How come we do not use our 2 dollar bills or our one dollar coin?

[texaskdog]

As to coins, the Canadian government mandated the phase-out of the $1 and $2 bills when they introduced the coins. The US government refuses to abandon the $1 bill (the vending machine lobby have fought to keep it because they installed those bill-taking thingies and they don't want to refit the coin slots). Phase out the bill so people have no choice and it becomes easy as the bills wear out.

As for why Canada had success with a $2 bill and we don't, who knows. I always figured its pinkish color helped distinguish it.

BTW, the Susan B. Anthony wasn't the first dollar coin. Among many others, recall the very large Eisenhower dollar.

Just like the metric system, Americans can't handle change, even when it makes sense.  But, yes, they don't force us to use it which is why it never works.

[NWI_Irish96]

The metric verse english system on that one thread got me inspired to create this one here.  As Canada relieved itself decades ago of the one dollar bill for the Luney coin and also use a 2 dollar currency, first as a bill then converted to coin later on, that are both used in Canada every moment of every day, we here in the US have not.  Our two lowest forms of bill are 1's and 5's and the highest coin is still mainly the quarter.

Here in the States, we have tried implementing the 2 dollar bill, and the $1 coin first as the Susan B. Anthony and later as another coin, but failed just as miserably as the metric conversion has done twice under both Carter and Clinton.

Why can one country make a success out of the bill to coins conversion on the one dollar bill as well as the use of $2 exchanges, and the other country cannot?

Americans won't stop using $1 bills unless you force them to.  If Congress would legislate and end to $1 bill, then people would be forced to start using $1 coins and $2 bills.  There would be a lot of complaining, but people would get used to it. 

The penny really needs to go as well.  All we really need are these currencies:

Coins:
5 cents
25 cents
1 dollar

Bills:
2 dollars
5 dollars
20 dollars
100 dollars
500 dollars (inflation is such that it's probably time to bring this back)

The government could save billions of dollars over time by making this switch.

[algorerhythms]

I'd change it to get rid of both the penny and the nickel. Then you could round off at the 10-cent level rather than the 5-cent level making it simpler for people to understand. Of course you'd have to get rid of the quarter as well.

Coins:
10 cents
50 cents
1 dollar

Bills:
2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100

[AsphaltPlanet]

As mentioned earlier, the penny was phased out in Canada a while back.  I am happy with the phase out of the penny.  I keep a tray of loose change in the car that I spend on morning coffees, and its nice not to have it continually filled up with a currency that is, for all intents and purposes, worthless.

I think I prefer the $1 and $2 coins that we use, now that I am used to them of course, though I do recall there being some backlash to the change when they were implemented.

I had no idea the US had a $2 bill.  I was quite surprised a couple of years ago when I got a bunch of US dollar coins back from a vending machine as change a couple of years ago.  I thought the US had finally made the switch ... guess not.

[1995hoo]

$2 bills used to be given out routinely as change at Monticello for the obvious reason of the bill bearing Thomas Jefferson's portrait (also, the 1936 series $2 bill had Monticello on the back instead of the portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independence). I don't know whether they still give them as change because I haven't been there in a long time and because the cost of admission has increased significantly.

The coin I've never seen is a Canadian half-dollar. I know they exist and I've seen pictures, but I've never seen the real thing. (Come to think of it, I don't remember the last time I saw a US half-dollar in circulation, as opposed to in the tray at the bank or in my own collection.)

[PHLBOS]

The last time I saw $2 bills being regularly circulated among vendors was at the Oregon State Fair in Salem several years ago.

[vdeane]

The reason we don't phase out the bills when we introduce the coins is because people would react with some variant of "[insert current president here] is destroying America!  I shouldn't have to use these stupid coins if I don't have to!  Bring back the $1 bill like our founding fathers intended!!"

Adapt as needed for getting rid of the penny.

[Pete from Boston]

The reason we don't phase out the bills when we introduce the coins is because people would react with some variant of "[insert current president here] is destroying America!  I shouldn't have to use these stupid coins if I don't have to!  Bring back the $1 bill like our founding fathers intended!!"

Adapt as needed for getting rid of the penny.

It would probably be more along the lines of "Congress and the President accomplish nothing year after year but now they have time to diddle around with my pocket change.  No thanks."

