Monday, November 14, 2011

Bad News For Dollar Coins

From the US mint site:

"The United States Mint will implement an order fulfillment charge of $12.50 for each box of $1 Coins purchased through the $1 Coin Direct Ship Program effective November 15. This new charge is a result of our continual effort to review programs to ensure that they meet our commitment to prudent fiscal management on behalf of the American public."

That's unfortunate. I like the dollar coins but I'm not willing to spend money to use them, and imagine a lot of others will feel the same way.

Friday, October 14, 2011

sticker + victory = sticktory?

Good news - I ordered some "Use $1 coin stickers here", and gave them to the owner of Xi'an Famous Foods... They are now on display there:

Monday, September 19, 2011

Blog: Phase 2

The past few months have shown that in New York City, $1 coins are easily spent and accepted. Rather than continue to document every place that accepts the coins, I'm going to switch the focus of the blog to posts that are of interest because (a) the reaction was very positive, or (b) they were not accepted at some venue.

I've also received some "Use $1 coins here" stickers from the US Mint which I'm distributing to stores who positively receive the coins.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

dos hermanos

Place: Dos Hermanos
Number of coins: 12 + 20
Accepted: Yes

I went here for some tacos, and when the cashier saw the dollar coins, he offerred to buy some more off me. Wow!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Arrrr

Place: Rocco's
Number of coins: 5
Accepted: Yes

"Hey, look at this guy, payin' me with these goold dubloons!"

torsu

Place: Cambodian Cuisine Torsu
Number of coins: 2
Accepted: Yes

A $20 bill plus 2 coins for food for 3 people...

sausage

Place: Baczinski Meat Market
Number of coins: 10
Accepted: Yes

The cashier said "we have a guy who collects these"!

Various groceries compacted

Place: Grocery store under Manhattan bridge
Number of coins: 3
Accepted: Yes

Place; Bakery in Chinatown
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes

Place: Farmer's market
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

Sunday, August 21, 2011

4/20

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 12
Accepted: Yes
Noted interest: Yes

I think the dollar coins actually went into a section of the register with other dollar coins...!

dumbpling

Place: The Dumpling Man
Number of coins: 12
Accepted: Yes

I got some dumplings, and also talked about the coins with the cashier. She hadn't known that they were all different until I mentioned it, then started looking at them. Also discussed the new penny, and what impact all these different coin designs has on the economy. Does it stimulate it or is it wasteful spending?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Cheese

Place: East Village Cheese
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes

Second purchase at this famously cheap cheese shop - no hassle.

Friday, August 5, 2011

designs

My early favorite presidential dollar coin, Frontal Jowly Lincoln, probably is still my favorite:


but also fun is Fat John Adams:

torsu

Place: Cambodian Cuisine Torsu
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

Back for another visit - and the moneyman again took the dollar coins with a slight smirk.

english creme

Place: Dessert Truck on 3rd ave
Number of coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

I bought a chocolate bread pudding with bacon creme anglaise. When I handed the guy the coins, he said "Whoa, cool!"..

gelato

Place: Cones
Number of coins: 11
Accepted: Yes

No problem buying a pint of zabayone & corn gelato.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Villa

Place: Villabate
Number of coins: 3
Accepted: Yes

Payment for two scoops of gelato - torrone and rainbow. A friend who paid after me was concerned that he would get the 3 dollar coins as change - but that's not what happened.

xi xi

Place: Xi'an Famous Foods (St Marks)
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

"Oh good, I was running out!"

phayul

Place: Phayul
Number of coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

Part of our payment was made using 6 dollar coins. No problems here!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Karepan

Place: Zaiya
Number of coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

Some pastry: the coins were accepted without even a curious glance.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Bad New For Dollar Coins

The US Mint no longer allows credit cards purchases of dollar coins through their website. The announcement, currently here, states:


The Mint has determined that this policy change is prudent due to ongoing activity by individuals purchasing $1 coins with credit cards, accumulating frequent flyer miles, and then returning coins to local banks. Local banks, in turn, returned coins to the Federal Reserve. While not illegal, this activity was a clear abuse and misuse of the program.


Was this in response to the slanted NPR article from a week ago? This is problematic, because while there was fraud going on, it seems clear that this was also a major avenue for coins to actually become distributed, judging by the statistics.

