Americans just don't like dollar coins
The U.S. Mint's new ad campaign for dollar coins depicts the Statue of Liberty leaving her post to buy a hot dog. Will it work? Jeremy Hobson reports despite the marketing, Americans just like paper money better.
A $1 coin (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)
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Renita Jablonski: All right, do you have everything you need for the day... like, your dollar coins? That's what I thought. The U.S. mint is launching yet another advertising campaign to get people to start using dollar coins. This time, there's a new message. Marketplace's Jeremy Hobson reports.
Commercial: She's gone . . . she's not there!
Jeremy Hobson: The latest ad from the U.S. Mint starts off with Lady Liberty walking through New York City to buy a hot dog with $2 coins:
Commercial: They last for decades, are 100 percent recyclable, and using them now could save our country billions of dollars.
The environmental plea is the Mint's latest attempt to hawk the dollar coin to consumers. But economist Robert Whaples at Wake Forest University says regardless of the message, Americans just prefer bills.
Robert Whaples: The public right now is voting with their pocket book, and saying there are these two things in circulation, we like this other one better. We're using it. We're showing you that we like it better by using it.
Whaples says the only way to get people to switch to coins is by following in the footsteps of the Europeans and getting rid of the notes altogether.
New faces on the coins won't cut it, he says. After all, if the faces of Washington and Jefferson couldn't convince the public, what makes the Mint think William Henry Harrison and James K. Polk will?
In New York, I'm Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.
Comments
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From Windsor, CT, 01/27/2009
I've used the Dollar Coin exclusively since 2000 and, after spending some 18,000 of them, see gradual acceptance.
The low point was in 2005 when the mint forced the coin to be purchased at a rediculous premium. It was still widely belived the coin was heavy when it's actually much lighter than 4 quarters. I hit bottom when a blind clerk recited the myth that it is too close in size to the quarter, although it only fills the gap in the dime, penny, nickle, quarter, half dollar stacked cone.
We've turned the corner. The presidential coin definitely helped, not necessarly because of its design and variety, but also because there are now 3 completely different types in circulation with the SB and Sacagawea looking rare.
I spend a blend of the three types as well as $5 bills to prevent getting dollar bills back in change. I keep about 15 dollar coins in my left pocket. The right is for other change.
Obstacles are still that clerks are reluctant to give them in change for fear of their customer's reaction although they never tried. I get good reactions to my spending them. Another barrier is vending machines that still let the coin in, but keep it. For airport security, I dump them in my shoe I place on the belt. They also like to fall out of certain types of dress pants when you sit in a car. I think the more valuable Euro coins helped designers improve in that area.
From Spanish Fork, UT, 12/26/2008
Find, buy and use dollar coins! These days anything that we can do as Americans to save our country over $500 million is our patriotic duty. Like eating oatmeal for breakfast, "It's the right thing to do."
From NYC, NY, 11/05/2008
It's funny that everyone is talking about the dollar coin being too small...i would think the opposite. They're big enough to be annoying to have in your pocket. I think most people are generally resistant to carrying anything heavier/bigger than a quarter in their pocket. Maybe if teh dollar coins were made a smaller, easier to manage size, people would carry them around and actually use them.
From Denver, CO, 10/27/2008
It's a myth that there isn't a slot in the cash drawer for dollar coins. Take a peak in the drawer next time the cashier opens the register (don't be too aggressive about it, though--no sense making a poor cashier scared you're about to jump over the counter and steal the cash from the drawer!). I can almost guarantee you'll see a big fat empty bin next to the quarters. Do you know what it's for? The United States' other unloved coin, the half-dollar. The half dollar fell out of circulation in the late 1960s, and pretty much ever since then there's been an unused slot in most cash drawers. Some places have found other uses for this bin, but the places where I recently spent some half-dollar coins at, the cashier just popped them into the empty bin without hassle.
From Washington, DC, 10/22/2008
Metal coins are a throwback to the days when we used precious metals as money. Paper money is much lighter and easier to transport than coins. The bean counters at the mint who think that coins save the taxpayers money ignore all of the energy spent lugging all that metal around and the time spent counting coins. We should get move towards getting rid of coins altogether.
From Milwaukee, WI, 10/22/2008
Why should people use dollar coins when dollar bills are still being printed and are more common? Personally I'd prefer to use the coins, but anywhere you go you'll still get your change in bills. If the government is serious about switching people over to coins, they should just stop printing the bills.
