Criticisms
For historical reasons the size of the coins does not increase with their face value. Both the one cent and the five cent are larger than the ten cent and the less common 50 cent coin is larger than the recent Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony dollar coins, and the newer same sized Presidential $1 Coins. The sizes of the dime, quarter, and half dollar are holdovers from before 1965 when they were made from 90% silver and 10% copper; their sizes thus depended upon the amount of silver needed to equal the face value. The diameter of the current dollar coins was introduced in 1979 with the Susan B. Anthony dollar not only as a concession to the vending machine industry which wanted a smaller dollar coin usable in their machines but also as an increase in the amount of seigniorage for the US Government (the difference between what a piece of money costs to produce and its face value or the profit margin).
The four coin types in common circulation today have not had their sizes or denominations changed in well over a century, although their weights have been reduced due to the substitution of cheaper metals in their manufacture. Because of their very low values with respect to current price levels, many cash customers do not tender coins at all when paying for purchases. Businesses usually have to keep adequate amounts in coin on hand, so as to be able to make change in fractional dollar amounts. Since they do not receive the coins they need through regular trade, there is often a one-way flow of coins from the banks to the retailers, who often have to pay fees for it.
Furthermore, apart from some dollar coins, U.S. coins do not indicate their value in numerals, but in English words, and the value descriptions do not follow a consistent pattern, referring to three different units, and expressions in fractions: "One Cent"; "Five Cents"; "One Dime"; "Quarter Dollar"; the values of the coins must therefore be learnt, as the inscription, like the size, does not provide sufficient information as to the relative value of each coin.
Some efforts have been made to eliminate the penny as circulating coinage, due to its low value.
Read more about this topic: Coins Of The United States Dollar
Famous quotes containing the word criticisms:
“I have no concern with any economic criticisms of the communist system; I cannot enquire into whether the abolition of private property is expedient or advantageous. But I am able to recognize that the psychological premises on which the system is based are an untenable illusion. In abolishing private property we deprive the human love of aggression of one of its instruments ... but we have in no way altered the differences in power and influence which are misused by aggressiveness.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.”
—William James (1842–1910)