xxx

Just found out recently that Britain discontinued the one pound note sometime in the early 80s, replacing it with a one pound coin. Since the U.S. has both a one dollar note and a one dollar coin, I wonder why Britain felt they had to get rid of the note. Any ideas?

janis

very simple - you do notice that almost no one uses the US$1 coin. Why - because there are still bills. <BR><BR>Coins would save the treasury millions of dollars a year, but if they do not withdraw the paper versions they will never fly . . . .

xxx

<BR><BR>Thank you janis. That makes sense.

probably

Because of inflation, the pound note became small change. The notes wore out very quickly and got very dirty. I worked in a post office and packs of one pound notes stank to high heaven.<BR>It wouldn't surprise me if the five pound note went the same way.

XYZ

Because the Brits have brains; something sorely lacking in the US.<BR><BR>The treasury would save millions if they discontinued the one dollar bank note; it makes absolutely no sense given what things cost and the necessity of setting up bill receptacles in vending machines....if our Treasury Department had any brains they would discontinue the $1 and $2 bank notes and mint $1 and $2 coins that looked substantial...not like the stupid half assed coin they put out. A British one pound coin is nice and thick and feels like something and can't possibly be confused with a smaller coin. You certainly can't say the same about US 1 dollar coins. We should do just like Canada where they have a $1 coin called the looney and a $2 coin called the twoney...<BR><BR>At the same time, the US should get rid of the imbecilic Farenheit scale and the even more imbecilic imperial system of measure. It's abpit time the US stopped acting like its way is always best (far from it with coins and measures).....

KenCT

Every time I return from visiting Canada or England, I return home concluding that life would be so much simpler here if we followed their lead regarding coinage.

Give me a break

Again with the &quot;Americans are so stupid&quot; rant? <BR><BR>Americans, like the British people, strongly prefer notes to coins. They are easier to carry around and don't make noise in your pocket or weigh you down. Is that really so stupid?<BR><BR>The difference is that Americans have a choice-- coins or bills-- and the Brits don't have a choice.<BR><BR>I suppose that it is &quot;smart&quot; to take popular choice away, right XYZ? That is what the British government did-- they had to eliminate the pound note, because if they didn't those stupid British people would have insisted on continuing to use those stupid notes.

LSD

Let's not forget that until 1971 the British had pounds, shilling, and pence instead of decimal coinage. I guess they were as stupider than Americans until then, but suddenly their IQs skyrocketed.<BR><BR>BTW, in Scotland there are still pound notes.<BR><BR>

xyz

Sometimes people have to be led, like it or not, into the 21st century. It simply no longer makes sense to continue having a $1 bank note. As stated, it would save the treasury millions. The point is sometimes you can learn something from others rather than continuing to do it your own way.<BR><BR>Best example....in New York, you get buy a metrocard to get 11 subway fares for the price of 10...you can also use a machine that dispenses metrocards. Finally there is a one day metrocard available for 24 hour period for $4...3 rides cost more if bought as sigles. Yet if you dip your head into the New York subway, you will see ignorant people continuing to queue with empty metrocard vending machines feet away to buy token which cost $1.50 each and swear they won't be caught dead using metrocards. Believe me, two days after the city did away with tokens, nobody would be complaining. Same thing with the one dollar bank note......a week after it was done, people would wonder why it took so long to join the 21st century.

not so

to Give me a break: MOST of the people who have posted on this thread ARE Americans. We have traveled to the UK and Canada and find it ludicrous that the US Treasury thinks the $1 coin can work without withdrawing the dollar bill. A $1 coin makes much more sense.

y

XYZ if the Brits are so fabulously 21st century with their coins, temperatures and measures, why do they refer to their body weight in &quot;stones&quot;? I was in England in 2001, 2002 and monitor ananova.com and the use of &quot;stones&quot; is still common. I'm not sure but I think a stone is 14 pounds. Where's the sense in that?

Give me a break

&quot;not so fast&quot;<BR><BR>We agree that if the Treasury does not withdraw the dollar bill the dollar coin will never be widely used. That is precisely my point. <BR><BR>When people have a choice, they overwhelmingly prefer dollar bills to dollar coins. When the government robs people of the choice, as they did in Britain, then the government's subjects (I use that term deliberately) will accept the dollar/pound coin only because they no longer have an alternative.<BR><BR>To disregard public opinion on this point strikes me as cheap and tyrannical.<BR><BR>Can you explain why you think the overwhelming public preference for dollar bills rather than coins is so stupid? Do you enjoy walking around with lots of coins in your pockets? I don't.<BR><BR>The ONLY argument in favor of the dollar coin-- what apparently makes it so &quot;inevitable&quot; and so &quot;21st century&quot;-- is that they are cheaper to make. Big deal.<BR><BR>Australia and some other countries are now starting to use plastic bills instead of paper. Now that might not be a bad idea. But take your dollar coins. Please.

Lina

In Australia we also replaced our 1 &amp; 2 dollar notes with coins years ago. I quite like teh plastic style notes too - they;re very durable (&amp;in a funky range of colours!)

Lina

In Australia we also replaced our 1 &amp; 2 dollar notes with coins years ago. I quite like the plastic style notes too - they're very durable (&amp; in a funky range of colours!)

james

In the UK we now have a 5 pound coin - not widely in circulation, rather like the 1 dollar US coin - but it's there. I always thought the 1 dollar bill was still in circulation purely for bar tips!!

scot

&gt;BTW, in Scotland there are still pound &gt;notes.<BR><BR>No there aren't. We kept them a bit longer than the English but gave them up probably for the same reasons.<BR>The Welsh, Scotttish and English pound coins are all different with differeny symbols on them but of course are legal tender all over the UK.<BR>

Keith

Scot - yes there are still pound notes in Scotland, I have one in my wallet that I got there a couple of weeks ago. Only the Royal Bank of Scotland prints them, though - the others gave up about 10 years ago.<BR><BR>I think the only reason RBS kept them was for some sort of nationalistic point - the Bank of England technically doesn't control currency supply in Scotland and RBS is just underlining this point.

well

&gt;I'm not sure but I think a stone is 14 &gt;pounds. Where's the sense in that? <BR><BR>By the same token, where's the sense in having pounds? 16 ounces to the pound, what's the sense in that? Perhaps we should all measure our weight in ounces.<BR>

PatrickW

We've regularly changed note designs, notes to coins, and coin sizes and designs on grounds of cost-effectiveness and keeping ahead of the forgers. There are always complaints, because no-one likes having to adjust. <BR><BR>As for stones, well, wouldn't you rather be 11 or 12 of something than 150/170, or whatever?<BR><BR>But we are stuck between imperial and metric measures for quite a lot of things. Building supplies, timber and so on have been metric for years, but people still ask for 1200 mill (oh yes, it's all millimetres, not metres or centimetres) of four by two, or vice versa. We get by.

David

Patrickw, I like your view! I'd much rather be 11 or 12 of something because then I could round DOWN almost 14 pounds.