Yesterday, the US mint released for sale yet another dollar coin. After Susan B Anthony in 1979 and Sacagawea in 2000 couldn't make the cut, congress decided that (since they had nothing else to do they would pass the $1 Coin Act of 2005. A sort of spin off from the wildly popular state quarters, the presidential dollars with honor the presidents in the order they served with four quarters planned every year until 2016 ending with Reagan (and skipping Carter). It is important to note that during the presidential series and after its closure, Sacagawea coin will continue to be produced and she will function as the face of dollar coin. With 300 million coins ready to be sold at banks across the nation there are still the same old reasons (and a few more) why the program will not stir more interest in the coined dollar.The Logic
First of all, coins are heavy. As a man who does not frequently carry cash in his wallet, I can recall times when I had seven or eight individual dollar bills in my wallet. Needless to say, that kind of change could get fairly heavy. I hate change as it is. It weighs down my pants and fills up my pockets. Secondly, where can a guy put gold coins? A wallet - a real wallet - has no pouch for coins. America loves its paper money, but the reality is that there are a few other things the mint overlooked when they made these coins.
The Truth
1. Look at his face. He looks so angry.
I'm not sure if its just his brow, his nose or just his generally sharp chin, but Washington looks like he is about to attack the british again. Yes, it just the first in a series, but things don't get much better with the next quarter.
2. Look at the back. It's the only coin with a number
It obvious that americans love their paper, and mostly for sentimental reasons. People don't like change(no pun intended), and no other coin currently in mint has a number on it. Shoot, the dime doesn't even say how many cents it's worth, it just says "one dime." The number is not to be overlooked.3. It's the only piece of US currency with a $ sign.
One word: Classy
But no congress driven mint program would be complete without a sister program to trip over.
That why in the next few months we will have the First Lady program issuing ten dollar golden coins bearing the face of the first lady who served with the featured President. Some of the same problems are apparent.Here's the bottom line: until phone calls and cokes all cost a buck apiece, America won't embrace the dollar coin.
2 comments:
Well, it worked for Canada.
the purpose of the collectible series of dollar coins is so that people keep them. In this way, the treasury makes money (by not circulating the coins and instead keeping them, it's essentially like consumers "bought" the coins from the mint). So, happily, by failing to make dollar coins a viable currency, the mint actually succeeds in its mission. hooray!
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