When Did You Last Use a Dollar Coin in Circulation?

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PCGS_SocialMedia
PCGS_SocialMedia Posts: 327 ✭✭✭✭✭
in U.S. Coin Forum

An interesting question, and one we've seen discussed here, often in the context of a confused cashier. Below is an excerpt from "When Did You Last Use a Dollar Coin in Circulation?" and be sure to visit the link below for the full account.

"I got to thinking the other day about when I may have last used a dollar coin in circulation. Truth be told, it’s been a while… At least. The thought only even came to mind when I was going through some boxes of paperwork from years ago and found a 2000 Sacagawea Dollar randomly sitting in there. It had shown signs of light rub and definite toning, for as so many know the manganese-brass clad composition of this modern dollar coin tends to darken over time when exposed to the elements."

"I had kindly tossed it into my coin jar and haven’t touched that dollar coin now in several weeks. Just the other day, I deposited into that jar a bunch of loose pocket change I acquired during a short road trek and got to thinking about that dollar coin again. Where will I spend it?"

Full article: https://www.pcgs.com/news/when-did-you-last-use-a-dollar-coin-in-circulation

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  • 291fifth
    291fifth Posts: 25,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Several years ago. I now have two that I found in a reject slot. Where will I spend them? That is the question.

    All glory is fleeting.
  • tokenpro
    tokenpro Posts: 940 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Several times per week for me -- all the payment machines in the parking ramps and lots around the local University take and give out $1 coins ($3 parking > $20 bill > 17 $1 coins in change!) so all the businesses in the area quickly get their share of $1 coins from me and many others for food, coffee, tips, etc.

  • JBK
    JBK Posts: 17,862 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Last week. Tips.

  • coinbuf
    coinbuf Posts: 12,567 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I have never used a $1 coin that I can recall, received them as payment happens all the time but those just get sent to the bank in the deposit.

    My Lincoln Registry
    My Collection of Old Holders

    Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
  • coinbuf
    coinbuf Posts: 12,567 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I have never used a $1 coin that I can recall, received them as payment happens all the time but those just get sent to the bank in the deposit.

    My Lincoln Registry
    My Collection of Old Holders

    Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
  • ms71
    ms71 Posts: 1,687 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Time out of mind . . . .

    Successful BST transactions: EagleEye, Christos, Proofmorgan, Coinlearner, Ahrensdad, Nolawyer, RG, coinlieutenant, Yorkshireman, lordmarcovan, Soldi, masscrew, JimTyler, Relaxn, jclovescoins, justindan, doubleeagle07

    Now listen boy, I'm tryin' to teach you sumthin' . . . . that ain't an optical illusion, it only looks like an optical illusion.

    My mind reader refuses to charge me. . . . . . .
  • JMS1223
    JMS1223 Posts: 1,118 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Last Sunday at the movie theater. At first the cashier at the box office was confused then when I told them it was a dollar coin they ‘got it’ and put it in their drawer.

  • messydesk
    messydesk Posts: 20,814 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Sometime within the past year I used one or two in a self-checkout kiosk.

    John
    Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
  • rip_f
    rip_f Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭
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    I decided to spend the stack of about 10 that had accumulated on my dresser at a supermarket a couple days ago.
    I used the self-checkout machine. Fed the first one in and waited to make sure it was recognized. It took about 10 seconds to respond, but it took it.
    I got the impression that the machine was a bit confused and was inspecting each one very carefully as they each took 6-7 seconds to register. One was rejected, but accepted on a second try.

  • Justacommeman
    Justacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Today. Parking meter. I keep a roll in each car

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • coinbuf
    coinbuf Posts: 12,567 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I have never used a $1 coin that I can recall, received them as payment happens all the time but those just get sent to the bank in the deposit.

    My Lincoln Registry
    My Collection of Old Holders

    Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
  • vplite99
    vplite99 Posts: 1,434 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Many years ago - when I got some in change from buying stamps in a Post Office machine. But I almost never use cash anymore.

