I work in Union Station, Washington, D.C. Downstairs in the lower level, there is a bank, first called the Women's Bank of Washington, then Adams National Bank (Abigail, not John), and now Premier Bank. When they were Adams National Bank they promoted the dollar coin. About every two weeks I go in there with $25 and get a roll. It takes about that long to spend them. The rolls are almost always the new coin only; if there is a Susan B. Anthony coin in there, I won't spend those at merchants. Instead, I go over to the adjacent Metro station (it's actually right out the door) and use it in the fare machine to add value to my stored value contact fare card. Otherwise, I spend the coin at merchants as if it is a perfectly natural thing to do, as it should be.
There is a woman in my office who also gets her coins there. She buys a soda every day and got tired of fighting with the dollar bill reader. She also uses one (along with me) on Doughnut Friday. Sometimes if I run low and I'm shopping at the local Amish market (which is mostly cash) I'll ask for change in dollar coins. They always have some and are glad to give them out to someone who asks because they are too polite to give them out in change otherwise. There hasn't been a dollar bill in my wallet for over two years. Strangely, my son Jeffrey is a "throw it in the bucket at night" coin person. He pays with paper only, and once a year takes the coins to a bank and tosses them in the coin counter, paying the 10% premium (loss). I pointed out to him once that his refusal to spend coins just cost him $30.00. This goes to the argument that most people will pay with paper only, or coins only, but not both, and since they are forced to pay with paper for small purchases, they get coins in change and they build up. Carleton From: Kilopascal [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2011 12:50 To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:51273] RE: COINS Act H.R.2977 <Off topic> Excellent report. I'm curious. Where do the people who wish to park there get their dollar coins? Where do you get yours? [USMA:51273] RE: COINS Act H.R.2977 <Off topic> Carleton MacDonald Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:44:06 -0700 I have a weekly bell ringing practice in Washington, DC. It requires parking on 12th St. NW between Constitution and Pennsylvania Aves. D.C. has a parking meter system in that area that requires going to a nearby kiosk and buying a timed ticket, which you then put on your dashboard. It takes coins and credit cards, no paper money (to take paper money would grossly increase the complexity of the kiosk). Usually I park for two hours and that is $4.00. I always use four dollar coins. It is much easier than carrying around then stuffing in 16 quarters. The conventional meters (on poles, one meter per parking space) are older and do not take dollar coins yet. The vending machines at work and the Washington Metro fare card machines all take dollar coins. Much easier than trying to get the paper money reader to accept a faded dollar bill. (And that paper money reader costs something like $400, which is why the vending machine operators would love to get rid of them.) The dollar is the new quarter, that is, what you could buy with a quarter 20-30 years ago is now a dollar or more. And no one back then was demanding a "paper quarter." Getting rid of the low-value paper dollar is absolutely sensible, will save money, and is good and responsible government action. We will go back to doing what we did when we were kids: paying for small purchases with coins only, and the coins not building up on our dressers. Only now a "small purchase" is $2.50 and not $0.25. The attitude of people toward this change is very on topic as it is the same attitude, the same mindset, that is hindering metrication. "I don't like change. Don't tell me to change." People in a representative democracy do not get to vote on every little thing; government and society would cease to function. If you don't like what your representative is doing, vote for someone else next time, assuming he is not worse than the person you want to replace. Carleton