[briantroutman]

The penny has been the smallest unit of currency since 1857, when the half-cent coin was discontinued. Adjusted for the CPI, that half cent coin–too valueless to justify minting–would be worth 14¢ today. And so the smallest coin in 1857, the penny, was worth the equivalent of 28¢.

[kkt]

Canada is what the US would be like if it took its meds on schedule. 

[Scott5114]

The reason why the $1 is still printed is because Crane, the company that supplies paper to the BEP, got the senator in their state to get a bill passed prohibiting the Treasury from changing or eliminating the $1 bill. That's why the $1 hasn't been redesigned in either the N or G design generations, and it is exempted from the next redesign that will add court-ordered tactile features for the blind.

[Pete from Boston]

The reason why the $1 is still printed is because Crane, the company that supplies paper to the BEP, got the senator in their state to get a bill passed prohibiting the Treasury from changing or eliminating the $1 bill. That's why the $1 hasn't been redesigned in either the N or G design generations, and it is exempted from the next redesign that will add court-ordered tactile features for the blind.

Whatever that state is, they should be ashamed.  Terrible people.

[briantroutman]

The reason why the $1 is still printed is because Crane, the company that supplies paper to the BEP, got the senator in their state to get a bill passed prohibiting the Treasury from changing or eliminating the $1 bill.

Whatever that state is, they should be ashamed.  Terrible people.

It would appear to be Massachusetts.

The U.S. buys its currency paper from Massachusetts-based Crane & Company. Crane declined to comment on the story, citing the paper product as "strategic material."

[Pete from Boston]

The reason why the $1 is still printed is because Crane, the company that supplies paper to the BEP, got the senator in their state to get a bill passed prohibiting the Treasury from changing or eliminating the $1 bill.

Whatever that state is, they should be ashamed.  Terrible people.

It would appear to be Massachusetts.

The U.S. buys its currency paper from Massachusetts-based Crane & Company. Crane declined to comment on the story, citing the paper product as "strategic material."

Yes, I know. They are out in Lenox or Pittsfield somewhere.

[empirestate]

Yes, I know. They are out in Lenox or Pittsfield somewhere.

Dalton.

[Pete from Boston]

Yes, I know. They are out in Lenox or Pittsfield somewhere.

Dalton.

I was close.  Stumble drunk out of a bar in Pittsfield, and chances are decent you wake up in Dalton.

[bulldog1979]

The parking meters for on-street parking and the ramps in downtown Grand Rapids accept the $1 coin as well as dispense it as change. It would be very convenient if coin-operated laundry would take the $1 coin in addition to the quarter.

When I worked in a retail store's accounting office, we had a regular customer who paid with coins only. She had a physical disability that limited her manual dexterity, and coins were easier for her to handle. We always knew when she was in the store, and we were prepared to buy the $50-75 of dollar coins out of the cashier's drawer afterwards. Our coin counter was set up to handle them, except we didn't have the dedicated chute to hold a "shotgun" coin wrapper*, so we'd have to manually roll the coins. We also had to source our own dollar coin rolls.

*The usual denominations of coins would funnel into chutes that held a paper coin roll that was pre-crimped on one end and looked like an empty shotgun shell. Once the roll was filled in the machine, we would remove it and fold over the other end.

[Molandfreak]

What we should have now:

Coins:
Dime - 10 cent (I really wanted to rule the dime out of the picture, too, but meh)
"Fiver" - 20 cent
Half Dollar - 50 cent
$1
$2

Bills:
$5
$10
$20
$50
$100
$200

Pop and (small) snack machines will no longer take bills.  Energy drink and larger snack machines will take $5 and $10 bills.

[Laura]

The penny has been the smallest unit of currency since 1857, when the half-cent coin was discontinued. Adjusted for the CPI, that half cent coin–too valueless to justify minting–would be worth 14¢ today. And so the smallest coin in 1857, the penny, was worth the equivalent of 28¢.

Wow! I knew that coins used to have so much more value. That makes so much sense.

