I guess our change truly does not circulate widely. While in CA, I received almost exclusively D Mi
Last week I was on a vacation of utmost luxury and pampering. I spent approximately 10 days with Mrs. Longacre's side of the family at Ft. Irwin, CA. If anyone is planning on visiting, I highly recommend the Ft. Irwin Spa, as well as playing a round on the beautifully manicured 36 golf holes of the Ft. Irwin Country Club. For your gastronomic pleasure, there are several 5 Michelin Star restaurants located right on the base. 
Anyway, as I was sipping a mint julip in a cabana by the Ft. Irwin pool, I looked through my pocket change. I noticed that I received, almost exclusively, D Mint coins. I always assumed that our change circulated more widely. At home in the cold, icy, barren, and dark East Coast, I almost never see D mint coins, so I guess I should not be surprised. Does anyone have any comments?
PS. The one cool thing about Ft. Irwin are the mock-ups of Iraqi villages that they have there, located out in the desert. I took a tour of a few of them, and when you combine the desert landscape, with Hollywood-quality villages, you feel as though you are walking the streets of Baghdad. It was pretty cool, and I'm glad to see that our government takes training the troops so seriously.

Anyway, as I was sipping a mint julip in a cabana by the Ft. Irwin pool, I looked through my pocket change. I noticed that I received, almost exclusively, D Mint coins. I always assumed that our change circulated more widely. At home in the cold, icy, barren, and dark East Coast, I almost never see D mint coins, so I guess I should not be surprised. Does anyone have any comments?
PS. The one cool thing about Ft. Irwin are the mock-ups of Iraqi villages that they have there, located out in the desert. I took a tour of a few of them, and when you combine the desert landscape, with Hollywood-quality villages, you feel as though you are walking the streets of Baghdad. It was pretty cool, and I'm glad to see that our government takes training the troops so seriously.

Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
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Comments
So, that makes me wonder, if LA's stories about how nice this is place is are really true.
<< <i>It has always been thus. Why should they pay to ship P-mint coins to the west coast just to circulate? >>
I think what Longacre meant was that its interesting that the D and P mint coins dont naturally circulate and move from coast to coast just by normal practice. Not that they ship on mass coins from one side of the nation to the other.
<< <i>
<< <i>It has always been thus. Why should they pay to ship P-mint coins to the west coast just to circulate? >>
I think what Longacre meant was that its interesting that the D and P mint coins dont naturally circulate and move from coast to coast just by normal practice. Not that they ship on mass coins from one side of the nation to the other. >>
Yes, that's what I meant.
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
of exchange now they are much more a means to make change. When you could
get a donut and a cup of coffee for a quarter it was common to pull out a quarter
to pay. Now this will run a dollar fifty and you'll use a couple singles to pay and
toss the quarters in a jar when you get home.
Of course one cent coins barely circulate at all and velocity has been slowing great-
ly on the nickel and dime in recent years. This can be seen in the much higher mint-
ages which started around 1998. These coins are needed to fill up the millions of
jars people use and the lower rarte if edemption on these jars since the value is
always decreasing to inflation. Why hurry to the bank to cash in $100 worth of
coins if it's not even enough to take the family out to dinner?
But quarters still circulate reasonably well and mostly randomly. I'm sure you'll no-
tice that the old worn quarters from the '60's and '70's are represented according
to mint mostly on the basis of mintage everywhere in the continental US. These
useds to average about six miles in a random walk and they'd be used about three
times per month. The velocity is down now. By the time most made it across the
country they'd be worn to about XF.
I think what you are seeing with the quarters is the effects of collectors. Many peo-
ple on the coasts are seeking complete sets so when the first states coins make it
over they are being snatched up leaving only the local mint marks. A little of this is
probably happening with most coins now though you might have a long wait to see
the cent from the other coast.
(We get D mint coins in the area I live)