Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Coming soon to a Post Office near you!

Which adage do you subscribe to: "Three strikes and you're out" or "Third time's a charm"? It would seen that the U.S. Congress would subscribe to the latter. It seems that they're launching yet a third dollar coin.

The Susan B. Anthony dollar arrived in 1979, and the acclaim was anything but universal. It was too close in size to a quarter, and the same color. It flopped miserably.

In 1999, a gold-colored dollar coin bearing the likeness of Sacajawea was introduced. Despite million of dollars spent on an advertising campaign (an ad campaign to convince the populace to use money - what'll they think of next?), the "Sac" flopped as badly as the "Susie B.", now providing two coins that you find only in the Post Office's stamp vending machines.

As if two pieces of currency that confuse the heck out of the counter staff at your neighborhood Taco Bell ain't enough, we'll now have a third: these coins will bear the likeness of former U.S. presidents (in order). People will probably collect them (like many do the "State" quarters), but the ones that do make it into circulation will end up in the Post Office, rather than pockets and cash registers.

Link

2 Comments:

At 12:19 AM, Blogger Raph said...

I hope this new dollar coin takes off. One of the most frustrating aspects of visiting the States is having all those one dollar bills. (I'm Canadian and used to dollar coins.) I always end up with fistfuls of bills, which feels like more money than it really is. Thus, after counting my money, I end up disappointed with my "riches."

 
At 5:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As long as the government insists on printing the $1 bill, ANY dollar coin will fail. Having the luxury of both costs $400,000,000 a year in printing and replacement costs plus continues the frustration of fighting vending machines to take an old bill. Get rid of the $1 bill and there will be no trouble at all with the dollar coin.

 

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