The information US mint blog has posted that there is also currently legislature going through congress hoping to put an end to the presidential dollar coin series.

Given these pieces of news, it seems like whoever has a vendetta against the dollar coin has been winning people over very recently; time will tell how this goes.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

MMMex

Place: Downtown Mexican Bakery
Number of coins: 18
Accepted: Yes

The usual.

Hello Hello

Place: Sa Aming Nayon
Number of coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

Some late night halo halo. I chatted with the Filipina woman working there. Upon giving her the coins:

"Oh, so pretty!"
"Yeah, some people don't like them"
"I don't know why, it's money!"

alsio:

"Oh, I ordered take-out from here before ... I got the ampalaya ginisang"
"You like that??"
One of my favorites.

Farmer's Market

Place: Union Square Farmer's Market
Number of coins: 7
Accepted: Yes

No problems getting some corn and sweet plums...

italy

Place: Eataly
Number of coins: 3
Accepted: Yes

A small purchase here. I noticed that the dollar coins just went right on top of the dollar bills.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Cambo

Place: Cambodian Cuisine Torsu
Number of coins: 14
Accepted: Yes

Finally got to try this food truck - it was very good, and the moneyman took the dollar coins with a slight smirk.

Ramen

Place: Kambi
Number of coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

Friday, July 15, 2011

Economy Candy

Place: Economy Candy
Number of Coins: 6
Accepted: Yes

I think they had a drawer in the cash register for them!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

NPR grudge?

A week ago, NPR published an article called The Government Spent $300 Million Making Coins No One Wants. This week, they published an article called How Frequent Fliers Exploit A Government Program To Get Free Trips, which I saw posted on someone's feed. What's interesting is that the Wall Street journal published the same story in 2009.

The article goes on to present, as if it were news happening now, the situation where some people realize that they can order dollar coins using their credit card, build up frequent flier miles, and deposit the coins directly into the bank. The Wall Street Journal article, in 2009, covered the same story - when it was actually happening. The NPR article presents this situation like it's something that has happened recently, while in fact the Mint put in safeguards at least a year ago to prevent this from happening - any individual credit card can only order $1000 in coins per ten days. It also says these rolls are not to be deposited directly into the bank - though I don't know if/how they check up on this. Some people may still be doing this with dollar coins, but certainly at a less alarming rate than before.

Further reading of the NPR article actually goes on to explain that these things are, more or less, _not_ happening right now. This leaves me wondering what the point of NPR publishing the article - on something that happened a few years ago - was. Were they hoping people would skim it and think it was happening now? Why? It's also interesting that they would publish, essentially, two very obviously anti-dollar-coin articles just over a week apart. Is there someone at NPR who is associated with Save the Greenback? That was a joke. I think.

DTMB2

Place: Downtown Mexican Bakery
Number of coins: 18
Accepted: Yes

Yet another uneventful exchange of pirate-like gold for a some good food.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

ho chee milk oh

Place: Tacos Xochimilco
Number of coins: 3
Accepted: Yes

$20 + $3 for some spicy green beef soup, pambazo (fried potato + cheese + chili oil sandwich), chalupas, tamales...

24

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

The nice thing about paying with dollar coins is that you can arrange them in a 4x4 grid for easy counting.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Groceries

Place: local grocery
Number of coins: 4
Accepted: yes

Some basic groceries, no problem here.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Kimcheese

Place: Kimchi Taco Truck
Number of coins: 10
Accepted: Yes

A simple purchase - one pork kimcheesesteak, and one order of kimchi arancini. No problems!

BAT

Place: Lincoln Tunnel
Number of Coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

No challenge for what should be an easy exchange here.

Sausage time!

Place: J Baczynsky Meat Market
Number of coins: 10
Accepted: Yes

Some sausage for a BBQ party later in the day. Nothing interesting here!

Ice Ice Italian

Place: Rocco's
Number of coins: 4 or 5
Accepted: Yes

To get a large Italian ice (with hazelnut, cremolata, and lemon - all great), I gave the nice mustaches Italian guy 5 dollar coins. In an accent impossible to reproduce with letters, he said "ooh! a golda!". Then he realized it was only 4 dollar coins for that size and gave me one back.

