I was just reading about the "life of currency"

Today's $1 coins weigh 8 grams. Because we'd still have the $5 bill, the most one would ever need to carry around would be 4 of the dollar coins, weighing a grand total of 1.4 ounces.

About the same as seven quarters. Imagine the hell of trying to transport seven quarters.

If a letter weighed the same as four dollar coins, you could mail it first class anywhere in the country for 61 cents.

Like I said, if you want to see how little some Americans are willing to do to help the government save money, ask if they support transitioning to dollar coins.

The US dollar bill was introduced in 1862. Adjusting for inflation, today's $1 bill would be worth about 4 cents in 1862 money. Just as it would have been ridiculous for there to be, say a 5 cent paper currency in 1862, it makes no sense for us to have $1 paper currency now.

It's extremely easy for a sighted person with any sense of touch to tell which coins are dollars and which coins are quarters. Blind people, by contrast, can't easily tell paper currency apart.

Unless stubborness is a good reason, there's no good reason to keep the filthy, expensive dollar bill.

Come on, why should we be expected to sacrifice? All thats needed to fix the country is to eliminate the head start programs and make sure the children of illegals don't get a decent education. And cut taxes for millionaires, mustn't forget that.

There are situations where the coins are not practical a typical day in Vegas I may tip 50.00 to 200.00 dollars depending on what we are doing. All those tips are not in amounts that would be divisable by five I do not carry change around ever. I toss it in my console in my car or in a jar at home or a jar on my desk daily and clean it aout about twice a year, I hate the thought of a coin dollar.

All forms of "hard currency" will be largely extinct within a couple of decades. So who cares what we use in the meantime?

Maybe if some of those coins were worth $1 you'd get in the habit of using them instead of just tossing them aside.

The time has come to switch to dollar coins.

+1

No I would not, reread what I posted I dont carry a pocket full of change around its annoying I would still toss the dollar coins in a container and cash it in for large bills a couple of times a year.

Fine, more power to you, no one intends to stop you.

But don't think that habit is a good argument against transitioning to dollar coins.

Just last month, the GAO reported that phasing out the $1 note and increasing circulation of the $1 coin would save taxpayers an average of $184 million annually and a total of $5.5 billion over the next 30 years. Why? Because coins last 30 years, while dollar bills last 3 or so.

Dollar bills are filthy and cost our govermnent too much at a time when we really need to make government more efficient.

It's not so much the cost of individuals transporting coins...when you aggregate it accross the economy, you're moving around tens of thousands of extra tons compared to paper. Transporting and handling coins is clearly more expensive than bills. That may be offset by the the extra costs of bills wearing out or counterfeiting...but if you really want to save money eliminate the penny too.

I stopped using the dollar coins in the early 1980s when by accident I inserted four SBAs into a turnstile instead of four quarters for a train ride. But if the government stopped printing $1 bills and only dollar coins were available, I would not march on Washington and I would use the dollar coins. When you give me a choice, I choose paper, also because coins fall out of my pockets when I sit in the car. I figure the resale value of my car is several dollars higher now.