    Vplite99
  • JRGeyer
    JRGeyer Posts: 157 ✭✭✭
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    1. Went to Starbucks as a broke college student... Accidentally tried to pay on a maxed out debit card, had to rummage through my car for change, found a few Sacagaewas and a Washington I got as change from a train ticket.
  • LanceNewmanOCC
    LanceNewmanOCC Posts: 19,999 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    i use em from time to time but i'd use em more if i'd come across em more. probably need to ask the tellers more often.

    i've never tried handing over say, a couple ikes, kennedys, sacs, susans etc to pay for one item.

    i need to get some more of this stuff!

    <--- look what's behind the mask! - cool link 1/NO ~ 2/NNP ~ 3/NNC ~ 4/CF ~ 5/PG ~ 6/Cert ~ 7/NGC 7a/NGC pop~ 8/NGCF ~ 9/HA archives ~ 10/PM ~ 11/NM ~ 12/ANACS cert ~ 13/ANACS pop - report fakes 1/ACEF ~ report fakes/thefts 1/NCIS - Numi-Classes SS ~ Bass ~ Transcribed Docs NNP - clashed coins - error training - V V mm styles -

  • ThreeCentSilverFL
    ThreeCentSilverFL Posts: 1,700 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Likely SBAs back in the ‘90’s in high school

  • Lakesammman
    Lakesammman Posts: 17,696 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Keep them in my locker at the golf club - unfortunately pay them out regularly, the latest last week. :D

    Gone but not forgotten: IGWT, Speedy, Bear, BigE, HokieFore, John Burns, Russ, TahoeDale, Dahlonega, Astrorat, Stewart Blay, Oldhoopster, Ricko, Big Moose, Cardinal, CoinsAreFun.
  • jedm
    jedm Posts: 3,266 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Just last week. I use them regularly rather than the $1 paper bills.

  • Hydrant
    Hydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 11, 2021 9:30AM
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    Yesterday.

  • Treashunt
    Treashunt Posts: 6,748 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    A couple of years ago, I found 5 or 6 metal detecting at the beach, including an SBA, my wife used them at the PO for postage.

    Frank

    BHNC #203

  • olympicsos
    olympicsos Posts: 990 ✭✭✭✭
    edited July 8, 2021 12:42PM
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    Today I spent 4 at the bagel store

  • olympicsos
    olympicsos Posts: 990 ✭✭✭✭
    edited July 8, 2021 12:45PM
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    @Hydrant said:
    Periodically at the little local store here. When the Presidential Dollar series was going I would buy boxes of them looking for the good ones of course. No Interest in the Sac Dollars so I would spend them at the stores in town for whatever. I got the nickname "Dollar Man." Anyway, after awhile nobody would accept them. It actually made me mad. I told them that they were required by law to accept them. Legal tender and all. Forget that. A few times I just set the coins on the counter rounded to the dollar and walked out without getting the change. So......I have a LOT of dollar coins. Wait till hard times hit......they'll gladly take them then.

    In NYC there is a law that requires merchants to accept any and all cash with the only exception being bills greater than $20. If someone refuses to accept my dollar coins in NYC and are rude, I'm happy to give a call to NYC's 311 to make a report and NYC can issue a fine to the business.

    https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/11/24/new-york-city-cash-law-debit-cards-app-payments-ritchie-torres/

  • pmh1nic
    pmh1nic Posts: 3,503 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    So long ago I don't remember. There was a lot of discussion back when the Sac came out as to why we bothered developing another dollar coin. Twenty plus years later, with the advent of digital currency all the rage, the end of all physical coinage is drawing closer.

    The longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice is it possible for an empire to rise without His aid? Benjamin Franklin
  • Kliao
    Kliao Posts: 5,802 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    My dad likes to use halves, dollar coins and $2 bills for low dollar transitions to see what the cashier's reaction is.

