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The US is so weird about its currency. The repeated attempts to get rid of the dollar bill (dollar coins, two-dollar bill, etc.) have all "failed". I put "fail
by bradley13 2y ago
The US is so weird about its currency. The repeated attempts to get rid of the dollar bill (dollar coins, two-dollar bill, etc.) have all "failed".
I put "failed" in quotes, because all it requires is for the government to do it. Take the one-dollar bills out of circulation, no discussion, done. At this point, take the two-dollar bills (no one will notice) and the penny as well.
- chii 2y agoThe metal producers for those pennies cry foul at the US gov't taking away jobs!
- OutOfHere 2y agoA lot of people rely on the bills. You are completely out of touch with the people with your attempt to sabotage the printed currency.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoRely on what that couldn't be better served by $1 coins?
- api 2y agoCoins are horribly inconvenient compared to bills.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoDo you have any experience in countries with large denomination coins? Anything smaller than a quarter is super annoying, even the quarter is borderline. It says something when a countries largest coin is too small to be useful. A 500 Yen (~$4) coin OTOH, is super nice.
- shawabawa3 2y agoI'm in the UK which has £1 and £2 coins and the smallest note is £5 I'd much rather have £1/£2 notes instead
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> It says something when a countries largest coin is too small to be useful. Specifically, it says "we haven't redenominated our currency in a while".
- soap- 2y agoCoins are simply worse than bills. They're too thick for something you'd be keeping mainly in your wallet or pocket.
- jltsiren 2y agoCoins are easier to count than bills. They are thick enough that you never confuse two coins for one, even when they are stuck together. And they are also more convenient in your pocket, because you don't have to fold or otherwise organize them.
- packtreefly 2y agoDollar bills are usually in terrible condition. Folded corners, creases, dirt. Ten singles take up more space in my wallet than just about anything else I'd put in there. I'd rather have ten coins. They'll easily fit in the bottom of my pocket, and when I pull out change there's likely to be a useful amount of money in it.
- mmooss 2y ago> Dollar bills are usually in terrible condition Do you get yours from selling drugs? Mine are usually fine, very rarely in 'terrible' condition.
- packtreefly 2y agoUnfortunately, yes. Drugs are well-known to be the only product for which cash is an acceptable form of payment. The utility of hard currency really took a hit when all the hookers moved to Venmo.
- t-3 2y agoWhat in the world would a $1 coin be better than a bill for? Making a blackjack to ease the handover of $1 bills?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- trey-jones 2y agoWell, about 25 years ago the EU issued 1 and 2 Euro coins (no bills for those denominations) and as far as I know still do. So it's working for them. When I lived over there (2005ish) I didn't care much for carrying a coin purse in addition to my wallet, but I think that's just a cultural/personal preference. Likely same as you.
- Symbiote 2y agoA wallet sold in Europe would typically include a small pocket for coins.
- rtkwe 2y agoCoins last much longer in circulation than bills, a coin can last decades while a bill only lasts a few years so some estimates put the yearly savings at 500-700 million a year in printing, paper, etc costs saved. It's worked just fine in other places they just had the courage to phase out printing of paper bills to force the issue. People would adapt quickly given no option but the soft handed approach basically guarantees people won't encounter the new coins regularly.
- mercutio2 2y agoUS notes are much more durable than most other countries’, and last much longer in circulation. The fed has calculated that the seignorage vs. printing costs of switching to coins about balance out for dollars. Pennies however: we keep them just for nostalgia.
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- brookst 2y agoThree problems: 1. Switching costs. There are a ton of vending machines and other automated stuff that takes dollar bills but not coins. You can say “oh they’d switch”, and maybe, but they don’t want to because it’s expense and complexity for little/no benefit. 2. Critical mass. Similar problem: nobody will invest in supporting dollar coins as long as their customers don’t use dollar coins. Customers won’t use them because they won’t accept them from banks and stores. And they won’t accept them because they know lots of infra doesn’t support them. 3. US psychology sees coins as “change”, not money. If you see someone buying lunch with change, the assumption is they’re homeless or something. It’s irrational, but so what? And it would change… if we ever got over the hump. Don’t think of the problem like a technocrat, where any 5% improvement is obviously worth it. Think of it like a marketer, where you have to change customer behavior, and that needs a 10x value prop. Or I guess we can think like autocrats: we know what’s good for ‘em and they’ll just have to accept it.
- 9dev 2y agoWith that mindset, you’re not going to accomplish anything at all. The same stagnation occurs with the switch from imperial units to metric. If modernising things is so scary you better not do it, other people will force the change on you, for better or worse, but you’re out of the loop.
- brookst 2y agoI wasn’t making a prescriptive moral point, I was describing the reality of the situation. Sure, someone may force the change to dollar coins on those who oppose it because it costs them money and offers them no benefit.
- sjsdaiuasgdia 2y agoFor many classes of vending machines, dollar bill support is going away without government intervention. For a while it's been very common in the US to see vending machines that have bill, maybe coin, and card options. It's increasingly common to find machines that only have card options, no cash. Products are more expensive and people use less cash generally...how many customers actually carry enough $1 bills to buy themselves a $3.75 bottle of soda? They're already switching because it allows them to charge higher prices with less friction. You'll likely grumble a bit while you're feeding the 4th dollar bill into the machine but a card swipe or tap is the same level of customer effort regardless of cost. Vending machines will continue to move towards electronic payment as the preferred and eventually only widely available option, and will no longer have relevance to what a physical dollar looks like.
- scarface_74 2y agoThat’s more of an issue with the US financial infrastructure. There are plenty of poorer countries where mobile payments are more the norm than in the US.
- mindslight 2y agoGreat idea. We should endeavor to be a poorer country with even less ability to escape corporate surveillance. </s>
- scarface_74 2y agoYes, I’m really worried about what exactly? The places where cash are feasible to be used - in person transactions - aren’t the places where I would worry about government funding out what I’m doing. Yes I know about regressive states and tracking women who might be pregnant to “protect the unborn”.
- mindslight 2y agoDenial is a common coping mechanism about the ever growing corporate surveillance state and all the ways its power may (and thus eventually will) be wielded to further economically disenfranchise most people.
- scarface_74 2y agoSo yes big corp is going to go out of its way to make it harder for people to give it money?
- mindslight 2y agoI have no idea what you're alluding to. Perhaps you need to increase the scope of your analysis?
- scarface_74 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- mmooss 2y ago> all it requires is for the government to do it. Take the one-dollar bills out of circulation, no discussion, done. It turns out that democratically elected officials are compelled to be responsive to the voters, and don't want to anger them unnecessarily or waste time and political capital on low-value issues.
- toast0 2y ago> The US is so weird about its currency. The repeated attempts to get rid of the dollar bill (dollar coins, two-dollar bill, etc.) have all "failed". > I put "failed" in quotes, because all it requires is for the government to do it. Take the one-dollar bills out of circulation, no discussion, done. At this point, take the two-dollar bills (no one will notice) and the penny as well. The US electorate is no stranger to single issue voting. If one party spearheads the elimination of the dollar bill, expect them to lose the next several rounds of elections and the other party to reinstate dollar bills. If it's bipartisan, expect a dollar bill party to surface and reinstate dollar bills. Also, I don't think the $2 bill has anything to do with trying to get rid of the $1 bill? They've been produced most years since 1862, just a 10 year hiatus between 1966 and 1976.