Paying at Soul Dog restaurant

A cookie, a can of cel-ray soda, and the sausage special.

Total: $7
Tender: 2 Good Ones and a twenty
Cashier Response: "These are considered dollars, right?"
Anti-Coin Ire: 0.1

It's spreading!

I received this IM mere moments ago:

Dude, you're like a virus. ******** paid partially in $ coins for trap last night.

It appears that we may be having some localized influence, or it's just a fluke.

Either way, Muahaha haha haha!

Paying at the Golf Course

Total: $14
Tender: A tenner and 4 Good Ones
Response: "Are you sure you want to get rid of these?"
Anti-Coin Ire: 0.0

The woman collecting the green fees was older, and the coins were particularly brilliant (new from the roll). I have found in general that older people seem to be more interested in new US coinage. My grandfather sent me a Sacagawea when they first came out. My great-grandfather put some of his retirement cash into coin proof sets. And when I worked in the movie industry, our elderly usher would come to my register daily to swap a few Bad Ones for the new state quarters. Is it that older people like the feeling of real hard currency? Perhaps it brings back memories of the past, when coins made up a larger percentage of pocket money. Or maybe, like crows, they're attracted to shiny things.

Vending Machines

While fleshy cashiers may frown at the sight of a dollar coin, many vending machines gladly accept them. The vending machine industry is one of the proponents of dollar coins, as coins are easier for the machines to deal with; more than half of machine service calls are due to fix nonfunctional bill acceptors. So adapting vending machines so that they accept dollar coins actually saves the operators money in the long run.

However, in some recent digging I found something interesting while reading the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005. Check out section 104:

...all entities that operate any business, including vending machines, on any premises owned by the United States ... shall take such action as may be appropriate to ensure that by the end of the 2-year period beginning on such date--

(A) any business operations conducted by any such agency, instrumentality, system, or entity that involve coins or currency will be fully capable of accepting and dispensing $1 coins in connection with such operations

Stamp and subway ticket machines have been a primary channel for the distribution of dollar coins, even before the Sacagawea. But section 104 seems to stipulate that any vending machine on the premises of a government agency needs the capability of dispensing dollar coins. That means snack machines, drink machines.... pay phones? arcade games?

This sounds good to me. I am unsure why -- a year after this was supposed to kick in -- the government hasn't done something to enforce this, like fining people, or declaring martial law.

Even without intervention though, I think inflation will save the day. Eventually a Coke is going to cost $3.75. People are will want to be able to pay with a five and get change, instead of trying to find 4 acceptable bad ones, or using a fistfull of quarters.

Making noise and busting birds

4 rounds of trap shooting at the aforementioned local club.
Total: $12
Tender: A tenner and 2 Good Ones
Response: "You going to pay me with those Euros?"
ACI: 0.2

Paying at the Pharmacy

Total: 16.99
Tender: sawbuck, fiver, and 2 Good Ones
Cashier Response: Confusion, sad face
Anti-Coin Ire: 0.3

Take me out to the ball game

11 inning marathon baseball game at the local minor league team stadium. Which the home team finally won!

3 Good Ones for cotton candy, response: "Cool, I love these!"
2 Good Ones for a carnival game, response: "Wow, these are shiny!" (Though these were proxied through my 5 year old)

Total: 5 Good Ones.
Anti-Coin Ire: 0.0.
Won in the game: 1 set of team postcards.

What are those?

At a local club meeting, where there is the common 50/50 raffle, purchased 2 tickets with 2 Good Ones. Response: "What are those? That's not even real money!". Accepted anyway.

Tender: 2 Good Ones
Anti-Coin ire: 0.7
Total won in raffle: $0.00

Quite a Coincidence

I was doing some research on my favorite US president, Teddy Roosevelt, and discoverd that he is the third cousin, twice removed of none other than Martin Van Buren! How about that. This only solidifies the fact that MVB was a good choice to name our experiment after.

No drama yet

So far things have been pretty uneventful for me. A few Good Ones accepted at the vending machine with no protest, one at the toll booth since I forgot my EZpass on the motorsickle, and one at the cafeteria without a blink.
I'm getting used to the additional baggage in my pocket. I don't typically like a bunch of change in my pockets, but the Good Ones don't seem so bad for some reason.
I do notice that I'm much more jingly lately.

Paying at the Post Office

Total: $2.00
Tender: 2 Good Ones
Cashier Response: "Ooh, yeah!"
Anti-Coin Ire: 0.0

The Coins Have Been Disbursed

Ok, 250 dollar coins have arrived from the Treasury, everyone is back in the US, and the coins have been distributed. 83 for Mike, 83 for Sean, and 84 for myself. None of the participants in the VBE really know how long it takes us to go through 83 single dollar bills ordinarily, but we assume one of us will spend-out quicker than the others. Personally, I only really use cash for restaurants, vending machines, tolls, and smalls tabs (<$10). So I should be set for a few months. But until I spend-out, I shan't keep any Bad Ones on my person. I've seeded my pocket with 4 Good Ones to start things off.

The Experiment

So, what's this experiment about?
In the most simple terms, we're eliminating the Bad Ones (dollar bills) and replacing them with Good Ones (dollar coins) in our daily lives. We ordered a quantity of coins directly from the US Mint and have split them up (though I think Chris got one extra, that sneaky bugger). We'll be using them as one would expect and reporting the results here. The rules are pretty straight forward:

1. Use a dollar coin wherever you would have used a dollar.
2. Use them in a "natural" way, don't give 8 Good Ones for an $8 charge.
3. Any Bad Ones received must not be reused.
4. Received Bad Ones should be swapped out for Good Ones ASAP.
5. Report on your experience.

At the end of this experiment, we should have a good read on what the general acceptance factor of the Good One is, and what it's like to live with them.

Why Van Buren?
Martin Van Buren was the 8th US President. He was the first to be born a US Citizen, and the first of non-British descent. In the financial realm, Van Buren initiated an independent federal treasury system.

On a more personal note, he was born in Kinderhook New York, which is right nearby. It also allows us to refer to ourselves as "The Van Buren Boys", which, among other things, is a reference to the street gang from the Seinfeld episode. The most compelling thing of all is, of course, his hair, takes guts to have a 'do like that.

Unfortunately, the Van Buren coins aren't available yet, so we've had to choke down our tears and learn to live with the John Quincy Adams Good Ones. He does still have mutton chops, but they pale in the face of the magnificence that is Marty.