    Collector
    Over 100 Positive BST transactions buying and selling with 57 members and counting!
    instagram.com/klnumismatics

  • Steven59
    Steven59 Posts: 11,230 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Last year I used a few SBA's at the local drive thru and the guy actually thanked me cause he said his kid collects them.

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • Tibor
    Tibor Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    2001 in Baltimore to ride the Light Rail service. Spent a handful of SBA's for
    tickets from the vending machine at the station.

  • SIowhand
    SIowhand Posts: 370 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Kliao said:
    My dad likes to use halves, dollar coins and $2 bills for low dollar transitions to see what the cashier's reaction is.

    I’m the same and I’ve posted about before. I do it for the laughs. Had the cops called once at a convenience store once for a $2 bill. Had I not been busy, I’d have stuck around to see the cops reaction.

  • rec78
    rec78 Posts: 5,963 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @olympicsos said:

    @Hydrant said:
    Periodically at the little local store here. When the Presidential Dollar series was going I would buy boxes of them looking for the good ones of course. No Interest in the Sac Dollars so I would spend them at the stores in town for whatever. I got the nickname "Dollar Man." Anyway, after awhile nobody would accept them. It actually made me mad. I told them that they were required by law to accept them. Legal tender and all. Forget that. A few times I just set the coins on the counter rounded to the dollar and walked out without getting the change. So......I have a LOT of dollar coins. Wait till hard times hit......they'll gladly take them then.

    In NYC there is a law that requires merchants to accept any and all cash with the only exception being bills greater than $20. If someone refuses to accept my dollar coins in NYC and are rude, I'm happy to give a call to NYC's 311 to make a report and NYC can issue a fine to the business.

    https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2020/11/24/new-york-city-cash-law-debit-cards-app-payments-ritchie-torres/

    Does this mean that if I went to buy a car costing $25,000 in NYC at at local auto seller that I could take in $25,000 in coin dollars and they they would have to take them? I never knew that such a law could exist. Used to be and may still be elsewhere, that the merchant set the terms of sale. How about banks? Do banks have to take coins as deposits or payments? I walked into my one bank with $500 in half dollars and nearly got kicked out, until I told them I would close all my accounts if they did not accept them.

    Halves and dollar coins, do not circulate much in my area, most banks don't have any when I ask, but you can order them from the federal reserve $1000 at a time.

    The last dollar coin that I spent was an Ike dollar for a waitresses tip in a casino last week.

    image
  • GotTheBug
    GotTheBug Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    At a tool booth in Florida, about three years ago. I used to pay my tolls with SBA's, Sacagawea's, Presidential dollars, and the occasional Eisenhower dollar, when I came across them. The old-timers knew what they were being paid with but you should have seen the quizzical looks on the faces of people under 30!

  • koynekwest
    koynekwest Posts: 10,048 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    It's been four or five years. I used to leave 'em for tips but we rarely use cash anymore.

  • ricko
    ricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I use them in the vending machine for bottles of water at work.... Have spent them in the past for small purchases. Mostly I use cash anyway....and carry enough change that I can pay exact amounts usually. Cheers, RickO

  • Smudge
    Smudge Posts: 10,001 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I use them for tips.

  • Hydrant
    Hydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 8, 2021 3:41PM
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    A little off topic but here goes; When the paper bills started to change from what I consider the classic design to what we use now.....I started saving "Small Portrait" bills that I came across. After awhile I thought forget it, spend them! Merchants think they are countetfit. They won't take them....WHATEVER.

  • pursuitofliberty
    pursuitofliberty Posts: 7,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Don't think I've seen one or spent one around here since before COVID ... but haven't been out nearly as much. I use cash a lot for small purchases, so I used to get them on occasion, and always welcomed them ... they get spent back on coffee and lunch runs and tips.