From New Haven, VT, 10/22/2008
A big reason coins aren't a big hit and being used in place of paper dollars is because businesses don't have a slot in the cash register for them. To add to this, remember when the gold dollars came out a few years back? Have you seen them used regularly? Everyone got them and tucked em' away. I know I have several I've saved. Possibly new dollars could be as big as the old half dollars and be made from nickel. Again where will they fit in the cash registers?..
Julie Day
From Dorchester, MA, 10/22/2008
I agree that dollar coins will never be used in the US until we 1) get rid of the paper dollar and 2) make the dollar coin more identifiable by touch, like the One Pound coin in the UK or the 1 and 2 Dollar coins in Canada. And as for the Presidential dollars, they look like the tokens that you got with a fillup at a gas station, back in the 1960s, with the idea that you'd win a large cash prize if you completed the set (but you NEVER got the Millard Fillmore dollar that would enable you to do so).
From Miami, FL, 10/22/2008
You are both right, Untill they make the 1 dollar coins larger in size, they will never be popular.
From Beran, NJ, 10/21/2008
Dave, You are so right! I remember the 1st comment I ever heard about the (then new) Susan B Anthoney dollar was ...."but, it is too much like a quarter" Thought the the faces have changed on the $1 coins, the story remains the same. ....Everyone seems to have a story of pulling out a handfull of change and spending them as quarters! When the currend $1 coins are stacked together with quarters,it is too hard to tell them apart! Even the newest gold ones are no exception when viewed on edge. If $1 coins were somewhere between a 1/2 dollar & quarter, I think they would not have a problem being popular & deamed acceptable by both businesses and the general public.
From Rockford, IL, 10/21/2008
The problem is NOT that Americans don't like $1 dollar coins, it is the $1 coins the US mint keeps making and no one wants. IS ANYONE AT THE MINT LISTENING! ?? The reason banks, stores & the public in general rejects these coins is because they are too similar in size to a quarter!! UNTILL THEY CHANGE THE SIZE OF DOLLAR COINS SO IT CAN'T BE EASLY MISTAKEN FOR A QUARTER, THEY WILL NEVER BE POPULAR! ---------------------
From Anchorage, AK, 10/21/2008
Thank you, Jeff S! I'll give the U.S. Mint website a try. I've never had any one refuse the coins, and some have also welcomed them. Banks are good, when they have the coins, but that is getting rare, and I like your pitch on saving gas.
From Anchorage, AK, 10/21/2008
I love the gold colored dollar coins, especially the beautiful Sacajaweas. I like how easy they are to use for tips, donation jars or for paying for something that costs less than $5.00. I take a velvet pouch full of them to pay for things at the Renaissance Faire. It's the banks who don't carry them(or claim they don't)when I ask to buy some, and the merchants who save them for the banks, rather than give them to the customers, who are the hold up. Let's make the switch!
From Syracuse, NY, 10/21/2008
I use them everyday and have never encountered a problem from any cashier. Usually most everyone likes them and some have said the ones I've spent are going home with them. Here is a secret that some don't know. if you cant find them at your local bank and want some. You can get them at cost from the US mint's web site plus free shipping under the direct ship program. This is where i get mine from and it doesn't cost anything. I dont even have to waste gas going to the bank to find them.
From Lincoln Park, MI, 10/21/2008
Let's be frank, the coins are ugly. A few years ago, the mint announced the switch to a new incuse rim design would herald a "new age of outstanding, heroic coin design." (?) If they were at least somewhat good looking, some might collect or hoard them like the state quarters...
From PA, 10/21/2008
I agree that the only way people will adopt the dollar coin is if we stop producing paper dollars. Paper dollars are more convenient. However, there are a lot of advantages to having dollar coins. They are convenient for use in vending machines, particularly in situations where change greater than $1 is required. Not all vending machines accept them yet, though. For those concerned about the declining value of our fiat currency, the dollar coin may not be precious metal, but at least it has 3-4 cents worth of metal in it whereas the paper dollar's value is less by several orders of magnitude. Frankly, because I am one of those who prefer to see our money based on real money (gold and silver), I wish we had circulating coins with precious metal in them, a $5 coin would probably be the smallest practical value given the current value of the dollar (it would weigh about 10 grams given the current price of silver, making it just smaller the size of the half dollar if it were about 800 fine).
