Dollar Coin - US vs Australia vs Rest of the World

In a recent message "Bruce Remick" wrote:


"Michael G. Koerner" wrote in message
. ..
Squat wrote:
"PC" wrote in message
...
"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...
Anyway one thing that may help the acceptance of the dollar coin in
the United States is to start circulating a two dollar coin. Just my
?2 on the matter.
It might indeed be interesting to see if a $2 coin would be readily
accepted as spending money in the US, considering that most people
don't realize there still is a paper $2 bill sort of in circulation.
It probably would be a lot less emotional to drop the $2 bill and tout
the merits of a new $2 coin than it would be with the $1 denomination.
Plus the $2 experience could be used as a guideline if and when
dropping the $1 bill had to be sold to the public.

That is along the lines I was thinking. A 2 dollar coins would do
wonders. Somewhere between 3 and 5 would cover lunch at a lot of places.
People would suddenly realize coins have real purchasing power.
Suddenly the dollar coin may become more attractive.
Personnaly, I'd prefer a $5 or $10 coin. Keep the same, common
denominations and increase the value. Maybe even a $20 coin. The USMint
is producing a $10 Presidential spouse coin (similar to the new $1
presidential coins) but I have not yet been able to find information
concerning its availability.

Since coins last much longer in circulation that bills do, I think this
might even save the USMint money over time. (plus, a lot of them would
end up in the hands of collectors never circulating - thus making money
for the US Gov.)

There was a recent court decision that is going to force a major redesign
in the currency as the blind cannot tell teh difference as they are all
the same size. New coins of differing weights, thickness and such would
also help those who are visually impaired.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth (Pardon the pun)

Also (and I have posted about this before), I recall that when Canada
released its C$2 coin in 1996 an interesting thing happened - demand on
the Royal Canadian Mint for new C$1 and C$0.25 coins dropped to *ZERO* and
none were struck for circulation for several years afterwards.

The reason? With C$2 coins, people started SPENDING coins from their
pockets *UP* to amounts needed for their small-time purchases (ie, lunch)
rather then tendering larger banknotes and getting coins in change down to
that amount.
This recirculation effect for the smaller denominations eliminated the
need for the RCM to make any more for several years, also making total
pocket coin loads _lighter_.

I see no reason why the same would not happen here in the USofA with $1,
$2 and even $5 coins.

I think that's the key thing-- getting people to SPEND whatever new coin is
provided. With the US $1 coin, people claim to like receiving them, enjoy
putting some away, looking at them, etc. But they haven't been SPENDING
them like they do dollar bills. It's an interesting premise that getting
people used to digging in their pocket change for a $2 or $5 coin to
actually pay for something would likely influence dollar coin usage as well.
It just seems that STARTING with a $1 coin hasn't worked as hoped. Maybe we
should have started with a $2 or $3 coin and then worked backwards. I
hesitate to suggest a $5 (bill replacement) coin until we see how the $2
and/or $3 coins are accepted.

A 3 dollar coin? What a weird unit! The 1,2,5,10,20,50... system is
fairly universal for modern coinage systems (except in the USA where
the 25 unit remains for historical reasons).

When the UK introduced the pound coin the demand for the 50 pence coin
dropped markedly. Similarly, when the two pound coin was introduced
demand for the pound coin dropped.

--
Tony Clayton
Coins of the UK : http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... indows 3.1: from the people that brought you EDLIN!!

"Tony Clayton" wrote in message
...
In a recent message "Bruce Remick" wrote:


"Michael G. Koerner" wrote in message
. ..
Squat wrote:
"PC" wrote in message
...
"Bruce Remick" wrote in message
...
Anyway one thing that may help the acceptance of the dollar coin in
the United States is to start circulating a two dollar coin. Just
my
?2 on the matter.
It might indeed be interesting to see if a $2 coin would be readily
accepted as spending money in the US, considering that most people
don't realize there still is a paper $2 bill sort of in circulation.
It probably would be a lot less emotional to drop the $2 bill and
tout
the merits of a new $2 coin than it would be with the $1
denomination.
Plus the $2 experience could be used as a guideline if and when
dropping the $1 bill had to be sold to the public.

That is along the lines I was thinking. A 2 dollar coins would do
wonders. Somewhere between 3 and 5 would cover lunch at a lot of
places.
People would suddenly realize coins have real purchasing power.
Suddenly the dollar coin may become more attractive.
Personnaly, I'd prefer a $5 or $10 coin. Keep the same, common
denominations and increase the value. Maybe even a $20 coin. The
USMint
is producing a $10 Presidential spouse coin (similar to the new $1
presidential coins) but I have not yet been able to find information
concerning its availability.

Since coins last much longer in circulation that bills do, I think
this
might even save the USMint money over time. (plus, a lot of them would
end up in the hands of collectors never circulating - thus making
money
for the US Gov.)

There was a recent court decision that is going to force a major
redesign
in the currency as the blind cannot tell teh difference as they are
all
the same size. New coins of differing weights, thickness and such
would
also help those who are visually impaired.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth (Pardon the pun)

Also (and I have posted about this before), I recall that when Canada
released its C$2 coin in 1996 an interesting thing happened - demand on
the Royal Canadian Mint for new C$1 and C$0.25 coins dropped to *ZERO*
and
none were struck for circulation for several years afterwards.

