With all the government spending and the never ending sinkhole of a deficit, making a simple change to a coin dollar to save billions seems like an easy answer. The problem however, is that we Americans are too attached to our paper dollar.
Advantages of the Paper Dollar
Among the many benefits of the paper dollar is its ease to be carried and stored. The paper dollar can be folded and placed in a pocket, wallet, or even a sock. Another convenience is that it is lightweight. Furthermore, a paper dollar does not jingle in your pocket, like a coin dollar would.
Most cash registers and vending machines are set up for paper dollars and not coin dollars. If the government decided to get rid of the paper dollar every business and vending machine would need to be updated. That would be a significant cost to companies and it would take time for the updates.
Yet another inconvenience could be the extra time it would take cashiers to count out change. Counting dollar bills is much quicker than counting change. The dollar bills are easier to hold and handle in large quantities.
Advantages of the Coin Dollar
The coin dollar is more durable and over the course of the next thirty years it could save approximately 5.6 billion dollars. In the long run, the coin dollar would also be advantageous for vending machine consumers. There is nothing worse than having one worn out paper dollar that the vending machine refuses to take. The coin dollar would eliminate this hassle.
While many fear the added coinage would get too heavy, the most dollar coins you would have to carry at any given time would be four, because once you have five dollar coins they can easily be upgraded to a five dollar bill.
What it all comes down to
What the debate boils down to is whether or not it is worth saving billions of dollars to switch to the dollar coin; or whether the convenience of the paper dollar is more advantageous. If the government does decide to switch, yes it will take some getting used to, but like anything else Americans will learn to adjust. Change is an inevitable part of life, so why should changing the change be any different?
Source:
Dollar Coins to Reduce Deficit?
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