A Little Common Cents

My town's quarterly mailing to residents announced the possibility of raising bus fare from 50 cents to 75 cents or a dollar. I have never ridden the bus in this town, but I pondered if it would be easier to pay one's fare with a dollar bill or with a dollar coin.

About 30 years ago, the U.S. issued the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. It was a good idea (honoring a woman, substitute for dollar bills, funky edges for blind people), but it had one major problem. It was too similar to the quarter.

About 10 years ago, the Sacajawea dollar was introduced. It, too, honors a woman, and it was a pretty gold color (not so useful for blind people), but it had the same problem of being too similar in size and shape to the quarter.

Here's a hint, Government: try something different. My experiences with the Canadian dollar coin (the "loony") and the British pound coin show that they are different diameters and thicknesses, so they won't be confused with other coins.

Or would that make too much sense for our government to do?

UPDATE (8:24 a.m.) - I just received a dollar coin from Worker Bee, in exchange for a bill I gave him because our soda vending machine doesn't accept dollar coins. It has James Monroe's picture on the front (according to Thing One, Sacajawea was only on the coins for two years), his name, and the fact that he was our fifth President (1817-1823). On the reverse side is the Statue of Liberty, the coin's value, and our country's name.

The coin is slightly larger and slightly thicker than a quarter, and the edge is not grooved. However, the edge is engraved with "E pluribus unum", "In God we trust", and the year and mint location ("2008 D", in this case).