Penny pinching: Can Obama kill the one-cent coin?

[lustindarkness]

Yuck. I don't like change.

[dps]

Personally, I'm more likely to have coins on me than paper money.  I might needs coins for a soft drink vending machine or the like.  (Sure, most of those have dollar bill changers nowdays, but getting the bills to actually feed into them is a pain in the butt more often than not.)

Those machines are more likely than not going to take credit cards in the future.

Yeah, I wish that they'd hurry up with that.  I've seen a few, but only a very few.  The only place I specifally remember seeing them is the main Post Office in Charleston.

[The Brain]

Paying by SMS is fairly common here I think (I never buy from vending machines so I don't pay much attention).

[CountDeMoney]

It doesn't make sense, and it's where it belongs:  with filthy Europeans and Canadians.

Oh, come on...who doesn't want a 17.78 cm dick?

That just sounds creepy.

[Malthus]

You are complaining about having useful coins because it would upset your worldview that coins are useless? 

It won't take long, if you have coins worth $1 and $2 USD, to get used to the notion that some coins have value (and utility!)

I'm with garbon on this. It isn't that I have a worldview that coins are useless, it is that coins are more awkward to carry. I rarely use cash, but I carry a bit with me for tips and the few places that don't take cards. I don't carry change, and if I get some at a lunch counter or somewhere I just give it as a tip.

I have a very small card case where I keep a license, a few credit cards, and a $20 bill or two. It is much easier to carry that (and do away with a billfold/wallet completely) when you don't have nonstandard sized coins to worry about--a couple pieces of foldable paper are lighter and more convenient.

Well sure, if you don't use cash except as an emergency stash and immediately get rid of all change you don't care for dollar coins. What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

[mongers]

You are complaining about having useful coins because it would upset your worldview that coins are useless? 

It won't take long, if you have coins worth $1 and $2 USD, to get used to the notion that some coins have value (and utility!)

I'm with garbon on this. It isn't that I have a worldview that coins are useless, it is that coins are more awkward to carry. I rarely use cash, but I carry a bit with me for tips and the few places that don't take cards. I don't carry change, and if I get some at a lunch counter or somewhere I just give it as a tip.

I have a very small card case where I keep a license, a few credit cards, and a $20 bill or two. It is much easier to carry that (and do away with a billfold/wallet completely) when you don't have nonstandard sized coins to worry about--a couple pieces of foldable paper are lighter and more convenient.

Well sure, if you don't use cash except as an emergency stash and immediately get rid of all change you don't care for dollar coins. What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

Well you've sort of hit the nail on the head, to mix one's expressions, the main reason for change it a state/social one, it saving money and is  harder to counterfeit, whereas most people respond with their view/experience based on what they want out of it.

And one or two of those have a so blinkered personal view that they can't accept or comprehend others might have different ways of dealing with coins/notes.

[grumbler]

Well sure, if you don't use cash except as an emergency stash and immediately get rid of all change you don't care for dollar coins. What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of the misapprehensions of the two sides in the dollar coin versus dollar bill debate.

Your misapprehension appears to be that, if dollar coins are introduced in the US, they will have no impact on those who prefer to use dollar bills to dollar coins.  I believe that you are wrong; that the proposal is that dollar coins replace dollar bills.  Thus, even you should be able to understand why some people object to the "very existence" of such coins.

I think the misapprehension of people like Garbon is that the "very existence" of one-euro coins or one-loonie coins will have any significant impact on the probability of one-dollar coins.  The arguments in favor of it carry little weight with anyone I know (even if a coin or bill costs more than an alternative to create and maintain, mints are not profit-making institutions to begin with).  The arguments against (that the U.S. public has demonstrated overwhelmingly that it prefers the bill to the coin) seem carry the day no matter what Canada's coinage is like.

[Barrister]

one-loonie coins

Not your fault of course, but calling it a "one-loonie coin" is absurd.  The $1 coin is called a loonie, because it was a loon on it.  It's much the same as the $0.25 coin being called a quarter - that's just the name of the coin.  The $2 coin is called, somewhat unimaginatively, a toonie.

Our currency is still the dollar.

[garbon]

I think the misapprehension of people like Garbon is that the "very existence" of one-euro coins or one-loonie coins will have any significant impact on the probability of one-dollar coins.

I do? I thought I was just voicing my dislike of dollar coins and Berkut's thought that we should replace our dollar bills with coins?

[Malthus]

Well sure, if you don't use cash except as an emergency stash and immediately get rid of all change you don't care for dollar coins. What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of the misapprehensions of the two sides in the dollar coin versus dollar bill debate.

Your misapprehension appears to be that, if dollar coins are introduced in the US, they will have no impact on those who prefer to use dollar bills to dollar coins.  I believe that you are wrong; that the proposal is that dollar coins replace dollar bills.  Thus, even you should be able to understand why some people object to the "very existence" of such coins.

No, I'm replying to a guy who doesn't like using cash at all, except for " ... a $20 bill or two" as an emergency stash for places that are cash-only where his credit card is no good. I said nothing whatsoever about dollar coins having "no impact on those who prefer to use dollar bills to dollar coins". That's something you invented. Even you should understand that labelling something I've not said as a "misapprehension" is a misapprehension on your part, not on mine. 

I can't imagine many are going to be carrying a couple of individual dollar bills as an emergency stash.

[garbon]

What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

I think Grumbler said that bit right to you. I don't think Freddie or I care that they exist and people use them - after all, the US already has dollar coins that often are dispensed at transit ticket machines.

[fhdz]

one-loonie coins

Not your fault of course, but calling it a "one-loonie coin" is absurd.  The $1 coin is called a loonie, because it was a loon on it.  It's much the same as the $0.25 coin being called a quarter - that's just the name of the coin.  The $2 coin is called, somewhat unimaginatively, a toonie.

Our currency is still the dollar.

The quarter is actually called the "quarter", though. It's printed on the coin.

[Malthus]

What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

I think Grumbler said that bit right to you. I don't think Freddie or I care that they exist and people use them - after all, the US already has dollar coins that often are dispensed at transit ticket machines.

Nope, he got both bits wrong. See my response above.

Key here is "I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.". I'm not saying that there are no valid objections, only that 'I hate using cash and only ever carry a couple of 20s'  isn't one.

[Malthus]

A dime isn't printed on a dime though. It's just what everyone calls a 10 cent coin.

Similarly, a loonie is just the nickname for the 1 dollar Canadian coin. And, sadly, the nick for a 2 dollar coin is a "toonie". I'd have preferred the "doubloon" myself! 

[garbon]

What's the objection to *others* using them, though?

I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.

I think Grumbler said that bit right to you. I don't think Freddie or I care that they exist and people use them - after all, the US already has dollar coins that often are dispensed at transit ticket machines.

Nope, he got both bits wrong. See my response above.

Key here is "I don't get why this is a valid objection to such coins' very existence.". I'm not saying that there are no valid objections, only that 'I hate using cash and only ever carry a couple of 20s'  isn't one.

I think grumbler is splitting a hair that you didn't intend then. I can see how your statement is unclear as the coins can exist and also not replace the bill - but that isn't what is being discussed.

Though back to what you were saying, presumably if Alfred uses his 20 at a place that doesn't take card, he's going to get ones back right? What would be more useful to him, put those couple of ones back in his compact wallet or in a change jar at home?