| March 8, 2001 |
![[Special Report: American Opinion]](javascript:void(0);)
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People Love Sacagawea Dollar,
But Worry About Spending
It
The golden coin quickly became a collectors' item as
Americans worry it's too good to last
By CHRISTY HARVEY
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Sacagawea golden dollar is a big hit, but not for the reason the
U.S. Treasury intended.
Half of Americans in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News
survey say they have received the golden dollar coins, and they are a
popular item with the consumers who get them.
But the coin was supposed to replace earlier dollar coins and at least
some dollar bills; the Treasury says the coin is more economical than the
paper dollar.
But according to the
poll, two-thirds of Americans who have received the dollar coin prefer
to save it, or hoard it, rather than spend it. Even if the coin were more
accessible, a plurality of the public says they would resist using it and
would remain faithful to the greenback.
The dollar coin, which is golden in color but contains no gold, was the
subject of a $40 million advertising campaign in which the Treasury
extolled the coin's virtues. Treasury officials devised what they believed
to be an innovative plan to distribute the dollar.
So, it's no surprise that most members of a focus group of 11 citizens,
convened in Exton, Pa., to talk about the poll results, have them. Asked
about it, a chorus of "it's cool" ensues. But these middle-class
Philadelphia suburbanites don't anticipate switching to these coins from
dollar bills. "They [the coins] are going to disappear," says Robin
Bentley, a homemaker.
According to Vered Uziel, an associate of Peter Hart who, along with
Robert Teeter, conducts the poll, the problem lies with how Americans
perceive the Sacagawea coin.
"They're a novelty and treated as collectibles, not currency," she
says. "Americans are saving the coins because they worry they'll never
come across another, but the public needs to be made aware that the more
they spend, the more they will come across more of these golden dollar
coins."
Some people are more likely to spend the coin than others. By a 2-to-1
margin, men are more likely to use the golden dollar than women are.
Predictably, younger people are more open to spending the new currency
than those age 50 or over, who are addicted to the greenback.
Should the coin become more available, people younger than 34, liberals
and professionals are more likely to use it in lieu of the dollar bill.
However, blacks, seniors and people living in rural areas say they are
most likely to remain loyal to the old-fashioned paper variety.
Past attempts to generate usage of a dollar coin have also met with
strong resistance from Americans.
The Eisenhower dollar, minted from 1971- 1978, never caught on; it was
large, unwieldy and heavy. This was followed by the Susan B. Anthony
dollar, which circulated from 1979 to 1981, but failed because many
Americans were unable to distinguish it from the quarter.
Created under the U.S. Dollar Coin Act of 1997, the coin bears a
portrait of Sacagawea, the teenage Shoshone guide who led Lewis and Clark
across the Rockies and through the West.
To give Sacagawea a fighting chance, the Treasury took extra
precautions to try to make this coin work. The golden color helps to
distinguish it from other coins, and it has smooth edges, much like a
nickel. To further ease the transition, the Mint hired metallurgists to
mimic the electromagnetic signature of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, so
vending machines would not have to be reformatted.
However, the coin's striking gold color and attractive face have helped
make it alluring to many Americans, so they have regarded it as a keepsake
rather than as legal tender.
Write to Christy Harvey at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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