Why the US Keeps Minting Coins People Hate 89
CeruleanDragon writes "In hidden vaults across the country, the US government is building a stockpile of $1 coins. The hoard has topped $1.1bn — imagine a stack of coins reaching almost seven times higher than the International Space Station — and the piles have grown so large the US Federal Reserve is running out of storage space."
Where to get them... (Score:3, Informative)
If you want some dollar coins, they are commonly dispensed in vending machines in the post office. After spending some time in Canada, I think that they work well - despite my initial surprise. It would be helpful to have a two dollar coin as well, one that is clearly distinguishable from the one dollar.
I have a few of them laying around - Monroe, Washington, and a couple of Madisons, as well as a few of the Sacagaweas, Eisenhowers, and Anthonys. I think that I'm going to start using them.
Re:Where to get them... (Score:1, Informative)
Every vending machine I've used in the last five years has accepted both the old Susan B's and the new gold dollars.
Re:Where to get them... (Score:3, Informative)
There were similar complaints when the "Thatcher" pound coin was introduced in England. I worked in a pub at the time and people used to confuse it with the five pence piece, despite being gold coloured and about three times as thick.
Now the colour I can excuse - the warm lighting makes them all look yellow - but how they didn't notice the thickness is beyond me. Maybe because all the others were roughly the same, so it wasn't a factor previously?
Before that, there were the same complaints [bbc.co.uk] when they phased out the ten shilling (i.e. half a pound) note. Plus ça change...