Expect new coin to fail

Twice the U.S. government tried to launch a $1 coin into widespread use. Twice it failed.

The silver-colored Susan B. Anthony, easily mistaken for a quarter, never caught on. Neither did Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who helped Lewis and Clark on their trek and who adorns the “Golden Dollar” rolled out in 2000.

Now the U.S. Mint is betting that an appeal to our inner environmentalist will succeed where other approaches have not.

“With the $1 Presidential Coin, every man, woman and child will make a personal statement about the money they spend. The coin is 100 percent recyclable and lasts for decades, offering consumers – and Mother Earth – tangible benefits that are especially relevant today,” says a news release from GolinHarris, the Chicago public relations firm that got the contract to market the coin.

This is a weird campaign for several reasons.

For one, multiple Government Accountability Office studies have concluded that Americans, green-minded or not, won’t embrace the $1 coin until we get rid of the $1 bill.

“Other countries, such as Australia, Canada, Japan and many European countries, have successfully introduced a similar denomination coin but only by phasing out the note of the same value,” said a 2002 GAO report.

Nobody’s talking about ditching our dollar bill.

“Paper bills are OK. It’s not one or the other. It’s basically co-circulation. When it makes sense to use a $1 coin, it’ll be there,” said Michael White, a Mint spokesman, adding that the $1 coin is lighter and more convenient than four quarters or a $1 bill in vending machines, parking meters and on public transit.

But the campaign for the new $1 coins, which are being released in a series featuring the U.S. presidents in the order they served, emphasizes green-ness, not convenience.

They’re recyclable: When removed from circulation, they will be melted and the metal will be reused to create new coins. They’re also sustainable, with a life expectancy of 25 years.

Yet that’s the case for all coins. Susan and Sacagawea were “100 percent recyclable,” but we rejected them anyway.

(To further confuse the matter, a leading coin-counting company – Coinstar, based in Bellevue, Wash. – is running its own “recycling” campaign, at changeforourearth.com. Coinstar’s definition of recycling coins, however, is to spend them.)

The real environmental argument for the new $1 coin is not that it’s a greener version of the $1 coins we’ve rejected. It’s simply greener – longer-lasting and more recyclable – than the $1 bills we won’t give up.

A $1 bill changes hands for only 21 months before it becomes so tattered and dirty that it’s removed from circulation and shredded. Most of the old bills end up in landfills, according to the Federal Reserve, although a small share become souvenirs or are recycled into roof tiles, stationery and other items.

A consumer can push more $1 coins into circulation by asking for them at banks and credit unions and using them instead of $1 bills. Who knows? The green pitch might persuade us to embrace the Golden Dollar, at long last.

But don’t bet on it.