I'm up here in Canada, when the 1 and 2 dollar
coins were first released I was one of those that grumbled and complained. For many of the same reasons that people down south are resisting.
I can say after 20 years with
coins, I would not want to go back to the 1 or 2 dollar bill. I hate to say it, but sometimes government gets things right. The right thing they did, was repeal the $1 and $2 bills. Within a few months after the
coins introduction, the related bills were gone, and shortly thereafter forgotten.
The
coins with nicknames for the $1-Loonie, because one side of the
coin has a Loon; and for the $2
coin, the Twonie (actually has a Polar Bear on it) have spawned a whole new
marketing lingo as well. "Upsize for Loonie". "Two for a Twonie", etc.
For my wash, they work great for my
changers. I use a Standard
changer that has a
coin accepter for $1 and $2
coins (no quarters), and also a reader that accepts $5, $10, and $20 bills. I only dispense
tokens and only accept
tokens for all my equipment.
Where the
coins come in handy is for making change for bills. My
changer has two hoppers, one for
tokens, and the other for $2
coins. My
tokens are $1 each.
Customer inserts a $5 bill - he gets 5
tokens. Insert a $10 bill, hoppers dispense 6
tokens and two $2
coins as change. Insert a $20 bill, hoppers dispense 8
tokens and six $2
coins as change. I get more $20 bills than 10s, I think because ATMs normally dispense 20s.
Been doing this for 15 years at this wash. Works great.