How to get people to use $1 coins instead of bills

Op-ed writer Dave DuGoff makes a very reasonable case for eliminating the paper dollar bill ("Sensible change: Switch to $1 coins," April 26). In fact, the U.S. Treasury has tried dollar coins four times in the last 40 years, but they have never caught on for several reasons. Here is what the government needs to do to get people to use the coins:

First, don't make them so large that they tear a hole in your pocket (like the Eisenhower coin).

Second, don't make them so close to the size of a quarter that people can't tell the difference (the Susan B. Anthony coin).

Third, don't make them commemoratives, so people save them instead of spend them (the Presidential Series).

Fourth, do make them a different color. They almost got it right with the Sacagawea dollar, but not quite.

Finally, eliminate the $1 paper bills. Declare them worthless after a certain date so people will turn them in.

That is the only way to really get people to change. It is neither complicated nor puzzling. It just requires a little common sense.

Tim O'Neil, Baltimore