@Tettleton

You ramble in such a non-sequitor fashion it's impossible to determine what subject you're talking about, let alone what side you're on.


@Putin
But, no machines accept dollar coins. That has to be accounted for when you consider the savings

Also, if we're talking about saving money, you know what would actually save money? Getting ride of useless coins like nickles, dimes, and pennys. FFS, just round everything up to the nearest quarter. It's such a hassle to have 3 dimes and it's a waste of coinage.

I don't know about your place of work, but vending machines tend to get "upgraded" rather quickly. I mean vending machines that accept credit cards came out not that long ago. That seems more complicated than adding a slot for $1 coins. Furthermore, I'd venture to guess that the number of machines which accept dollar coins is greater than the number of machines which unproblematically accept $1 bills. The revenue gained from having machines take $1 coins with no problem would more than make up for the cost of an upgraded machine. That's probably why most transit authorities are actively pushing for use of $1 coins.

Yes, I suppose that's a good point.

And, come to think of it, carrying 1 dollar coin would be nicer than 4 quarters for the vending machine.

As I said, I do like the dollar coins; I think it would be worth the switch. But, I really want to see coins less than 25 cents gone.

How would that work? What if chicken costs like 1.19 a pound. Would it go up to 1.25 a pound? What about gas prices?

There would be a law that anything over, say, 17 cents would round up to a quarter.

And, gas is a perfect example of how this already happens. They charge gas to the nearest 1/10 of a penny, yet I can't buy less than one penny's worth of gas. This would be no different.

And, it would be based on the final sale at that time, so the most you could ever lose is 1-25 cents, depending on the rounding. It's not like everything would individually be rounded-up.

Wow. Coins instead of bills for values around the dollar are a great idea, why has no other country in the world ever thought of that idea?

errr...I don't know where 17 came from. I mean to say anything over 12 (25/2) would be rounded up.

They don't charge gas to the nearest 1/10 of a penny, every gas price just includes 9/10 of a cent in order to look lower than it is. I think it was Rockefeller that started that. Think of it as saving 1/10 of a cent per gallon! What savings!

All the machines around here accept dollar coins, including the Coinstar machine that irritatingly wants to charge me a percentage of each coin that goes into it, including the dollar ones. I'm okay with the convenience factor on that (my bank is out of town, and I can't exactly take rolled coins there and make up for the loss at Coinstar once you factor gas), but it irritates me when it does it with dollar coins which I try to sort out first, but I always fail.

@SD

But, if gas was, say $3.499 and I bought exactly 1 gallon, what would they charge me?

1. I don't wear shorts and I always wear a belt.
2. My keys weigh 5.5 oz (157 grams) according to my kitchen scale.
3. My android phone weighs 5.6 oz (159 grams).
4. A $1 coin weighs 0.2 oz (7 grams).
5. The vending machines at my work take $1 coins. I rather enjoy putting one coin in to get a pop.
6. Carrying ten $1 coins in my coin pocket has been fine when I've had that many on me.

I'd be happy with just getting rid of pennies. I can live with pennies and dimes.

And there is a bit of a difference between rounding up from $3.125 to $3.13 and rounding up from $3.125 to $3.25. Although I'd be fine with rounding up to $3.15.

Well, we use coins widely here in Australia, many ticket and vending machines only take coins. I quite like having change, it means I can pay for small things without having to break notes. Many cases the problem is that I haven't had enough coins. Also, why doesn't/didn't the US introduce polymer notes?

I have 2 Euro coins floating around the house from my trips to Germany. I think 1 and 2 dollar coins would be great. And most vending machines already take them along with the Susan B. Anthony and Sacajawia (sp?) dollars. They just aren't labelled as such.

Credit and Debit card transactions could still be calculated to the cent while cash transactions can be rounded down to the nearest tenth of a cent. (get rid of pennies and nickels, and go to a dime and a half dollar, dollar and 2 dollar coins)

This will still be better then the interchange fees that the credit card companies charge the retail establishments.

Also if we look at inflation, in the 1930 the lowest note was still the $1 and that hasn't changed, although the purchasing power of that note certainly has. We need to adjust our currency spread for inflation.

@largeham: If they introduced the polymer note they would lose votes from the black market counterfeiters, and not gain enough votes to replace them. Because one of the many advantages paper has is that it is extremely easy to reproduce illegally.

I can't be the only one that found this really funny:

"I digress from the original point."

joey1, are you aware, at least in the US that there are some caps that are going to be put in place on interchange fees? Going to be interesting to see how that affects the credit card rewards programs and the "free checking" accounts that debit cards are tied to.

@Alderian

So, where are you getting these coins? If I want some, I have to go to a physical bank and request them from the vault. Rather inconvenient....

That's what I have done as well. But, I did find that the Portland Zoo has a change machine that takes Fives, Tens, and Twenties and returns 1 dollar coins for use in the vending machine. Put in a pair of twenties that time. But that two hour drive plus the expense of getting into the zoo is even more inconvenient than going to the credit union.

For the record I mean Portland Oregon, not Portland Maine. I do not know whether Portland Maine has a zoo or whether they have a dollar coin change machine.

It seems odd that if coins are so convenient and it is so easy to see this that there isn't a stampede by people to use coins instead of bills. The evidence being that $1 Billion in dollar coins sit in the vaults unwanted. Are the individuals in this thread brilliant and the unwashed masses stupid, or vice versa?
The new mute feature is absolutely fabulous.

It really depends on where you are Tettleton. I know a lot of metro systems use dollar coins, which makes things a lot faster, but until they gain widespread use in public, no they won't be so convenient. but government operated places such as metros systems do dollar coins and I for one like that, though its a hassle at the supermarket.

I mean plus they're cool collectibles.

And yeah, mute is cool. try not to annoy too many people or else you'll really be talking to yourself

Abgemacht, you should try living in Massachusetts, the MBTA gives those coins out whether you like them or not.

lol You jackass, Adi. Mass extends further than Boston, fyi.

^^ from Woster, am i right?

God Damn! It extends further than Worcester, too!

I believe the place you are referring to on my map is labeled "Unexplored, monsters lay here"

Also, "Danger, Tornadoes"