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| Which currency would you rather see done away with? |
| One Dollar Bill |
 ( 16% )
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| Penny |
|
( 84% )
|
Holiday shopping time at the Fashion Outlets in Niagara Falls means plenty of visitors and cars from Ontario, and a chance to find out if USA can learn from Candadians use of the $1 and $2 coins.
One such visitor, Alex, from Niagara Falls, Ont. likes the coins.
"I think it's a lot easier than having a whole bunch of dollars in your wallet," he says.
Then there are shoppers like Danielle, from a community north of Toronto, who doesn't like the coins and says the coins are something that retailers do notice.
"Certain people don't dig out for coins and it takes a long time to count through for coins. Good thing is they add up if you're putting them in a jar at home, but I prefer paper," she says.
Canadian citizens have been using $1 and $2 dollar coins.
Congressional auditors say doing away with dollar bills entirely and replacing them with dollar coins could save taxpayers $4.4 billion over the next 30 years.
Vending machine operators have long championed the use of $1 coins because they don't jam the machines, cutting down on repair costs and lost sales.
But most people don't seem to like carrying the coins. In the past five years, the Mint has produced 2.4 billion Presidential $1 coins. Most are in storage, and production was suspended about a year ago.
Lawmakers are also exploring how the Mint could use different metals to reduce the cost of making coins.