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Thread: The US Government is talking about $1 Coins Again

  1. #1
    The US Government is again talking about eliminating $1 bills and replacing them with $1 coins. $1 coins have been minted since the late 1990s but the small size that confuses them with quarters made them unpopular. Even a change in the color from silver to brass really didn't help them to circulate. Many people just don't want to carry around a pocket full of dollar coins when some "quiet money" (bills) will do just fine.

    Of course this is a bit ironic when it comes to Las Vegas. One dollar tokens or chips are a staple in Las Vegas. You need one dollar chips at just about every table game -- for tips if nothing else. But at games such as craps and blackjack and even roulette $1 chips are used all the time.

    Even at a $100 craps table one-dollar chips are used. You need two one dollar chips on top of a black $100 chip to make a "proper bet" on the place six or place 8 without having to go up to $120 which is the next highest bet without using $1 coins or tokens.

    Years ago... before the price of silver shot up... Vegas was the #1 place in the country for the use of silver dollars. But when the price of silver surpassed the fixed price of $1.19 an ounce in 1963, silver dollars were melted and Vegas had to find an alternative coin. That's when the casinos first started to mint their own dollar tokens.

    But in recent years, the cost of minting the one dollar tokens became high and many casinos opted for replacing tokens with plastic one dollar chips which cost about half a dollar each to manufacture.

    If the US Mint is successful in replacing dollar bills with dollar coins, might the casinos stop making their own dollar chips and start using Uncle Sam's dollar coins instead?

    Might we see a return of real coin-in slot machines instead of machines that just spit out a printed ticket with the sound effects of coins being dropped in the hopper?

    Personally, I don't like the idea of dollar coins. Pocket change belongs in the car's ash tray so you can pay parking meters and pay at drive through windows. Coins do not belong in your pockets where they can rip holes.

    And if the government does decide to return to one dollar coins, at least make them big the way the old silver dollars looked and not about the same size as quarters. I remember back in Miami when I deposited three Susan B Anthony dollar coins into the turnstile of the elevated train at the Kendall Station -- thinking that they were quarters.

    Large one dollar coins won't make me happy in the course of daily commerce, but I would gladly use them playing poker or throwing out bets on the hardways at craps.

    And if the government does decide to mint one dollar coins to replace dollar bills, I hope that Uncle Sam will do the smart thing and sell advertising on the coins. I am sure Caesars would love to have its ad appear on the reverse of the one dollar coins and I am sure Caesars would put in a large order of the coins for use in its casinos. Heck, if you really want to get a lot of the one dollar coins in circulation fast, ask McDonalds if they would like the Golden Arches to appear in an ad on the reverse of the coins. I am sure McDonalds will order up millions to make change. So would Jack and so would Burger King and I am sure that Carl's Jr would have someone like Miss Turkey in their ad promoting a turkey burger.

    Oh, do you think those designs are a bit too much for our circulating currency? Well, did you ever take a look at some of the hokey designs they put on our quarters during the State quarter program?

    Well, it's going to cost money to mint the coins to replace the dollars. Uncle Sam might as well get Madison Avenue ad agencies to underwrite the cost of the minting with advertisements. And then Uncle Sam will get a head start on saving money for printing money which is why they want to replace dollar bills with dollar coins in the first place.

  2. #2
    I'm easily irritated with a wallet that somehow always seems to get stuffed with dollar bills at the end of a day of shopping or spending. On more than one occasion I've thrown a half dozen or so up in the air and away from me. So I don't know what if any improvement replacing those dirty little irritants with heavy coins could possibly do. I know a one dollar denomination is needed--I just don't like it. But that's nothing in comparison to the total insignificance of the PENNY!

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