U.S. Mint tries $1 coins once again

Be careful, next time you go through the drive-through, that you pay the right mount for your meal.

That's because the U.S. Mint's latest attempt at getting us to use a dollar coin will start to appear in your change.

You remember, first it was the two-bit Susan B. Anthony dollar, released in 1979, that was silver-colored and very easily confused with a quarter.

There was the awkward pause while the server waited for more money, before the exasperated purchaser explained that one of those "quarters" actually was worth 75 cents more than the others.

Then there was the Sacajawea dollar, which at least had a gold hue to set it apart from quarters, but still never earned the respect it needed to gain wide acceptance.

But, short of withdrawing paper $1 bills altogether, the mint keeps trying to convert us to coins, prompted by the low cost of production and longer lives, compared to paper bills.

Encouraged by the success of the state quarters program, the mint is issuing a new series of presidential coins, starting last week with George Washington and continuing until 2016 with Richard M. Nixon. (A president must have been dead at least two years to appear on a coin. We assume presidents Ford and Reagan will be added later).

The new George Washington coin was brought in by at least one bank last week, and like Sacajawea, is gold in color, but is the same size, only slightly larger and thicker than a quarter.

But we can already see problems with the new coins. Engraved around the rim are details sharp-eyed numismatists will notice are missing from the face of the coins the phrase, "In God We Trust" as well as "E Pluribus Unim," and the date, 2007.

By the time this is written, we're sure, someone will have interpret this design as a plot to remove at least the first phrase from the coin altogether -- which will happen as the coins are worn through use.

We have nothing against dollar coins, and wouldn't mind if they did catch on. But unless the coins are all that's available, most of us will stick with the old greenbacks.