This MSNBC article talks about the US Mint introducing its third attempt to introduce a dollar coin to the American public. I will go on record right now that this coin is just as doomed to failure as the other attempts. Before I go into why, let me start off by saying that I love the idea of a dollar coin. I'm sick of having too many dollar bills in my wallet (I use a money clip so lots of ones become a nuisance).

Why will this coin fail like the others? One reason - its size. Pure and simple. Once again, the new dollar coin will be barely larger than a quarter. For all intents and purposes, it is the size of a quarter. I, and many others I assume based on past failures, hate this!!! Why? Well, if I have a pocket full of change, its nice to be able to reach in and find, by feel, the correct coin. It also makes them more visually distinctive so if I am browsing through a handful or purseful of coins, I can find the dollars much easier than picking through all things the size of a quarter. I have, on several occassions, received Sacajawea or Susan B. Anthony's (back when they were around) by accident, in place of a quarter.

I know the theory is that making the coins the size of a quarter makes it easier on machine vendors support them, but the simple fact is none have. Besides maybe the Post Office (and not sure of that), I cannot recall ever seeing a vending machine that would take dollar coins. So why not make the new dollar coin the size of a 50 cent piece? No one really uses the 50 cent piece so you will not have to worry much about confusing the coins in your pocket. Its a nice size - not too big or too small. It would look great at that size as a gold coin. I would much rather have four "50 cent size" dollar coins than four dollar bills. But you make it the size of quarter, and I wont use it. Maybe I am weird that way, but that is how I feel.