Metal Content for Quarters being considered by Congress at last Wednesday's Hearing

[NorthDakotaMike]

This is for those who want to stay current with how much closer Congress is to finalizing changes the metal content in coins including quarters.  I did watch & listened very carefully.  The specific link is located at: http://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=383493

 

To help facilitate the listening ... go to 1:56 to 2:59 of the top window & then going to the bottom window first 11 minutes ... can save those concerned some time.

 

The democratic countries that have kept their coin & currency as efficient as possible have clearly shown that it helps their long term treasury funds even without charging for the coins ... if & only if they choose the most logical & practical seigniorage structure. 

 

Since vendors in other countries have the option of using higher denomination coins (more convenient & less total weight per dollar value than quarters) doesn't it make sense for Congress to make the elimination of the more costly seigniorage-wise in the long term paper $1 bills opening the door finally for $1 coins?  Bill acceptors would still have the option of accepting $2 bills & $5 bills which reflects the gradual inflation that has occurred anyway.

 

I don't believe single coin dollar coin acceptors are anymore expensive than single coin quarter acceptors.  As far as multicoin acceptors for the most part I believe they would just have to be reprogrammed at no cost other than small amounts of the operator's (in the field) time.

 

The point I want to make is if the dollar coins were made properly available like they were in other countries ... the problem that would be created by a change in the quarter metal content would be minimized.  The reason being quarter acceptors that would need to be replaced by the metal content change could leapfrog to dollar mechs for about the same cost with much more long term gain for us vendors.  The dollar coin would become a more common coin than the quarter .... just as quarters surpassed nickels over 25 years ago.

 

mike walsh www.kingkoin.com