$hould the dollar ¢oin ever repla¢e the paper dollar?
It should and could. Coins are much more durable than bills, so the mint would be conserving taxpayer money by eliminating the dollar bill. Also, dollar bills are frequently bleached and used as printing stock by counterfeiters to make larger denominations. Finally, dollar coins would be more convenient than bills for vending machines (no more spit-out bills).
First, the penny must
be taken out of circulation. It is almost valueless in
today's economy. Stores should be allowed to round all
prices to the nearest nickel (much as fractional gasoline
prices are currently rounded to the nearest cent) and refuse
pennies as payment. Then cashiers' drawers would be free of
pennies and have a space for dollar coins. Second, the dollar
bill must be taken out of circulation so that consumers are
forced to use the coins. This has the added bonus of
creating an empty space in cash drawers for $50
bills.
Luckily, Lincoln and Washington, the faces depicted on the doomed
denominations, are both already represented on other currency (the
five dollar bill and the quarter). Even so, a limited number of
pennies should be minted each year for banks (banks should not be
allowed to round) and to keep coin collectors happy. Likewise, paper
dollars should not be entirely abandoned as they are the
international icon of American money. It should become like the
two-dollar bill, available but not in any great quantity and not used
in daily transactions.
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I think it would be humorous to put Harry S Truman on a new dollar coin, along with his motto, "The BUCK stops here." |
