One Million Dollars a Day is what it costs to use the dollar bill in your pocket instead of using a dollar coin
We blogged the other day about the wastefulness of the government printing one dollar bills instead of making one dollar coins, which last easily ten times longer than the paper does. There's more to the story.
It turns out that in a recent poll only 19% of the public was in favor of replacing all one dollar bills with one dollar coins until they learned that doing so would save American taxpayers over $522 million every year - then the number jumped to 65% wanting it to happen.
Still, it's all just an estimate of what the savings would be, but Shawn Smeallie with the pro-coin group Dollar Coin Alliance, noted that "The truth is nobody is quite sure exactly how much the US taxpayer and business and to save by making this switch - when Canada moved to a dollar coin two decades ago, savings were more than ten times the initial government estimates."
Since the first of 2011, they calculate that the government has lost over $90 in savings that could have occurred by switching to the dollar coin. And over 3 billion dollar bills are shredded each year because they are worn out. So we use short-life paper and then shred it all and throw it away? The US government is literally throwing away money.
So if the Canadian savings is any example, a serious amount of change could be saved by making the change. You can find out more about the whole thing at www.DollarCoinAlliance.org online. You and I don't like to waste our money. Isn't it about time the government acted that way too?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.