This Week’s Letters (4/11/08)

From the April 11 Numismatic News E-Newsletter:

Q.Should laws be passed to require paper money be given in change instead of $1 coins?

I think a bill just the opposite of that which you proposed should be passed requiring coins rather than bills be given in change. Bills are more costly to produce and dollar bills are becoming obsolete. This would insure the circulation of our dollar coins and reduce the amount of stares that I get from cashiers when I try to pay with dollar coins. Why produce dollar coins if we don?t make a concerted effort to circulate them?

Roland C. Gauvin
Cumberland, R.I.

I am in favor of the wholesale replacement of dollar bills with coins, but I would not make it mandatory by law. Rather, I would simply stop producing dollar bills for a period of time, and allow the bills already in circulation to work their way out of the system. I do not know how many dollar bills are in circulation at any one time, but I would imagine that the number of dollar coins currently being minted would likely suffice to fill the need for that denomination.

Les Peters
South Riding, Va.

No! Bring on the dollar coins. I love using them!

Larry Marshall
Livingston, Texas

I?m puzzled why this question is even subject matter for discussion. If dollar coins are minted as legal tender, why on earth should a law even be entertained to ?require? an exchange of paper money only. There are many topics worthy of consideration and debate, this topic has not merit nor any common sense. Next!?

Eric A. Duhs
Reynoldsburg, Ohio

Yes. Coins are hard on the pockets and bulky. Anyone who spends time in Canada knows what I mean. Continue our present setup. Let the consumer decide, as, is apparent with the failure of the
$1 coins.

F. Johns
Watertown, Conn.

Dollar coins will never circulate until the one dollar bill is removed from our monetary system.

Tom Quinn
Texarkana,Texas

We certainly don?t need any more government rules to ?help? us make our life ?better.? Let?s just leave it alone and let the people handle it in their own way!

Jim Driver
Burlington, N.C.

Should a law be passed? Absolutely not. Dollar bills are always given in change and coins of the dollar denomination will never be given. The people of this country don?t want them now anymore then they did more than 200 years ago. Only the politicians think the two will circulate side by side. Get rid of one or the other.

David G. Boulay
Lewiston, N.Y.

No! I think we should do the opposite and eliminate the paper dollar so that people will use the coin like many other countries have done. More vending machines should be modified to take the dollar coin. The dollar coin will last for 50 years while the paper dollar only 10 months.

Bob Thompson
Montrose, Calif.

Is this a trick question? I am thinking the other way. I would like to see the paper dollar eliminated and the dollar coin would have to be given as change.

Ray Dillard
Fenton, Mich.

The dollar coin would be smarter if the Government would discontinue the dollar bill. The dollar coin would last about 30 years to the dollar bill which would last about 18 months. This would save the taxpayer millions of dollars in the long run. Why is it taking the government so long to make the change. They are wasting our hard earned money. Other countries are converting from paper to coins and saving millions,why not the U.S.A. Unless we do away with the dollar bill everyone will continue to complain about the coin. GET RID OF THE DOLLAR BILL.
thanks for listening.

Rick Lebel
New Britain, CT

With the average life of the dollar bill estimated to be around 18 months, we ought to eliminate it altoghether. The dollar coins have a life of years by comparison.
Keep the dollar coins. Get rid of the paper dollar, we don?t really need it and it would save millions if not billions in spending and would help to ensure that Americas dollar would be more stable than it is right now.

Collin Cagle
W. Jordan, Ut.

A law should be passed to eliminate the $1 note and use the $1 coins like the rest of the world. I believe this is the one thing the Government should force the population into accepting. This is a simple way to save us over taxed citizens a few bucks.
 And while our wonderful congress is at work trying to pass the ?Eliminate the Dollar Bill Law? some bright Congressman (if there are any) could tack on an amendment to eliminate the useless penny.
These changes are so far over due it is nauseating.

Keith Bauman
Franklin, Mich.

Americans do not adjust to the different dollar coins as evidenced by the past fifty years. Other countries have made the switch but don?t deal with the amount of money the average American has at his disposal.
 Fifteen years from now, there will be no coins or currency -- we will all use debit cards for all transactions. This will stop the problem with the cost of coins and currency and entrap
millions of people who are not paying taxes They are already starting this with Social Security.
The future is interesting . Collect all the coins and currency you can!