The reason? With C$2 coins, people started SPENDING coins from their
pockets *UP* to amounts needed for their small-time purchases (ie,
lunch)
rather then tendering larger banknotes and getting coins in change down
to
that amount.
This recirculation effect for the smaller denominations eliminated the
need for the RCM to make any more for several years, also making total
pocket coin loads _lighter_.

I see no reason why the same would not happen here in the USofA with
$1,
$2 and even $5 coins.

I think that's the key thing-- getting people to SPEND whatever new coin
is
provided. With the US $1 coin, people claim to like receiving them,
enjoy
putting some away, looking at them, etc. But they haven't been SPENDING
them like they do dollar bills. It's an interesting premise that getting
people used to digging in their pocket change for a $2 or $5 coin to
actually pay for something would likely influence dollar coin usage as
well.
It just seems that STARTING with a $1 coin hasn't worked as hoped. Maybe
we
should have started with a $2 or $3 coin and then worked backwards. I
hesitate to suggest a $5 (bill replacement) coin until we see how the $2
and/or $3 coins are accepted.

A 3 dollar coin? What a weird unit! The 1,2,5,10,20,50... system is
fairly universal for modern coinage systems (except in the USA where
the 25 unit remains for historical reasons).

When the UK introduced the pound coin the demand for the 50 pence coin
dropped markedly. Similarly, when the two pound coin was introduced
demand for the pound coin dropped.

--
Tony Clayton
Coins of the UK : http://www.coins-of-the-uk.co.uk
Sent using RISCOS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
... indows 3.1: from the people that brought you EDLIN!!

I disagree with you comment about the demand for the £1 coin dropping after
the introduction of the £2 coin.

I only see a few £2 coins in circulation each month compared to dozens of £1
coins. Billy

Tony Clayton wrote:


A 3 dollar coin? What a weird unit! The 1,2,5,10,20,50... system is
fairly universal for modern coinage systems (except in the USA where
the 25 unit remains for historical reasons).

Tony, we colonials have already issued a $3 coin over 100 years ago.
And yes, we
have also had a 2¢ and 20¢ coin as well. And if I remember correctly,
the UK has
issued a 25 pence coin or two in the last 30 years. 8-)

Jud wrote:

And if I remember correctly, the UK has issued a 25 pence coin or two in
the last 30 years. 8-)

Don't think so. The UK had a few of those huge (Crown type) "25 New
Pence" commems in the late 1970s and early 80s, but that was it. The
circulation coins, first issued 25 years ago, have a face value of 20
pence ...

In the Netherlands there was a 25 cent coin (kwartje) until the euro
cash was introduced. But they were consistent enough to also have 2.50
coins and 25.00 notes. :-)

Christian

"Christian Feldhaus" wrote in message
...
Jud wrote:

And if I remember correctly, the UK has issued a 25 pence coin or two in
the last 30 years. 8-)

Don't think so. The UK had a few of those huge (Crown type) "25 New
Pence" commems in the late 1970s and early 80s, but that was it. The
circulation coins, first issued 25 years ago, have a face value of 20
pence ...

In the Netherlands there was a 25 cent coin (kwartje) until the euro
cash was introduced. But they were consistent enough to also have 2.50
coins and 25.00 notes. :-)

Christian

The last "crown" (dollar sized coin) with a face value of 25p was issued in
1981, they are sometimes sold on eBay as £5 coins by some naughty naughty
ebay persons who may or may not know that they are in error.

The face value of the "crown" was changed to £5 and was first issued dated
1990.

Neither of these "crowns" are seen in circulation and they are treated as
the commemorative coins that they are and are kept as souvenirs. Billy

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:59:19 +0200, lid (Christian
Feldhaus) wrote:

Jud wrote:

And if I remember correctly, the UK has issued a 25 pence coin or two in
the last 30 years. 8-)

Don't think so. The UK had a few of those huge (Crown type) "25 New
Pence" commems in the late 1970s and early 80s, but that was it.

They had a 24 pence coin for several years. Does that count for
anything? ))

The
circulation coins, first issued 25 years ago, have a face value of 20
pence ...

In the Netherlands there was a 25 cent coin (kwartje) until the euro
cash was introduced. But they were consistent enough to also have 2.50
coins and 25.00 notes. :-)

Very sensible. We had the $2.50 coin, but not the $25 note!

Padraic


Christian

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Padraic Brown wrote:

They had a 24 pence coin for several years. Does that count for
anything? ))

That was a good one g.

Christian

What I never understood was why have a soverign and a guinea?

"Jud" wrote in message
ups.com...
What I never understood was why have a soverign and a guinea?

Well in Australia, when I was a child, (50yo ago) my father was paid in
guineas. It was a class issue. People with a trade were paid in guineas,
labourers were paid in Pounds.

Bruce Remick skribis:

The next challenge though will be to get people to spend that $1
coin like they did the bill, and not simply gravitate to the $5 bill as
their "new" mainstay for purchases, relegating the coin to pocket change
status.

But the dollar coin *is* pocket change -- just as the dollar bill has
been for quite some time.

--
Stefano