From NJ, 10/21/2008
I hate dollar coins ! Bash them with hammers ! Throw them against brick walls ! Throw them into the rivers ! Flush them down the toilets !
From Culver City, CA, 10/21/2008
This reporter has it all wrong. Americans don't like slabs of worthless metal pretending to be our dollar coins. If these coins were made from silver or real gold, they would be impossible to get just like the US Silver Eagle coins minted by the mint are now impossible to find.
From Terrace Park, OH, 10/21/2008
Best use for the dollar coin? Why the Tooth Fairy, of course. She thinks they're niftty!
From orlando, FL, 10/21/2008
I would use them if they were silver or gold.....
From Tampa, FL, 10/21/2008
Stop printing dollar bills and stop making pennies. Explain that the money saved will be used to bail out Wall Street.
From los angeles, CA, 10/21/2008
I LOVE the gold-colored ones (They make me feel like I should be ordering a sarsaparilla). They're handy, but few retailers know what they are, and banks don't have a lot of them. (I hate the quarter-like Susan B.'s, though.)
From Bar Harbor, ME, 10/21/2008
Like others who have commented, I have found that I must go out of my way to get dollar coins. In try to spend them, I've had cashiers say, "sorry, we don't take loonies."
A "loony," for those who don't know, is a Canadian dollar, nicknamed for the loon on the coin.
I agree with Mr. Whaples; the only way to ensure people use them is to stop producing the paper dollars.
From Winnipeg, MB, 10/21/2008
The $1 and $2 coins have been in cirrculation for years in Canada. Although there were some consumer and retailer objections during the launch of these coins, most Canadians have come to terms and have overcome the "negatives".
There are lots of positives too...easy to use in vending machines, handy for the little things and just think how quicky your "change Jar" will add up!
I do think the US $1 coin needs a nickname...how about "The Libby"...after the famed statue on its shiny golden face.
From Kansas City, MO, 10/21/2008
I'd be happy to use dollar coins, but I don't want the U.S. Mint launching yet another such effort without making the coins widely available. This was the case with the 'Sacagawea' dollar a few years back. It was a beautiful coin, and I would've spent it gladly, but we hardly ever saw any of them in public. I wonder how many (paper) dollars that half-hearted effort cost taxpayers?
From Greeley, CO, 10/21/2008
It is not the consumers who do not like dollar coins - it's the merchants.
For an entire year, I made an effort to use the dollar coins. I went to the bank and bought rolls of them to use.
However, store and banks did not have coins for change. When I asked for dollar coins instead of bills, they told me they got rid of the coins as quickly as possible and did not keep them around.
Finally, I couldn't even get rolls from banks anymore.
They should just get rid of all the bills.
Dan Barker
970-324-1254
From fort worth, TX, 10/21/2008
When my ancient Toyota gave up the ghost two months ago I decided to embark on a carless experiment. An intimate knowledge of my local mass transit system has since occurred (unlike most cities in this region Fort Worth has a remarkably progressive system…light rail, good bus system, friendly to cyclists…) The self service ticket counters will accept any form of payment, but they only supply one form of refund, dollar coins. I have a fat sack of them in my backpack.
From Los Angeles, CA, 10/21/2008
When a vending machine gives me dollar coins in change, two things happen:
1. I meet cashiers who have never seen a dollar coin, or appear to be unwilling to accept them (maybe because there aren't enough slots in the cash drawer).
2. I find that I forget the coins are in my pocket, and I end up accidentally using more big bills and generating more change.
Both of the above problems are sure to lessen with time.
--I do like the idea of these coins. They make me feel like someone living in medieval times--I'm looking around for a satchel made of animal skins.
From Carrollton, TX, 10/21/2008
We get dollar coins as change when we use postage machines and buy train tickets for the rail line.
However, many people still aren't familiar enough with the coins not to cause problems! On a trip to New Orleans once, we had a cabbie refuse to accept them, when it was all we had! We finally tossed the coins in his tip jar and left. I'm sure he's still convinced we stiffed him.
Perhaps the commercials will at least make people more familiar with the coins. However, since the dollar has so little value anyway, why not switch altogether?
From Orlando, FL, 10/21/2008
I would love to use the Presidential Dollar Coins... if I could find them. I can hardly be expected to adopt them in every day use if my bank never has them.
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