Rodney Blair
Palm Beach, FL

How can a law be enacted that disallows the use of any legal tender of the US.?

Morgan Spilsbury
Bolton, MA

No.!! Metal is more valuable than paper. Aluminum, Copper, of course they should have never gotten away with taking this nation off the gold standard. The federal reserve is a horrible joke as there is nothing federal about it. They might as well print money on tissue paper. What they are doing is legal counterfeiting. They print money Why can?t we?

Paul M. Woodward
Taft, CA

NO! I find the question absurd! How will the dollar coin every circulate with such a demand? The one dollar
bill should be taken out of circulation and be replaced with a one and two dollar coin, as our neighbors to the
north did years ago.

James W. Miller
Portsmouth NH

Good afternoon, I hope to see the Presidential Golden Dollars being spent more than ever! They are great coins and very easy to slip into a pocket or change purse. It?s time for change with our currency and the U. S. Mint is doing a great deed to help the process along. The Dollar notes are fine by me and are nice to use also. I think everyone needs to accept changing the spending money to newer horizons. Thanks alot.

Jon Sutton
Bloomington, Ind.

When the SBA Dollar coin came out I recall Canada, Australia, and others had dollar coins and they pulled their paper dollars so the $1 coins would circulate. When you consider a paper dollar last only about 18 months in circulation and a coin will last 30 + years, the choice is simple to everyone except our government. I should know I have worked for the Federal Government for 32 years(21 Active Air Force and 11 Civil Service NSPS)

James J Dracopoulos
San Antonio, TX

Should laws be passed to require paper money be given in change instead of $1 coins?
Some merchants would not accept the new presidential coins.
The USPS stopped giving dollar coins in their stamp machines.
Some merchants would not accept the new five dollar bill.
Some banks will not accept rolled coins.
Should laws be passed to change all this?
Good grief do we really need new laws to spend the coin of the land. Maybe all we need is common sense, knowledge and enforcement of the laws we have and not any new laws.

Robert Lorenz
Mc Kees Rocks, Pa.

This appears to be a question primarily for the Urban populations.. Those of us in the rural areas do not have machines that are conveniently available for dollar change..
The circulation results of the Sacagawea coin tends to turn the coin black or at best , ugly ; therefore if it were my druthers, I?d druther have the paper !!,,,it?s lighter, won?t wear holes in your jeans and you can easily combine into 5 and 10 dollar bills..for less paper to stuff in the wallet, purse.. Thank You,

Kenyon Miers
Esperance, NY

If any law is passed it should be a law that prohibits paper dollar printing. It is a sensless waste of money and resources.

J William Halfpenny
Westmont, Illinois

No! I think we should do the opposite and eliminate the paper dollar so that people will use the coin like many other countries have done. More vending machines should be modified to take the dollar coin. The dollar coin will last for 50 years while the paper dollar only 10 months.

Bob Thompson
Montrose, Calif.

Of course I prefer dollar bbills, BUT I definitely not in favor of a regulation to the effect
you mention.

Wayne Logan
Acworth, GA

Absolutely not! This is a counterproductive non-solution to the two very
real problems with our currency that could be solved by a reworking, as
has already been done by almost all other countries in the world. The cent
has simply got to go! Even with a cheapening of the metal content it is
ludicrous to retain a denomination with virtually no buying power. Vending machines and parking meters do not even accept them. Eliminating the cent leaves room in the cash registers for the dollar coin. Likewise, eliminating the paper dollar in favor of the very attractive Jefferson two-dollar bill encourages use of the dollar coin. Jefferson then becomes the vignette on the lowest denomination of paper currency AND the lowest denomination of coin. This would create a symmetry lacking in our current system.

Tom Maringer
Springdale, Arkansas

Get rid of the dollar bill. I carry dollar coins and they are convenient regardless of what the naysayers think. People complaining about having to carry 25 or so in their pocket. Who carries that many ones. Putting a one dollar coin in a vending machine sure beats stuffing in 4 quarters or worse, having a machine reject a dollar bill because it?s old, wrinkled or the machine is jammed up.

Donald DeLancey
Dallastown, Pa.

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