Coin(s) of the Realm(s)

[Erik:]

Howdy all, been awhile since I posted--busy busy busy at work. Now I'm sidelined with the cold/flu bug that everyone seems to be getting (and as all parents know, "middle/high school" = "viral/bacterial factory"). I'm between lapses of consciousness just now, so I reckon I'll crank out a post. And what I thought I'd write about is hard currency.

I read in the NYT a week ago that the U.S. Treasury is issuing a new dollar coin--or rather, a whole new series of them, cycling through the presidents over the next few years.



This is cool in and of itself, but I wonder if they think it will finally take hold as a replacement for the $1 bill? If that's the plan, then this would be what, "take five" or something? It's a good idea, really. A day after the NYT piece, I saw a related article in the Globe and Mail (a national Canadian paper); it had a good summary of why coins are more sensible than paper for low-currency amounts (and I've seen these same arguments from our past attempts at a dollar coin):

It costs about 20 cents (U.S.) to make a dollar coin but they last for 30 years or more. The $1 notes cost only four cents apiece but they have to be replaced every 21 months.

-- and --

"We [in the vending-machine industry] estimate that we lose at least $600-million in sales every year because of poor-quality dollar bills,"

...quoth some vending-machine industry High Up [aside: "Exec in the Vending Machine Industry" appears high on my list of "Most Incredibly Boring Ways to Make Lots of Money."].

The vending argument doesn't interest me as much as the longevity point. As the G&M article mentions, it has been estimated that switching to a dollar coin would save the ol' U.S. gummint roughly $0.5B per annum, and that's not chump change. We'll see if this one takes off. In any case, I want one of those Washington dollars (so, everyone who reads this, please send one along...) Next time we're over the border in Maine, I will have to see if I can track one down.

Up here, the lowest paper bill you'll find is $5. The $1 coin was introduced in the late '80s and soon became popularly known as a loonie, since the reverse depicts a loon. Or maybe they thought Elizabeth II (shown on the obverse) was a nutter...

Nearly a decade later, in '96, the Canadian mint issued the $2 coin, and it was only natural for it to become, colloquially, the toonie. (Loonies and toonies, *rimshot*; I think they should spell it "twoonie." Two knees?)

Speaking as a Yank, I find these "big coins" take some getting used to. I mean, when I'm walking around in the States, and I hear and feel a handful of change jingling in my pocket, odds are good Ive got something like $1.86 in there. Play the same scene up here, and I might have $12.86. You wouldn't think so just to hear me say it, but I'm telling you, it takes time to adjust--you're at a store buying something that costs $7 or $8, and you start to think, $#^@#!, I've only got some pocket change...but it's plenty. A friend of mine in Raleigh regularly drops all of his loose change into a large jar; when it's full, it goes toward "fun" purchases. If you did that here, your jarful would buy you a Nintendo Wii (now watch Sheehan scramble to find a jar).

I was going to end the post here, but Kimm asked me to add a bit about the newly minted Breast Cancer Awareness quarter in Canada; she got one today. I hadn't heard about these until now; well played, Canada.


Note: yeah, I know the coin images look ucky with their white backgrounds. No Photoshop on this ThinkPad, and I'm feeling too blah to go spritz 'em up on my other box.

[End of numismatic rambling.]
[You can wake up now.]