Rather than get rid of anything, we could probably just shift its values. Make the penny 25 cents, the nickel 50 cents, the dime 1 dollar, the quarter 2 dollars, the current 1 the 5, the 2 the 10, the 5 the 20, the 10 the 50, the 20 the 100, the 50 the 200, the 100 the 500. Just keep the pictures and sizes the same but change the monetary value of it.

The reason why the $1 is still printed is because Crane, the company that supplies paper to the BEP, got the senator in their state to get a bill passed prohibiting the Treasury from changing or eliminating the $1 bill. That's why the $1 hasn't been redesigned in either the N or G design generations, and it is exempted from the next redesign that will add court-ordered tactile features for the blind.

So that's why the dollar bill hasn't changed in appearance. What a bunch of bullshit. And people wonder why the 2014 election had such low turnout - why bother voting if the corporations and politicians are in bed with each other on even minor stuff like this.

What we should have now:

Coins:
Dime - 10 cent (I really wanted to rule the dime out of the picture, too, but meh)
"Fiver" - 20 cent
Half Dollar - 50 cent
$1
$2

Bills:
$5
$10
$20
$50
$100
$200

Pop and (small) snack machines will no longer take bills.  Energy drink and larger snack machines will take $5 and $10 bills.

It's so annoying to me that most vending machines will still only take ones, even though sodas are close to two dollars now and all of the snacks are at least a dollar. We just got new touchscreen machines at school, so it's not like they can't change the technology to do so.



iPhone

[1995hoo]

I read somewhere the other reason the $1 bill hasn't been redesigned is that they haven't seen enough of a counterfeiting problem with it to make it worthwhile.

[Pete from Boston]

Take off the blinders–it's the Freemasons keeping us using dollar bill to advance their mysterious plans!  Just look at all that mumbo-jumbo on there.  It's how they send their secret messages around! 

[corco]

Rather than get rid of anything, we could probably just shift its values. Make the penny 25 cents, the nickel 50 cents, the dime 1 dollar, the quarter 2 dollars, the current 1 the 5, the 2 the 10, the 5 the 20, the 10 the 50, the 20 the 100, the 50 the 200, the 100 the 500. Just keep the pictures and sizes the same but change the monetary value of it.

Re-denominating is a lot more complicated than just dropping a coin- you'd essentially have to do an entire recall of currency (good luck with that) and then redistribute, otherwise you have old pennies and new pennies floating around en masse with varying values.

[Laura]

Rather than get rid of anything, we could probably just shift its values. Make the penny 25 cents, the nickel 50 cents, the dime 1 dollar, the quarter 2 dollars, the current 1 the 5, the 2 the 10, the 5 the 20, the 10 the 50, the 20 the 100, the 50 the 200, the 100 the 500. Just keep the pictures and sizes the same but change the monetary value of it.

Re-denominating is a lot more complicated than just dropping a coin- you'd essentially have to do an entire recall of currency (good luck with that) and then redistribute, otherwise you have old pennies and new pennies floating around en masse with varying values.

Oh yeah - good point. It sounded nice in theory at least, lol


iPhone

[roadman]

Take off the blinders–it's the Freemasons keeping us using dollar bill to advance their mysterious plans!  Just look at all that mumbo-jumbo on there.  It's how they send their secret messages around! 

If you've ever handled a penny, the government has your DNA.  That's why they keep them in circulation. - The Simpsons

[akotchi]

My nickel (rounded up from 2c . . . ), FWIW.

It currently costs more than face value to mint cents and nickels, so the U.S. Mint is losing money by making (this) money.  The cent should be discontinued and the nickel re-alloyed, perhaps with the zinc available from the cent.  There is enough copper and nickel (the metal) in the dime and quarter to keep the mines churning.

Regarding the dollar bill/coin debate . . . I am not sure if new $2 are printed as regularly as the $1.  I don't see too many with series dates other than 1976 or 1995.  Why not print an equivalent quantity of $2 to replace the $1 bill, so that the coin would be used more?  Keeps the paper supplier happy.

The issue to me is the removal of Abe Lincoln and George Washington from the face of our coins and currency.  They would still be on the $5 and quarter, respectively, but it is still a contentious matter.

It was a lot easier to introduce and eliminate denominations when the face was that of Liberty.

The U.S. Mint has become more of a business than a generator of specie for commerce, but that is a rant for another time (and thread).