[USMA:48352] Re: US $1 coins

[John M. Steele]

I don't think it has anything to do with metric.  The $1 bill fits in our 
wallets with other bills.  The $1 coin has to be carried as change.  To carry a 
given dollar amount, the coin is more than 8X heavier.  It is also slightly 
more 
volume after packing factor is considered.  We have vending machines that 
accept 
bills, so one of the biggest personal reasons for high-value coins is not very 
relevant.

I found a use for dollar coins where they don't bother me.  The parking lots in 
a small town near me are automated.  They accept bills or coin., but any dollar 
amounts they give in change are in dollar coins.  I just leave them lying in a 
tray in the car, where the weight is not a problem, and use them paying parking 
fees.  Its perfectly safe, no one will break into my car to steal dollar coins. 
:)

I don't like them, and when I receive them, I try to use them up in ways that 
minimize my inconvenience.  Of all the ways my government wastes money, 
accomodating my preference for bills is small potatoes.  PS: In recent data on 
a 
Treasury website, $1 bills now last longer than $5 and $10 bills, so apparently 
they have gone to a higher durability paper.  We have the coins for those that 
prefer them.  USPS stamp machines also accept bills, and give dollars of change 
only in coin, so that is another way to get all (or more than) one wants.




________________________________
From: John Frewen-Lord <j...@frewston.plus.com>
To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Wed, August 11, 2010 4:15:46 AM
Subject: [USMA:48351] US $1 coins


While Canada has had a $1 coin for years (and Canadians far prefer it), 
Americans still resist such a coin, according to this article on the BBC 
website 
today:
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10783019
 
All the coin's dimensions are in metric units, with the source of those 
measurements being the US Mint, so obviously not converted by the BBC.
 
One of the things that has always amazed me about America, especially for a 
country that is, in the eyes of much (though not all) of the world, the essence 
of progressiveness and modernity, is how much of America is actually very 
resistant to change, far more than say Europe, where history and tradition is 
so 
much more entrenched.
 
I wonder if this US resistance to change is behind the deep opposition to 
changing over to the metric system?  Whatever the reasons, this resistance to 
change wil be America's downfall in the end.
 
John F-L