Pastry

Place: Veniero's
Number of coins: 2
Accepted: Yes

This is in addition to a groupon being used to purchase a birthday cake.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Marc Edwards

Place: The Silent Barn
Number of coins: 7
Accepted: Yes

I went to see a show the free jazz drummer extraordinaire Marc Edwards had booked at the Silent Barn (wow!), and paid in dollar coins. The reaction from the doorkeeper? "I've been getting a lot more of these lately".

Place: nearby Mexican food truck
Number of coins: 5
Accepted: Yes
Purchase: una torta de milanesa de beef

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Shibiao

Place: Cibao
Number of coins: 17
Accepted: Yes

My first time to this place, getting take-out: Some mofongo, a cuban sandwich, chicken soup. All quite good - and my coins were accepted with a smirk.

Knowing smirk tip of the day: Handing your coins to the cashier in 5 dollar groups makes them easy to count.

DTW

Place: Dessert Truck Works
Number of coins: 4
Accepted: Yes

A friend's groupon plus some extra dollar coins yielded some bacon creme anglaise bread pudding and then some.

Mole!

Place: Downtown Mexican Bakery
Number of coins: 17
Accepted: Yes

An uneventful exchange of pirate-like gold for a pork quesadilla (w/ tomatillo sauce) and a chicken mole burrito.

Monday, June 27, 2011

kvil

Place: Do Sirak
Number of coins: ~12
Accepted: Yes

This was left to complement the $20 bill.

More Mex++

The place: The Redhook Ballfields
Number of coins: 8, 10
Accepted: Yes

$8 for a quesahuarache at one truck, and $10 for pupusas and extras at another truck were spent without any comment or real reaction.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Place: Xi'an Famous Foods (St Marks)
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

This time, upon handing 8 dollar coins to the cashier, she simply said "wow!"

korean coinage

Place: Cho Dang Gol
Number of coins: 12
Accepted: Gladly

I've used a few coins to complement a $20 here before, but never this many. The fellow who took the payment said "oh, we could use more of these..."! Next time, it shall be so.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tuck Redux

Place: The Tuck Shop
Number of coins: 2
Accepted: Yes

On this visit to the Tuck Shop, it was a different guy working there than last time. The total was $12. I had a $20 bill and my usual array of coins. I asked "would it make your life easier if I threw in two of these coins, for a total of $22, and you just give me back a $10 bill?". "Yeah, actually, it would!" .. and so it was.
Place: Xi'an Famous Foods (St Marks)
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes, gladly

The usual guy wasn't there, but the cashier on duty liked the shiny coins.

Ice Cream

Place: Max & Mina's Ice Cream
Number of coins: 17
Accepted: Yes

No hassle and a bit of amusement paying for two pints with dollar coins here!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Best Batch Yes

Place: Bowery Poetry Club
Number of coins: 10
Accepted: Yes

No problems paying for my ticket to the Best Batch Yet tribute to Captain Beefheart with dollar coins.

Ray's

Place: Ray's Candy Store
Number of coins: 3, 8
Accepted: Yes

Two temporally close visits to Ray's, one for some pistachio soft serve, and one for an egg cream and belgian fries (with ancho chipotle sauce) involved an uneventful exchange of foods for gilded coins.

Baked Goods

Place: Bird Bath Bakery
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

The cashier said she liked the dollar coins, and made me promise to bring different kinds next time...!

Pig pig pig

Place: This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef
Number of coins: 14
Accepted: Yes

The cashier guy actually asked "where do you get these?" I explained this experiment. He then added "you can get them from the NJ Transit vending machines too". Yup!

Friday, May 27, 2011

banh me

Place: Ba Xuyen
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

Two banh mi's at Ba Xuyen - I pay with 8 dollar coins. The banh mi lady (always the same one) puts them in the cash register. Then, she takes them out, and gives them to a guy working there - apparently so they don't get given out as change. Then she tells me "they're so beautiful!"

4/20

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 14
Accepted: Yes

The nice thing about paying with dollar coins is that you can arrange them in a 4x3+2 grid for easy counting.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

KimchiTaco

Place: Kimchi Taco Truck
Number of coins: 17
Accepted: Yes

I counted out the 17 coins, and then the nice person in the truck likewise counted them, looking a little confused at the variations between the coins. "Are these all dollar coins?"

