I was just reading about the "life of currency"

I was just reading about the "life of currency" and found that casinos are responsible for the shortened life span of our currency. The $1 bills are supposed to have the shortest life span of about 9-months, but because of casinos larger denominations are getting their lives cut short. Being blamed are the "rollers" inside the slot machine bill acceptors. these rollers literally wear out the bills. next time your in a casino look at the bills you get and look for "pinholes" in the paper, which are usually caused by the rollers.

now look at the regular paper money you have from outside the casino and youre not likely to see the pinholes.

also slapinfunk discovered something unusual... when he has trouble feeding a bill into a machine he turns the bill UPSIDE DOWN and then the bill is accepted, even though the directions are to feed the bill front side up.

soon the new $100 bills will be here -- and I hope the casinos will be ready. I recall the problem when the $10 bills were introduced and the bill acceptors were not adjusted in time.

Didn't I read recently that the US government is advocating switching over to dollar coins, because their life is much longer than that of currency?

Oh, you mean the Susan B Anthony coins that started in 1979 that were confused for quarters so the Governtment stopped making them... and then the Sacagewa gold-colored dollars that the government tried starting in 2000 that hasnt taken off either... and then the Presidential gold colored dollars that they started in 2007 that also failed to circulate...

yeah, they keep talking about replacing dollar bills with dollar coins...

Dollar coins are too difficult to put in garter belts. That is the primary reason for their lack of acceptance. IMHO

Canada saved quite a bit of money when they switched to $1 and $2 coins. In fact, the savings were much higher than they projected.
They simply eliminated the dollar bill. Given no choice the public had to accept the coins.
I've read the reason the government is reluctant to pull the dollar bill out of circulation is because it would hurt the cotton growers in the south.
I'm all in favor of them eliminating the dollar and bringing out a $1 and $2 coin. If you can't afford a $5 tip, you shouln't be in a strip club to begin with.

Our government is too pansy assed to have the balls to take the $1 bill out of circulation.
Canada just went and did it when they stopped using the $1 paper bill.

Using either or both of the gold $ 1 coins we have now is fine, just make a two tone $ 2 coin like Canada did.
It would probably be cheaper for Canada to make them for us like they make our penny for us.

But that will never happen as there is probably too many government officials who get kick backs from the companies that provide the cotton and other materials that make our paper money.

It's ridiculous that we still circulate $1 bills.

$1 coins are superior in every way. The gold ones now in circulation are great, I use them all the time.

Much less filthy, easy to distinguish from other coins, cheaper for my government to circulate, all upside, no downside.

Ask people who are all balled up over government spending whether they advocate switching to $1 coins. You'll quickly see how little many are willing to do to actually cut wasteful government spending.

There IS a definite downside to eliminating paper dollars. Coins are heavy to carry around. I always have 10 or so singles in my wallet to use for tipping. I would not want to carry around 10 dollar coins. My purse is heavy enough as it is. And I would think men would not want to carry them in their pockets.

That's just loonie.
Metal is more expensive than paper....by a multiple.
Coins cost more to transport and handle....by a multiple.
Coins do last longer and are harder to counterfeit though.

Sue, women are known to carry everything under the sun in their purses. Some weigh in more than the Brooklyn Bridge, and others are very lite.

The main reason the $1 coins haven't done well are they are too close in size to a quarter. Give 'em a larger size or don't make them totally circular (like a pentagon). The Presidential dollars, are being gobbled up by collectors.