Thursday, May 25, 2000
Dollar coins not circulating in Cincinnati
By Sarah Wright
The Cincinnati Enquirer
To spend or to save those shiny new dollars? The freshly-minted gold-colored Sacagawea dollar is still a rare find in Greater Cincinnati even though there are more than half a billion in circulation throughout the United States.
People appear to be hoarding them.
The coins were first distributed in January at Wal-Marts through a deal with the U.S. Mint, but these days the coins are filtering into the money supply via banks, where customers increasingly ask for them.
“She's very popular,” said Donna Walker, vice president at Ameriana Bank Deer Park. “I think they're being collected and hoarded rather than being put into circulation.”
Others echoed Ms. Walker's findings.
“We do distribute them,” said Jim Gilmore, assistant vice president at Lebanon Citizens National Bank in Lebanon. “But we don't see many coming back through the window. People like them, obviously.”
Ms. Walker found that the coins are an unexpected hit with men.
“Men like them. I figured men would be more resistant to them because they don't like to carry coins.”
But while people seem taken with the coin dollars, they don't appear to be using them as plain money just yet. Bob Spangler, owner of Cheviot Trading Co., which trades in rare coins and other collectibles, likes to include the new dollars when he gives out change.
“I gave one to an individual, and he said he'd rather have a paper bill,” he said.
Mr. Spangler hasn't seen the new coins accepted as “normal” money, and he's not sure they will catch on.
Some banks had run out of the new dollars and were re-ordering to meet customer demand. The Warsaw branch of Eagle Savings Bank decided not to distribute them because it didn't have room in the vault nor did it want to order the minimum 1,000 coins.
“People are hoarding them. They get them in change and because they haven't seen them before, they'll save it,” said H. Robert Campbell, president of the American Numismatic Association and owner of
All About Coins in Salt Lake City. “They are almost spellbound by the coins.”
This summer, shipments of the new coins are expected to exceed 1 billion, with 6 million new coins being minted each day.
The U.S. Mint — through a $40 million ad campaign featuring the face of George Washington from the dollar bill — has been trying to persuade people to circulate the Sacagawea dollars.
Nationwide, 18 major transit authorities, including New York, Chicago, Boston and San Diego, have pledged to use the new dollar coins, Mint officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dollar coins not circulating in Cincinnati
PC On Call gets boost, will expand
Indian back, with vrroom
Iron Redskin began long tradition of the open road
Microsoft plan to be reworked
Louisville gets a Nordstrom
Kendle cuts to cost 30 local jobs
Tristate Business Summary
What's the Buzz?
Industry notes: Real estate
Commercial real estate transfers