Heard from behind me: "Did you rob a bank?"
I should have said "Yes. But don't tell anyone. It's a secret."

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Max & Mina's

Place: Max & Mina's Ice Cream
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes

This time, they had a special flavor - not displayed on the boards because it's too potentially scandalous - which we ordered as one of three for our pint of ice cream. Upon payment, I pointed out "check 'em out, all different" "wow yeah, cool" "check that one out, looks like a crack pipe" "yes it does!"

New Golden Sichuan

Place: Golden Sichuan
Number of Coins: 10 (plus other bills)
Accepted: Yes

Placed down with all of our other money for payment. The (always funny) waiter says "ooh! gold coins for me!"

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Xi'an

Place: Xi'an Famous Foods (St Marks)
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes, gladly

Feed the mouth! Feed the meter!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Downtown Bakery

Place: Downtown Mexican Bakery
Number of coins: 20
Accepted: Yes

I said "I've got a $20 bill or 20 $1 coins, which do you want?" "It's all good to me!"

SRD

Samuel Delany, in one of his autobiographical works, commented that upon entering a "miscegenistic" relationship and marriage with Marilyn Hacker, many people warned them that they would encounter many problems due to being a "mixed-race" marriage. He said, however, that the biggest problem they ever encountered was that people were constantly tell them that they would encounter problems.

Similarly, retailers don't like to give dollar coins as change because they think consumers won't want them - and consumers won't spend them because they think retailers will not accept them.

4&20

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 14
Accepted: Yes
Noted interest: Yes

This time, the woman manning the cash register said "Ooh, these are fun!" I explained how there were different kinds. After I left, she showed them to her coworkers.

While she was cutting the pies, I laid out my payment on the table in a grid of 4x3 coins, with 2 extra coins. It's actually easier to count these than dollar bills if you do it that way.

Magnolia

Place: Magnolia
Number of Coins: 11
Accepted: Yes

4 cupcakes, bought with dollar coins: No problem

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Coin Roster

A few people have asked which dollar coins I'm using in these transactions. I currently have five, all being distributed randomly: The Sacagawea 2011 Peace Pipe, Abraham Lincoln, James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson.

Xi'an

Place: Xi'an Famous Foods (St Marks)
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes, gladly

Again, we discussed the merits of being a pirate who needs to put change into the parking meters. I suggested if he really wanted some he could order them at the mint website. His response: "I think as long as you're still coming here I'll have enough".

Korilla BBQ (backdated)

Place: Korilla BBQ
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

Two burritos, 16 dollar coins. The response: "Money is money!"

Birdbath (backdated)

Place: Bird Bath Bakery
Number of coins: 11
Accepted: Yes

The just-opened bird bath bakery was more than happy to accept payment in dollar coins for some ginger azuki rice milk cupcakes, muffins, and a pretzel crossaint.

Max & Mina's 2 (backdated)

Place: Max & Mina's Ice Cream
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes, requested!

Back at M&M's, feeling discouraged slightly from the Tuck Shop experience, I try to pay with a $20 bill. The man working there asks "don't you have anything smaller?"... I offer the dollar coins, which he gladly accepts.

This is more my expected reaction - most businesses prefer any kind of small change to large bills, as they frequently run out of change.

The Tuck Shop (backdated)

Place: The Tuck Shop
Number of coins: 12
Accepted: No!

The first problematic transaction - Australian pies! Upon counting out the coins, the store minder simply said "what's this?" "Dollar coins" "... really?"

It turns out that he doesn't think he can use them - and he says that no one will accept them for change. I paid with a $20 bill and received a bunch of singles.

Max & Mina's 1 (backdated)

Place: Max & Mina's Ice Cream
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes

A pint of ice cream to go - probably including some "beer and cookies" flavor, as well as whatever else was interesting - was purchased no differently than it had been with bills, in the past.

4 & 20 + 1 (backdated)

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 9
Accepted: Yes

Buying two slices of pie at this place was again easy, but I happened to notice some dollar coins in the cash register this time. Were they mine, from the previous visit?

