Subject:
[USMA:48352] Re: US $1 coins
From:
"John M. Steele" <[email protected]>
Date:
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 03:31:51 -0700 (PDT)
To:
U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
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 <[email protected]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
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
A lot of it is inertia, but also a major factor is heavy lobbying by those
with vested interests in maintaining that status quo. WRT $1 coins vs $1
banknotes, the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, especially Senators
John Kerry and the late Teddy Kennedy, fought hard to quash any proposal to
eliminate the $1 note. Why? The mill that makes the paper is located in
Dalton, MA.
I'm kind of surprised, and maybe not, that $1s now last longer than $5s and
$10s. The paper in the latter two seems worse than what was used in them
before their most recent redesigns.
As for the comparative volume of $1 notes vs $1 coins, try a little
experiment. Take 25 USA$1 notes, stack them together and roll them into the
tightest roll that you possibly can (this is done for use in change-dispensing
safes in many gasoline/petrol stations and attached stores). You'll find that
that roll will be about the diameter of a $1 coin. Measure how long that roll
is (this should be the vertical dimension of the notes). It should be a
smidgen over 65 mm long. NOW, measure the length of a standard $25 roll of
USA$1 coins. Since the coins are exactly 2 mm thick, a roll of 25 of them
should be 50 mm, plus another 2 or so mm for the crimping, long - 12-13 mm
SHORTER than the roll of $1 notes. Eack coin has less volume than each note.
Also, I have not kept a $1 note in my wallet in nearly ten years, they are
just too bulky. I keep them separately in one of my back pockets.
Yes, inertia on needed changes, such as defaulting to SI measures and
circulating high-value coins, is a huge problem here in the USofA, but, OTOH,
roundabouts are fast catching on as design options for street and highway
intersections in many parts of the USA, so there is a glimmer of hope here.
--
___________________________________________ ____ _______________
Regards, | |\ ____
| | | | |\
Michael G. Koerner May they | | | | | | rise again!
Appleton, Wisconsin USA | | | | | |
___________________________________________ | | | | | | _______________
