayers have. Yes our pockets/purses will be a little heavier at first. Coins may be a little easier to lose than bills. And it probably shouldn’t be so close in size to a quarter.

But honestly I think a lot of these objections come from just having grown so accustomed to using coins and dollar bills that are worth so little. As many have already noted many other advanced industrialized notions already have dollar/euro/loonie coins and the 5 is the lowest denomination. Some of you older folks should remember using quarters about 40+ years ago that bought about as much as a dollar does today. You probably were just used to keeping more change on hand for smaller purchases. This is essentially what we would temporarily return to if the $1 went from bill to coin, and I don’t really see why that’s a big deal.

Do most people carry around wads of $1 bills all the time? Of course not! They spend them when making small purchases so I don’t really understand the fear of 10 pound purses or pockets! If we really don’t like the idea of loose change, let’s keep talking about eliminating the penny, something else I feel should have been done long ago! We stopped minting the 1/2 cent in 1857!!

So to me it makes the most sense to dump the penny, coin the dollar, and start increasing circulation of $2 bills or coins, especially since inflation has caused so many little things to be priced more than a buck but not quite two. I also agree with the point that if the government wants people to use the damn coins it needs to take the bills out of circulation! If the fed isn’t going to do that, than I agree that it makes no sense to mint the $1 coins since they are just sitting in storage costing money in other ways.

ANY THAT’S MY TWO CENTS! ..which won’t be possible if they eliminate the penny :)

As a retailer, I abhore the coin dollar. It is too similiar in size to the quarter.

Dollar coins are too heavy to carry around. If they want to eliminate bills, start with the bills that aren’t used much and tend to be stollen: $100, $500….. What bank robber wants to carry 50 lbs of money? What savings is there by continuing to mint coins no one uses and then we pay storage on those same coins? Major misuse of government funds. I’m sure the design, minting and storage of unused/uncirculated coins is much more than re-printing dollar bills that can be shredded and recycled.

I say do it. For that matter, make a $2 coin too. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and the EU use $1 and $2 (or pound for the UK) coins and they do it without a problem. Besides, the argument of people not wanting to carry around 20 $1 coins is irrelevant because most people don’t carry around 20 $1 bills, they would use the larger denomination notes that will still be in print. Go for it!

Get rid of Pennies and Nickels, add the dollar coin – quit printing dollar bills and switch them out with coins. It doesn’t make sense to make pennies and nickels when the cost to make them is higher than their value. No business would operate this way (for long) and neither should our government. Keep throwing our tax dollars down the drain by spending 3 cents to make a 1 cent coin!

The figure is incorrect. If you research the numbers, the switch would be profitable……but not anytime soon. In fact, in the first 30 years, the switch would COST us 3.4 BILLION! Besides the fact that dollar coins are heavy and annoying, the system is not set up for them. The switch would cost companies BILLIONS of dollars, which will be passed on to the consumer. Also, it costs a lot more to haul all these coins around, as they are much heavier than a dollar bill. There is another bill moving thru congress to kill the coin, now THERE is some cost savings. As it is, we need to BUILD a new vault just to store all these coins in noone is using!

Let’s see, you can’t use dollar bills to pay bus fare in New York City, Westchester County or in Nassau County, since their fareboxes do not accept bills, nor are they accepted at these new parking meters in New York City, nor do they work 100% of the time on vending machines (ever had to fold and re-insert a bill several times, just to get the vending machine to accept it?) Not to mention that the analog to the dollar bill has already been replaced by coins in other major currencies. Face it, the dollar bill is obsolete. All that is left is for the government to muster up the will to stop printing dollar bills.

Both the article and these postings have an amazing amount of misinformation about the coins’ designs. To set things straight:

> The article refers to the hapless Susan B. Anthony dollar as the “current” coin, but that design was discontinued back in 1999.
> Current Native American and Presidential coins are made of brass, not copper-nickel. They’re as different from quarters as pennies are from dimes – yes, almost the same size, but VERY different in color.
> The current $1 coins do NOT have ridged (actually, “reeded”) edges. All are minted with smooth edges to make them easy to pick out even if you’re visually impaired.

Rather than making assumptions, anyone who hasn’t seen the coins should go to any major bank and ask for them, or just visit the US Mint website and look at a picture.

Bottom line, every other major country got rid of its low-value bills years or even decades ago as a cost-saving measure. I’ve travelled in Canada, the UK, the EU, and Australia and never had any problems using coins instead of bills. Those countries’ people adapted just fine but somehow or another American “exceptionalism” means WE couldn’t possibly adjust even if it would save gobs of money. ’nuff said.

Next thing you know, they will be wanting to put a chip under your skin for use instead of paper or coin money.

What a lovely story! The story in this YouTube video that is posted here is really a nice one with having nice picture quality.

well i beleive that cash will never go away with as many crooked people, drug dealers and people who dont want there pockets to weigh 1000lbs because there carrying around a bunch of coins.Just seems like washington was bored and this is what came out of the hat

1. It has been proven again and again that a coin replacement for paper will not be accepted unless the bill it is to replace is phased out!!! Duh!!
2. SIZE? There is just as much difference in size between a quarter and a dollar coin as there is between a quarter and a nickel. Just stack them up and you will see!! Duh!!
3. I have been boycotting dollar bills for ten years, but I have to go to the bank to get the coins. I use coins for all purchases less than $5.00. The coins also make nice tips, and are much appreciated.

I dont see why we need to have dollar or coins, its 2012 time to use credits, a plastic atm card that is accepted everywhere, I pay with credit/atm card all the time now i haven’t used cash in so long i forgot what it looked like. Plus no pan-handlers are going to walk up to you and say can i borrow some credits lol ^.^

THEY SAID THAT ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ WILL NOT BE ON THE COIN, IS THAT REAL REASON THEY WANT THE DOLLARS REPLACED???? JUST SAYING

Things like this type of legislation would be great if we could reign in government spending altogether. To isolate this bill as one lone option to cut back deficit spending is ridiculous. Deficit spending keeps going up and up. If they “save” money by cutting the amount of money spent to print dollars vs dollar coins it will not matter in the end as they’ll find a new program to spend that “cut” on.

What we need to do is get someone like Ron Paul in office to eliminate ALL deficit spending. If we can’t afford to pay for it, then its gone period. That’s how my household runs and that’s how the big house should run. There are a lot of great things out there in this world that I would just love to have, but if I can’t afford it…I can’t afford it period!

Now imagine if Ron Paul got elected, cut his five cabinets, did away with deficit spending and balanced the budget. Imagine THEN if we introduced legislation like this to end the dollar bill and coin the dollar instead. Imagine then if we also then stopped coining the penny altogether (the penny coin costs more to make than is worth). Then these two actions would be helpful towards our economy and may even then be able to have government programs that we want but cannot afford.

But until we get the deficit spending to $0…this bill makes little difference.

It’s ridiculous to replace the dollar bill with coins. So many fewer Americans are using cash of any kind. Forcing people to use the hated dollar coins will drive more people to use their debit cards which will make the banks very happy because they will profit off of every sale. Coins might last longer, but they are heavier and cost a lot more to ship so I doubt the cost savings are as good as the claims, but it will cost people jobs at the paper factory and treasury so any jobs picked up elsewhere will be less. Foolishness is all this is.