The Meatball Shop 3 (backdated)

Place: The Meatball Shop
Number of coins: 5
Accepted: yes

Time for another ice cream sandwich here. This time, while paying, the cashier said "oh, so it's you with the dollar coins!" Could I be the only one? I pointed out to him that the coins were all different - "Check out the Sacagawea one with the crack pipe on the back". He showed his coworker, "yeah, that's a crack pipe!" He was so interested in the coins that I told him where to order them from. Score one for the US mint's plan to create interest in the dollar coin?

xi'an (backdated)

Place: Xi'an Famous Foods, St Marks location
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

An order of noodles, some soup, and a burger. The son-owner manning the cash register said "I feel like a pirate with all of these gold coins", adding that he actually liked them because he could use them at parking meters (which, in NYC, only accept $1.00 and $0.25 coins).

4 & 20 (backdated)

Place: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
Number of coins: 14
Accepted: Yes

Buying three slices of pie at this place actually was as easy as pie.

The Meatball Shop 2 (backdated)

Place: The Meatball Shop
Number of coins: 5
Accepted: yes

Stopped by this place on the way home a few days after the first visit, and just purchased an ice cream sandwich this time. I noticed, when paying, that there was a pile of dollar coins sitting in the cash register. Could they be mine?

Russo's (backdated)

Place: Russo's Pasta
Number of coins: 16(?)
Accepted: Yes

Two boxes of ravioli, purchased with only coins. The cash register man looked amused, so I asked "do you like these?" and he said "my boss, he loves these. He says, when he gets a million of them, he's gonna retire".

The Meatball Shop 1 (backdated)

Place: The Meatball Shop (on Stanton)
Number of coins: 16
Accepted: Yes

Time for a larger purchase. Two meatball heroes at the Meatball Shop, purchased in dollar coins. Nothing noteworthy happened.

Red Hook Ballfields (backdated)

The place: The Redhook Ballfields
Number of coins: 8, 5
Accepted: Yes

My second major purchase (and, technically, third as well) happened at the Red Hook Ballfields. $8 for a quesahuarache at one truck, and $5 for pupusas as another truck were spent without any comment or real reaction.

Ba Xuyen (backdated)

The place: Ba Xuyen
Number of coins: 8
Accepted: Yes

Ba Xuyen is a deli mostly known for its cheap and good banh mi sandwiches. It's located in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, which is far off the beaten path for pretty much anyone who doesn't actually live around there. I go there as often as I can - two sandwiches cost $8, so would I be able to pay with 8 presidentials?

The answer is yes - and in imperfect English, the feedback I got on the handfull of golden coins was "so pretty!"

The dollar coin goal

America has had a troubled history with dollar coins (melodrama intentional). According to the US Mint website, the dollar was originally a coin - in fact, the word derives from the German word 'thaler', meaning "silver coin". Reading between the lines at the FAQ there, particularly "Would the use of the Golden Dollar in lieu of the paper dollar save money and if yes why doesn’t the United States Mint eliminate the paper dollar?", it's easy to imagine the bureaucratic rivalry between the US Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, who are responsible for printing dollar bills. This is in addition to any conspiracies floating around involving the Save The Greenback people and Coin Coalition.

In the 1990s, dollar coins (the older Susan B types) were being used in vending machines. It was decided to create a new dollar coin to fill this need, as the stockpile of Susan B's - from around 1980! - was running low. In fact, in 1999, some more Susan Bs were "emergency minted".

In 2000, the Mint finally released the Sacagawea dollar coin, to much fanfare. Actually, the program was a failure - according to this BBC article, over 1 billion dollar coins are being stockpiled by the government and are not in circulation.

In 2007, inspired by the 'success' of the 50 states quarters program, the Mint started the Presidential coin series, in which a different president is honored on a dollar coin every three months. Similarly, in 2009, the Native American coin series was started.

I was personally unaware of any of this, until I received a James Buchanan dollar coin as part of my change for a purchase at Crumbs Bakery. "Interesting!", I thought, as a somewhat casual coin collector, only interested in types of coins as a representation of history (ooh! a 1943 steel penny!) rather than a pedantic every-single-variation collection. It was a while after this that I noticed that the US Mint has a program whereby you can buy 250 dollar coins, at cost, with no shipping cost, and have them sent to your home. They only have a few varities, but it provided for an interesting experiment:

I would purchase some of these coins, and attempt to spend them in my daily transactions. The purpose of this blog is to document how that goes.

I'll start out with some back-dated entries until I've caught up.