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I never understood this. They start printing $1 coins and complain that nobody uses them. Then they stop printing them. Of course nobody uses them. Their walle

by Retra 9y ago

I never understood this. They start printing $1 coins and complain that nobody uses them. Then they stop printing them. Of course nobody uses them. Their wallets are filled with bills. That they keep printing. Then they announce a coin that will surely be cancelled in a few months, and collectors jump on it. Americans would use a $1 coin if the deployment strategy wasn't garbage, condemning them to collector status almost immediately.

ghaff 9y ago
So what's the argument for the government forcing people to use a coin they have repeatedly chosen not to use voluntarily? In any case, at this point in history, it would seem to make little sense to overhaul currency denominations.
- cwp 9y ago
  The problem is that the coins won't be useful unless the entire country adopts them together. By signalling that they're not really serious about it, the Treasury ensures that they won't be adopted. Transforming the currency is a fairly big project: - banks have to introduce the new coins in quantity - banks have to collect the old bills for return to the treasury - cash registers have to be redesigned and replaced - vending machines need to be updated to accept the new coins - businesses have to stock the new coins to give out as change - pricing and accounting may have to be updated to handle new rounding rules That's a lot of work. People will do it if they think the change is here to stay, but otherwise it's not worth it. And of course, society won't reap the benefits of the change if all this stuff doesn't get done.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Speaking for myself I don't want dollar coins. And I expect a lot of others agree. And would vote against it given the opportunity.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Honest question. What benefits? Especially with so many transactions going electronic, it also seems an odd time to make an expensive and disruptive currency shift even if there were some small net positive. Wouldn't the effort be better spent on stored value cards? (Though I wonder if even the time for that is getting past given smartphone payments.)

by Retra 9y ago

ghaff 9y ago

So what's the argument for the government forcing people to use a coin they have repeatedly chosen not to use voluntarily? In any case, at this point in history, it would seem to make little sense to overhaul currency denominations.

cwp 9y ago
The problem is that the coins won't be useful unless the entire country adopts them together. By signalling that they're not really serious about it, the Treasury ensures that they won't be adopted. Transforming the currency is a fairly big project: - banks have to introduce the new coins in quantity - banks have to collect the old bills for return to the treasury - cash registers have to be redesigned and replaced - vending machines need to be updated to accept the new coins - businesses have to stock the new coins to give out as change - pricing and accounting may have to be updated to handle new rounding rules That's a lot of work. People will do it if they think the change is here to stay, but otherwise it's not worth it. And of course, society won't reap the benefits of the change if all this stuff doesn't get done.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Speaking for myself I don't want dollar coins. And I expect a lot of others agree. And would vote against it given the opportunity.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Honest question. What benefits? Especially with so many transactions going electronic, it also seems an odd time to make an expensive and disruptive currency shift even if there were some small net positive. Wouldn't the effort be better spent on stored value cards? (Though I wonder if even the time for that is getting past given smartphone payments.)