About six months ago we blogged how lowering the federal deficit could happen by half a billion dollars if the federal government would just stop printing dollar bills and people starting using the dollar coin instead. Well, it turns out we were wrong. It's actually a lot more than that.
There's a new federal government study out that says the amount saved would be 5.5 billion dollars because a coin can last for decades but most dollar bills have a lifespan of only about a hear and a half. The study came to the "duh" realization that prior attempts to get people to use the dollar coin have largely failed because the government just kept right on printing the dollar bills too - and people just don't like to change what they are used to.
In Canada and the United Kingdom both of those countries stopping printing the paper version of the coin and after a couple of years, the public accepted it as part of life.
There's no rational reason to be using dollar bills anymore because, like they say on tv, don't waste your money - and don't waste your government's money either.
Good Magazine has a great article on their web site that delves into the wasting of money in the paper vs coin argument, and it's well worth the read by clicking here.
So, if you really want to help the government save money, stop using one dollar bills. And if you really want your elected officials to help save the government save money, tell them to stop printing one dollar bills. Once that happens, then we can start working on the pennies too.