I make no secret about my quiet obsession with the dollar coin. (It’s the 21st century; the dollar bill was first introduced in 1862. Really, inflation makes the dollar appropriate for a coin.)
I wasn’t around when silver dollars were circulated (the last iteration being in the 70s, although my grandpa saved a few of these Eisenhower lunar dollars for me), or the Carter Quarter (when the Mint locked away millions of Susan B. Anthony dollars). I was never a huge fan of the Squawbuck, either, which debuted in 2000 and never made a big splash.
But the Presidential $1 Coin Program has brought renewed interest in dollar coins, just as vending machines are beginning to accept them. Slip a large bill into a post office stamp vending machine, or at the St. Louis Metro ticket vendor, and you’ll receive a bevy of dollar coins in return.
And why not? I keep rolls of dollar coins in many convenient locations. Our church distributes $2 ticket validation coupons, so I grab a couple of coins from our VUE on the way to church rather than break a $20 or hope I have two singles. I keep a roll in my desk at work, because the vending machine accepts dollar coins, and using those beats feeding the machine quarter after quarter. Another roll is in the car in case I visit a drive thru and order off the dollar menu. The parking meters in Chicago now accept dollar coins (and they better, as parking now costs about $3/hour). The practical uses are endless.
I really only jumped aboard through the direct order program at the Mint (because I’ve had difficulty getting them at the bank). There, you can order $250 in your favorite President’s image, and it arrives on your doorstep. Given that Coolidge won’t be minted until 2014, and Reagan until 2016, I settled on Madison.
Plus, handing them out can freak people out. Or sometimes incite them to wax nostalgic about Euros or Loonies.
This is my attempt to indoctrinate. Use dollar coins!