September 29, 1987 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 25653 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS NEED FOR A DOLLAR COIN handicapped, but would remove various and each purchase would subtract an incre­ hidden costs of the outmoded dollar bill. ment. The installation cost is estimated at a It would also be a sensible acknowledg­ minimum of $750 per machine. As is the HON. MORRIS K. UDALL ment of inflation. In the past 30 years, the case with subway tokens and travelers' OF ARIZONA Consumer Price Index has risen from 84.3 checks, the seller of debit cards would have IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES to 338.7, a four-fold increase. Today's dollar the use of the cash for goods and services Tuesday, September 29, 1987 is the quarter of the 1950s. In the Eisenhow­ not yet consumed; and of course the cost of er years, a buck would buy hamburgers, machine changes would eventually be borne Mr. UDALL. Mr. Speaker, there is ample evi­ french fries and soft drinks for two at by the customer. dence suggesting a need for a new dollar McDonald's or Cokes for an entire baseball In addition, without prompt currency coin. Merchants, vending machine manufac­ team. Today, it is no longer the threshold of reform many more mass-transit authorities turers, and metropolitan transit authorities a moderate purchase. will be forced to follow the example of the Moreover, a dollar coin would remove nu­ Cleveland, Washington and Chicago sys­ have long known that inflation and consumer merous inconveniences from modern life. habits render the dollar bill outdated. tems, which recently spent $5 million, $8.7 With paper bills, we cannot make a long-dis­ million and $15 million respectively to refit A dollar just doesn't buy what it used to. tance call on a pay phone, buy a Sunday The Sunday edition of most major newspapers buses with new fare machines to accept paper from a street box, drive through a toll dollar bills. Yet Metro's old fare boxes costs a dollar. A pound of butter or a half booth or use a long-term parking meter. We would have accepted a dollar coin. gallon of milk both costs more than a dollar. wait in lines as Metro's farecard machines reject, then (perhaps) slowly accept bills. The New York City bus system has an In fact it seems you can't buy much for under easy solution to the paper-dollar problem: It a dollar anymore. Yet we continue to use bills And the list of annoyances goes on. doesn't accept them. No token or change, no for what really ought to be a coin denomina­ THE HIGH COST OF MONEY ride-in spite of the phrase "legal tender for tion. The American taxpayer would save over all debts" printed on all U.S. bills. A dollar Dollar bills cost more. The average life of a $50 million annually if a coin replaced the coin would, however, negate the need for dollar bill is 18 months. Coins, on the other dollar bill, according to a 1979 Federal Re­ tokens, which are now used for about 37 serve estimate. The reason: Coins last ap­ percent of New York's bus fares. hand, last 20 years. It is estimated that switch­ proximately 20 years; dollar bills only 18 ing to a dollar coin could save the Treasury The RP Foundation Fighting Blindness is months on average. '!'he cost of handling concerned about its members' ability to dif­ over $50 million a year. Add to that the sav­ worn-out bills runs to $16 million a year. ferentiate among various currency denomi­ ings to vending machine manufacturers and And although coins wear 13 times longer, nations. If there were no dollar bills in cir­ metropolitan transit authority of not having to they have only a slightly higher initial ma­ culation, small purchases by the visually im­ outfit machines to accept bills and the savings terial and minting cost-three cents apiece paired could be made without fear of acci­ to American consumers is really quite sub­ versus 2.6 cents for a bill. dental spending a large bill or of being stantial. These life-cycle savings would increase cheated when receiving change. Many blind dramatically as the population and economy persons have devised their own system for The United States is lagging behind the expand and more dollars are needed. From major industrialized nations in minting a dollar telling paper bills apart: For example, fold­ 1976 to 1986, for example, the number of ing fives in half, tens length-wise, twenties coin. Japan, Australia, Great Britain, and many dollar bills printed annually increased from quartered and singles unfolded. Technology other countries have switched to coins for the 1.4 billion to 3.1 billion. In 1986, $1 bills ac­ offers another solution: a six-pound talking equivalent of our dollar bills. The Canadians' counted for 47.5 percent of all bills printed; paper-money identifier for $625. new dollar coin has been met with enthusiasm some 3.8 billion are currently in circulation. there. Based on Treasury estimates, the Fed CONFUSION AT THE EDGE We have known for some time that the would have to pay a total of $1.3 billion <in The last time a $1 coin was introduced­ 1987 dollars) over the next 20 years to pur­ the Susan B. Anthony dollar in 1979-it was dollar bill was outmoded. In 1979 we knew we chase and replace those 3.8 billion bills firmly rejected by the public. The U.S. gov­ needed a dollar coin. Unfortunately, we made every 18 months-not counting internal ernment never formally studied the failure one that was so similar .to the quarter that the handling· costs. But the Mint would have to of the "Suzie," but the most serious prob­ public rejected it. It was more enthusiastic spend only $114 million for the same $3.8 lem seems to have been that it was easily about a new dollar coin when I took a look at billion in the form of coins. The Treasury confused with the quarter. Additionally, re­ the new Canadian dollar. The difference in Department is currently refining these fig­ tailers didn't want to <:ount and store both color and the slightly different shape clearly ures. paper and metal dollars. The Treasury De­ distinguishes the Canadian dollar from any But those are only the obvious savings. partment also conceded in a January 1987 United States coins. I think with a similar color The technology required to deal with paper study that the rejection was "due at least in $1 bills is expensive, and those costs eventu­ part to the continued production of the and design we will find widespread accept­ ally are passed along to consumers in the dollar bill after the coin-the Susan B. An­ ance of a new dollar coin. form of higher prices. Conversely, eliminat­ thony dollar-had been released." Representative JIM KOLBE and I have intro­ ing the need for that machinery would hold When people confused the Anthony dollar duced legislation today to authorize the mint­ prices down. Bill changers cost about $2,400 and the quarter, it was not because the two ing of a new dollar coin. This legislation de­ each, according to the National Automatic coins have similar diameters, but because serves the support and attention of every Merchandising Association. These costs are both share an identical silver color and both Member of Congress. I would like to bring to being passed on to buyers. So the costs of have "reeding" <small ribs on the edges). the attention of my colleagues a recent Wash­ retrofitting 700,000 cigarette, windowfront The public has no problem differentiating and food machines with bill acceptors at dimes from pennies <which are very close in ington Post feature by Mr. James Benfield of about $400 per machine; an additional 1.2 size, but different in color) or quarters from the Coin Coalition outlining the many reasons million remain to be adapted. Most of the nickels, which have the same relative sizes why we need the Columbus dollar. 1.8 million soft-drink machines cannot as the quarter and the Anthony dollar. The The United States currency system, fun­ handle bills, although all the new ones are key element for fingers in discerning coin damentally unaltered during this century, is being made with the capability of accepting differences is the contrast between smooth in desperate need of change-specifically, a a dollar coin. and reeded edges. dollar coin. Alternatives to bill-acceptors would prove If a new $1 coin is designed, the Anthony The institution of a modern $1 coin would equally expensive. The vending industry al­ dollar's dimensions should be retained, but not only reduce government spending, elimi­ ready has plans for a system of magnetical­ it should be made without reeding and the nate the need for costly fare-box conver­ ly coded "debit" cards which would function color should be gold. sions, help hold down the cost of vending­ like Metro subway farecards: The consumer Several Western countries studied the machine products and aid the visually would buy a card for a certain face amount, U.S. experience with the Anthony dollar. e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. 25654 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS September 29, 1987 Recognizing the problems of a paper-based joined to form the Coin Coalition.