    “We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”

    Todd - BHNC #242
  • Hydrant
    Hydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 8, 2021 4:31PM
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    Real off topic..... Really really off topic:........The next time you go ANYWHERE!, ask the cashier, waitress, etc. who is the person on the paper money that you give them. The response that you will get will range from....huhhh!?.....to .....whaa?...to I dunno know. I've been doing this experiment for over 25 years starting in a restaurant in Wichita, Kansas. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY can identify Washington, Lincoln, or Hamilton for CERTAIN. Grant???? Franklin????? FORGET IT!.......Huhhh?

    THEN.....ask if Kim Kardashian should run for president and would YOU vote for her?..... Answer....... YES!....I kid you not!

  • JMS1223
    JMS1223 Posts: 1,118 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Hydrant said:
    Real off topic..... Really really off topic:........The next time you go ANYWHERE!, ask the cashier, waitress, etc. who is the person on the paper money that you give them. The response that you will get will range from....huhhh!?.....to .....whaa?...to I dunno know. I've been doing this experiment for over 25 years. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY can identify Washington, Lincoln, or Hamilton for certain. Grant???? Franklin????? FORGET IT!.......Huhhh?

    What’s worse is they could just look at the bill closer and read the name on it.

  • Hydrant
    Hydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @SIowhand said:

    @Kliao said:
    My dad likes to use halves, dollar coins and $2 bills for low dollar transitions to see what the cashier's reaction is.

    I’m the same and I’ve posted about before. I do it for the laughs. Had the cops called once at a convenience store once for a $2 bill. Had I not been busy, I’d have stuck around to see the cops reaction.

    Hey, Slowhand....I had the Exact same thing happen to me with regards to a $2 bill. Call the cops. But.....like you I do it for laughs. There's something wrong with us......WE BOTH HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • jdimmick
    jdimmick Posts: 9,992 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I use them all the time, as they come in with collections constantly, especially if I dont have enough to make a roll.

    some cashiers are familiar with them, some are not.

  • USSID17
    USSID17 Posts: 1,264 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Sacagawea's?.. Never, not even once.

    I gave 2 Ikes to a teller today, thinking someone else might want them.

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 ✭
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    Probably about 2004 for US dollars, 2018 i spent some loonies on a trip to Canada.

  • retirednow
    retirednow Posts: 708 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Never

    OMG ... My Mother was Right about Everything!
    I wake up with a Good Attitude Every Day. Then … Idiots Happen!

  • JohnnyCache
    JohnnyCache Posts: 1,920 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @divecchia said:
    Here's my work lunch bag. It's a Converse All-Star bag from 1981. I had the same one in high school in 1981-82 for my books.

    Donato

    I had and used the same bag during those same years

  • Justacommeman
    Justacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I had the same bag and wore Chuck high tops on the basketball team

    Thanks for posting!

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • keyman64
    keyman64 Posts: 15,650 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    About 7-10 years ago when I would occasionally annoy a retailer. If we could just discontinue the $1 bill then I would of course use them every week since I would get them in change.

    "If it's not fun, it's not worth it." - KeyMan64
    Not really looking for much these days but if I were, it might be a toner. :smile:
  • koynekwest
    koynekwest Posts: 10,048 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @keyman64 said:
    About 7-10 years ago when I would occasionally annoy a retailer. If we could just discontinue the $1 bill then I would of course use them every week since I would get them in change.

    As would many others.

  • JBK
    JBK Posts: 17,862 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Update to my earlier post: I used one tonight, to buy a couple bananas at the self checkout. It was a recent NA dollar, the one with the guy building a skyscraper on the reverse.

  • Hydrant
    Hydrant Posts: 7,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 8, 2021 7:07PM
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    I hate bananas. Bananas are gross!

  • JBK
    JBK Posts: 17,862 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @Hydrant said:
    I hate bananas. Bananas are gross!

    They have lots of potassium, and you don't want to have low potassium. ;)

    I like them bright yellow with a hint of green. At the slightest sign of being bruised or overripe they go in the trash. Luckily they are cheap enough.

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