3 ms·

To be frank, I don't understand why the USD 1 bill exists either. In Europe, we tend to have coins up to the value of approximately USD 2, included. The eurozo

To be frank, I don't understand why the USD 1 bill exists either. In Europe, we tend to have coins up to the value of approximately USD 2, included. The eurozone obviously has 1 and 2 euro coin. Czechia has 20 CZK and 50 CZK coin. Poland is slightly bucking the trend, because 5 PLN is a coin (of value more than 1 USD), but 10 PLN is already a bill. Bulgarian has 1 BGN and 2 BGN coins... Coins can take a lot more daily use than paper money, and are handy to use in parking automats etc. I wonder of one of the reasons for this difference is that US WCs tend to be free? Toilets are paid in much of Europe, and you generally use a suitable coin for access, though lately some of the facilities started accepting contactless cards as well. Paying for a toilet with a bill would be very impractical. That is a frequent use case in Europe, which necessitates existence of suitable coins. But in the US, this use case seems to be rare, if extant at all.

MarkusWandel 3y ago
One thing about these free washrooms is that they're hard to find, they're often dirty, and a lot of them have restrictive opening hours. Frankly paying a small sum for use, and finding reliable, clean facilities might be a good tradeoff. As for coins being useful for parking, around here (Canada) we've already moved beyond the pay-and-display machines (which don't even accept cash) to - horrors - a sign with a QR code. Nothing worse than wanting to do a quick 15 minute stop to show visitors something, scanning the QR code and being greeted with an account signup page that demands a ton of information. But cash? Hardly used at all any more. The only US$2 bill I've ever encountered - and of course I kept it as a souvenir - was in the change for a $5 in Tanzania, of all places. The Plattsburgh ferry used to give either 50 cent or $1 coins in change for $10 - this dates me! The pre-loonie Canadian $1 coins obviously never gained any collector value. I got a sheet of a whole bunch of different years at a garage sale for face value!
- zeroonetwothree 3y ago
  You'll get paid bathrooms but they will be just as dirty lol.
- hakfoo 3y ago
  > The pre-loonie Canadian $1 coins obviously never gained any collector value. I got a sheet of a whole bunch of different years at a garage sale for face value! I'll do you one better: I like the classic Voyageur design, so when I visited Toronto this summer I figured I'd pop into a coin dealer and get an album and start building a set. I asked about the post-1968 nickel ones, and he said he had a big bucket I could go through. How much? "50 cents each." "You mean $1.50, right?" Nope. They were worth less than face value for him because he had to go through the hassle of trading them in. Went away with 20 of them, and some higher margin items to make up for it.
Kon-Peki 3y ago
> I don't understand why the USD 1 bill exists The US introduced a USD 1 coin in the 1970s. It was an exceedingly poor effort and failed miserably. The memory of that failure is likely the reason we don’t get rid of the bill now. We reintroduced the dollar coin 20 years ago. This time, they addressed all of the problems. I think that in another 10-20 years they will remove the paper bill, and nobody will care.

MarkusWandel 3y ago

One thing about these free washrooms is that they're hard to find, they're often dirty, and a lot of them have restrictive opening hours. Frankly paying a small sum for use, and finding reliable, clean facilities might be a good tradeoff. As for coins being useful for parking, around here (Canada) we've already moved beyond the pay-and-display machines (which don't even accept cash) to - horrors - a sign with a QR code. Nothing worse than wanting to do a quick 15 minute stop to show visitors something, scanning the QR code and being greeted with an account signup page that demands a ton of information. But cash? Hardly used at all any more. The only US$2 bill I've ever encountered - and of course I kept it as a souvenir - was in the change for a $5 in Tanzania, of all places. The Plattsburgh ferry used to give either 50 cent or $1 coins in change for $10 - this dates me! The pre-loonie Canadian $1 coins obviously never gained any collector value. I got a sheet of a whole bunch of different years at a garage sale for face value!

zeroonetwothree 3y ago
You'll get paid bathrooms but they will be just as dirty lol.
hakfoo 3y ago
> The pre-loonie Canadian $1 coins obviously never gained any collector value. I got a sheet of a whole bunch of different years at a garage sale for face value! I'll do you one better: I like the classic Voyageur design, so when I visited Toronto this summer I figured I'd pop into a coin dealer and get an album and start building a set. I asked about the post-1968 nickel ones, and he said he had a big bucket I could go through. How much? "50 cents each." "You mean $1.50, right?" Nope. They were worth less than face value for him because he had to go through the hassle of trading them in. Went away with 20 of them, and some higher margin items to make up for it.

Kon-Peki 3y ago

> I don't understand why the USD 1 bill exists The US introduced a USD 1 coin in the 1970s. It was an exceedingly poor effort and failed miserably. The memory of that failure is likely the reason we don’t get rid of the bill now. We reintroduced the dollar coin 20 years ago. This time, they addressed all of the problems. I think that in another 10-20 years they will remove the paper bill, and nobody will care.