A dollar coin would save American taxpayers BILLIONS

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by DonBattles

I use my CC or debit card for all transactions with two exceptions. I pay the gardener and the house cleaner in cash and therefore always have about $500 on hand. I carry about $100 on my person but cannot even remember the last time I paid cash.

I gather several days a week with a handful of my retired buddies for coffee / breakfast, we get one bill for the 4 to 5 of us, cash is far easier.

[greekgod]

Originally Posted by GreginNH1

Canada has been using Looneys ($1) and Towneys ($2) for years now. They no longer use pennies. Makes a lot of sense.

We stopped using $1 bills back in the 1970s and stopped using $2 bills in the 1990s. We stopped using pennies after many years of debate. Now, stores just round the penny amount up or down if you are paying with cash. It has worked out great.

When I go to the US, $1 bills drive me nuts when trying to use them for bus or subway fare. I have a heck of a time getting the slot to accept anything but the most perfect condition bills...lol. One thing a Canadian bank teller and I noticed about US bills is that they tend to stick together when they are new. I definitely give them a strong rub before handing them over. I find that strange since it is never an issue with Canadian bills even before they started making them out of plastic. Yes, our bills are made of plastic now. They are actually pretty cool to look at.

[mulveling]

The US last minted a half-penny in 1857. One penny at that time equates to 27 cents today, adjusting for inflation -- and though that metric is extremely nebulous, it's reasonable to expect the buying power of a 1857 penny to match AT LEAST 27 cents today. So it would be entirely reasonable to eliminate the penny, nickel, and dime. At the rate the fed "prints" money these days, these denominations are entirely worthless. Physical money transactors can round.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by Still-One

Who actually uses paper money? 99% of all our transactions are on a card or EFT. I could easily function without ever handling currency.

I never ever carry cash and pay everything via credit card or apple pay. Paper money is going to dissapear.

China is almost purely cashless now, they do everything via wechat.

[SCAudiophile]

I would suggest that paper money still being around is a good thing...I still use it and carry some just in case each day.

On the day someone/something crashes or hacks one of these all encompassing e-monetary systems completely, and it is bound to happen some day no matter how well things are implemented, having hard currency is a necessary fallback...

[GaryProtein]

If they make a dollar coin, it cannot be sized like the SBAnthony which feels like a quarter in your pocket or even looks to be almost the same size.
Maybe they could get rid of the 50 cent piece and just have quarters and dollar coins.

I still like cash.