I was thinking about the new Presidental $1 Coin program that the U.S. Mint started this year, and how they’ve tried to push $1 coins in the past, to no avail. I was thinking about how the rest of the western world has embraced $1 coins, and how the U.S.A. hasn’t, time and again. Canadians use both coin and paper $1, and they are only a few feet to the North. Why can’t we?
First off, weight. A person can carry $10 in singles in their pocket, and it barely weighs an ounce. In fact, there is no difference in weight if you carry $10 in singles, $50 in fives, $100 in tens, $200 in twenties, etc.
Secondly, paper dollars are easier to handle everywhere except at vending machines. When you’re at a deli and your lunch comes to $6.67, it’s a lot easier to pull out your wallet and pull out $7 in one swell foop than it is to pull out your wallet, pull out $5, then dig in your pocket for $2 in coins.
Number C, people are just used to paper dollars, and if you use a dollar coin, you’re gonna get some weird looks, some merchants might not take it, etc.
The general consensus is that the only way the U.S.A. will switch to a coin dollar is if we get rid of paper dollars completely. The U.S. Mint wants to do that because in the long run, dollar coins are cheaper than paper dollars, mostly because they last longer and therefore the Mint will not need to produce as many since they won’t be removed from circulation as often as paper dollars are (coins are supposed to last about 30 years in circulation).
But I’m here to tell you the real reason why the dollar coin will not catch on. It’s actually quite simple. The dollar coin will not catch on because American men will not use it. American men will not use it because it is next to useless in strip clubs.
There you have it. Until the mint can figure out how to make a dollar coin fit into a g-string, it will never be widely adopted.
